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God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics
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Themes
The Challenges Facing the Church of England in the 20th Century
The essays collected in God in the Dock identify a number of external and internal challenges facing the Church of England in the mid-20th century. Widespread cultural changes during and as a result of World War II led to a rejection of the ideas of the supernatural and sin. Lewis argues that this lack of belief led people to reject the church. Internally, Lewis identifies bad priests as another stumbling block, suggesting that they are watering down the essence of Christianity. Lewis’s interest in the challenges facing the Church of England is related to his larger goal of converting his fellow citizens.
One of the main challenges Lewis identifies is a widespread disbelief in the existence of the supernatural. Lewis argues that Christianity is “precisely the one religion from which the miraculous cannot be separated” (99), and he returns to the question of miracles repeatedly across the collection. He suggests that materialist philosophy allows young British people to “explain miracles away” (26) even when they seem, to Lewis, to be self-evident. Lewis argues that there is “an activity of God displayed throughout creation […] which men refuse to recognize” (28). The use of the active verbs explain and refuse in these passages indicate that the rejection of the supernatural is a choice being made by the British public. Although Lewis does not offer a solution to this problem, the fact that he returns to the question of the supernatural throughout the collection highlights the urgency of his concern.
Lewis also argues that the general British public has no sense of their own sinfulness, and is therefore immune to calls for repentance and salvation. In a speech to young church leaders, Lewis warns that “a sense of sin is almost totally lacking” (95) in their generation. He attributes this lack to social changes, explaining that, “we address people who have been trained to believe that whatever goes wrong in the world is someone else’s fault” (95). Lewis urges church leaders to “bring them down to brass tacks—to the whole network of spite, greed, envy, unfairness and conceit in the lives of ‘ordinary decent people’ like themselves” (96) so that they can better understand the stakes of Christianity.
In addition to these external challenges, Lewis identifies bad preachers as a serious problem facing the Church of England. He warns that the church is full of dishonest clergy, whom he describes as “intellectual prostitutes who preach for pay […] what they secretly believe to be false” (64). Even those who do believe, Lewis warns, may be misleading their congregations into heretical thought. He argues that strict boundaries exist “beyond which your doctrine will cease either to be Anglican or to be Christian” (89) and that “the lines come a great deal sooner than many modern priests think” (89). The fact that Lewis, a layperson, feels empowered to speak so critically of the clergy reflects his belief in the seriousness of the problem.
The Fundamental Strangeness of Christianity
Despite the collection’s interest in evangelism, a central goal of God in the Dock is to demonstrate the fundamental strangeness of Christianity. Lewis argues that, although this strangeness makes Christianity incompatible with the materialist and capitalist worldviews that dominated his day, it also demonstrates the faith’s superiority to those systems.
In Lewis’s definition, materialist philosophy maintains that all human experiences can be attributed to physical processes, which can be observed and explained by scientists as the laws of nature. Lewis’s repeated use of the word “supernatural” (25, 26, 27, 69, 72, 84, 132, 178, 219, 221, 276) as a placeholder for God or the work of Jesus Christ suggests that he sees Christianity as operating fundamentally outside of the materialist system. For Lewis, the fundamental strangeness of Christianity in a materialist world is reflected in the Church’s rejection of materialist values. Lewis argues that, “to the Materialist things like nations, classes, civilizations must be more important than individuals, because individuals live only seventy odd years each and the group may last for centuries” (109). He points to Marxist interest in class consciousness and growing nationalist sentiment in Europe as evidence of this pattern of prioritization.
On the other hand, he argues that, “to the Christian, individuals are more important, for they live eternally; and races, civilizations and the like, are in comparison the creatures of a day” (109). These passages suggest that Christianity has fundamentally different goals than secular civilization. This line of argumentation eventually leads Lewis to argue that “civilization will never be safe until we care for something else more than we care for it” (281). These deliberately provocative passages highlight the fundamental strangeness of Christian doctrine, and its incompatibility with materialist philosophy.
Lewis also argues that Christianity is incompatible with the industrial capitalism that exploded in England in the century leading up to World War II. Lewis describes industrial capitalism as “a radically hopeless system” (48) and “the deepest trouble” (48) facing working-class British people. Lewis argues that factory work is antithetical to God’s design for humans, lamenting the fact that “numbers of people are kept all their lives doing dull repetition work which gives no full play to their faculties” (48). At the same time, Lewis affirms the Christian doctrine that the rich cannot enter heaven, and argues that poverty might enrich the soul. He explains that “money tends to make you feel independent of God, because if you have [it] you are happy already and contented in this life” (51) and as a result “you don’t want to turn to anything more” (51).
For Lewis, the idea that factory work is dehumanizing and the idea that poverty is spiritually beneficial are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the tension between these two arguments highlights the fundamental strangeness of Christianity, reinforcing its incompatibility with both industrial capitalism and the ethos of modern secular society.
Strategies for Evangelism in Postwar Britain
The essays collected in God in the Dock reflect Lewis’s understanding of the importance of evangelism in postwar Britain. As an adult convert, Lewis knew firsthand that skeptics could be convinced, and he believed it was a life-changing experience. The collection both models and offers concrete strategies for evangelism in postwar Britain. For Lewis, this is an urgent mission: He argues that “Great Britain is as much part of the mission field as China” (94), and describes nonbelieving British people as “infidels” (94), rather than misled believers.
The collection itself acts as one model for evangelism: Constant public discussion of Christian doctrine by leading Christian intellectuals. The essays in the collection are drawn from a wide variety of sources, including secular newspapers, community newsletters, and theological journals aimed at academics. The collection also includes speeches given in front of industrial workers, youth leaders, and university students, often featuring time for audience response. The variety and diversity of these sources suggests that Lewis intentionally wrote for a diverse audience, and that he took every opportunity to share Christian doctrine with the public. The collection reflects Lewis’s belief that evangelism could take place in any forum, and that “anyone and everyone is a target” (119) for accepting Christianity, regardless of their status in life. It thus offers a working model for the type of evangelism he advocates for throughout the book.
While acknowledging the real social and cultural challenges facing the Church in postwar Britain, Lewis warns against changing Christian doctrine in order to convert young British people. He insists that “the standard of permanent Christianity must be kept clear” (91) in the minds of evangelists, regardless of how public opinion changes. The phrase “permanent Christianity” reflects Lewis’s sense that Christianity is appealing precisely because it is timeless. Lewis contrasts this timeless quality with the “endless fluctuations of scientific theory” (44) that characterized the 20th century, and which seemed to pose a threat to Christian doctrine.
However, Lewis argues that “the positive historical statements made by Christianity have the power […] of receiving, without intrinsic change, the increasing complexity of meaning which increasing knowledge puts into them” (45). This passage suggests that Christianity is a fixed, unchanging philosophy that cannot be shifted by new discoveries. Lewis urges church leaders not to “move with the times” (64), warning that, “we know where times move. They move away” (64). These passages reflect Lewis’s belief that evangelists in postwar Britain should not abandon traditional doctrine, despite cultural changes.
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