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Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life
Alister McGrath has written to great acclaim on both Richard Dawkins and C. S. Lewis. Here he brings these two intriguing and well-known writers into a conversation. They could hardly have more different perspectives! Engaging with their views is a brilliant way of sharpening up our own thinking on the meaning of life.
80 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2019
29 people are currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Alister E. McGrath
451 books497 followersAlister Edgar McGrath is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, and Christian apologist. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and is Professor of Divinity at Gresham College. He was previously Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College London and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, until 2005. He is an Anglican priest and is ordained within the Church of England.
Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.
McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.
Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.
McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 11, 2021
This is a short and intriguing book about the big questions. Alister McGrath, who has written full-length books about Richard Dawkins and C. S. Lewis, puts them together in this volume to compare and contrast their perspectives. The goal is not that one side “wins” and the other “loses,” but that this overview of the two scholars’ approaches to the important questions of the meaning of life will help us think through and refine our own perspective. “[L]et’s look at some of the points they make,” writes McGrath, “and see how these help us reflect on the issues involved” (32). Approaching Dawkins in particular with this calm tone is most welcome. This isn’t a debate; it’s a discussion of ideas. I love it.
McGrath structures the book around four main questions: 1) Why does meaning matter? 2) What does it mean to prove or disprove an idea? 3) Is there a God? 4) What are we as humans? For each of these issues, there’s a section outlining Dawkins’s beliefs, then Lewis’s beliefs (the order is reversed in each chapter), and then McGrath’s synthesis, conclusions, and further questions. Quick, pithy, interesting. I’ve read almost all of the Lewis sources McGrath cites; of Dawkins I’ve only read The Selfish Gene, which McGrath references frequently here. So I came to this book with enough background to have no problems following McGrath’s quick tour.
A repeated theme throughout the four main sections is that questions about the meaning of life are inherently unresolvable. McGrath points out, for example, that Dawkins overstates the case against belief in God. “The issue is that Dawkins here fails to make the critically important distinction between the total absence of supporting evidence and the absence of totally supporting evidence” (22; emphasis mine). The fact that God cannot be definitively proven is not the same as definitively proving that there is no God. It’s just not that kind of question, which is true of many of the other “big picture” questions about meaning. McGrath shows that both Lewis and Dawkins employ the same kind of reasoning to arrive at their very different conclusions. Both of them make conclusions based on what they believe is the best way to resolve the kind of world they see around them. Both viewpoints are valid, and neither one can be proven or disproven beyond all doubt. Contemplating these questions, and being willing to continually, humbly, shift and modify our beliefs, is part of what our lives are all about.
One of the things I appreciated about this book is the wide range of sources McGrath references throughout. I enjoyed looking at the endnotes as I was reading, making many notes-to-self to check out these other sources. I look forward to reading more extended treatments of some of these issues in other books by McGrath. I like his style.
McGrath structures the book around four main questions: 1) Why does meaning matter? 2) What does it mean to prove or disprove an idea? 3) Is there a God? 4) What are we as humans? For each of these issues, there’s a section outlining Dawkins’s beliefs, then Lewis’s beliefs (the order is reversed in each chapter), and then McGrath’s synthesis, conclusions, and further questions. Quick, pithy, interesting. I’ve read almost all of the Lewis sources McGrath cites; of Dawkins I’ve only read The Selfish Gene, which McGrath references frequently here. So I came to this book with enough background to have no problems following McGrath’s quick tour.
A repeated theme throughout the four main sections is that questions about the meaning of life are inherently unresolvable. McGrath points out, for example, that Dawkins overstates the case against belief in God. “The issue is that Dawkins here fails to make the critically important distinction between the total absence of supporting evidence and the absence of totally supporting evidence” (22; emphasis mine). The fact that God cannot be definitively proven is not the same as definitively proving that there is no God. It’s just not that kind of question, which is true of many of the other “big picture” questions about meaning. McGrath shows that both Lewis and Dawkins employ the same kind of reasoning to arrive at their very different conclusions. Both of them make conclusions based on what they believe is the best way to resolve the kind of world they see around them. Both viewpoints are valid, and neither one can be proven or disproven beyond all doubt. Contemplating these questions, and being willing to continually, humbly, shift and modify our beliefs, is part of what our lives are all about.
One of the things I appreciated about this book is the wide range of sources McGrath references throughout. I enjoyed looking at the endnotes as I was reading, making many notes-to-self to check out these other sources. I look forward to reading more extended treatments of some of these issues in other books by McGrath. I like his style.
July 7, 2019
This book was a very fascinating, entertaining, and deeply moving read, and I highly recommend it.
April 6, 2019
In this short work the author brings together two gifted writers that can make difficult ideas easy to grasp, as the author describes them. Alister McGrath manages to synthesize ideas from important works of Richard Dawkins (an evolutionary biologist and an atheist) an C. S. Lewis (a literary scholar and a christian) in order to offer answers to some of the most important questions about life and its meaning: Is there a God?, Who we are?.
McGrath stands up for the idea that science and Christianity can work together and can deliver us a larger vision about universe, life and the meaning of life. He has a very critical view of both sides and is able to explain how science and Christianity can be in the same side and not at war, how many atheists and Christians think.
It is a good and useful reading for teachers who have to teach science with all its truths and also to explain how it fits with Christian beliefs.
McGrath stands up for the idea that science and Christianity can work together and can deliver us a larger vision about universe, life and the meaning of life. He has a very critical view of both sides and is able to explain how science and Christianity can be in the same side and not at war, how many atheists and Christians think.
It is a good and useful reading for teachers who have to teach science with all its truths and also to explain how it fits with Christian beliefs.
May 10, 2019
In this book, author Alister McGrath compares the views of Richard Dawkins and C. S. Lewis on some of life's big questions. He considers how we can learn from both authors, even if he finds the arguments of one of these authors more compelling than the other. The book is especially important for people who are interested in beginning to ask deeper questions about how science and religion interact. It also honestly and succinctly interacts with both authors and finds interesting ideas that could be applied to thinking about questions of life.
June 2, 2021
An absolutely stellar thought-provoking read. McGrath is a gracious breath of fresh air after Lennox's scathing criticisms of New Atheists. I love how McGrath draws on both Dawkins' texts and C.S. Lewis' writings in order to simply present two alternative worldviews that both seek to make statements on meaning (or the lack of). At only 60-odd pages long, it's well worth an hour or two of your time. Fully recommend.
July 24, 2019
There is no one better suited to write a book on Richard Dawkins and C. S. Lewis, two prominent Oxford academics, than Alister McGrath, an Oxford academic himself who has written multiple works on both men. In “Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life” McGrath briefly presents views and reflections from Lewis and Dawkins, inspiring readings to think on one of the most universally challenging topics, the meaning of life.
The book is fairly brief with 58 pages not including notes or recommendations for further reading. In the first of four chapters McGrath introduces Dawkins’s and Lewis’s view of the “big picture” or their world views. He ends each chapter by reflecting on the world views of both men, Dawkins, a vocal atheist and evolutionary biologist, and Lewis, an important Christian thinker from the twentieth century. In the first chapter he encourages us to see science and religion, not as being at war with one another, but that each illuminates a part of life and can enrich the other.
The middle two chapters focus more directly on apologetics as McGrath interacts with ideas about truth, reasoned belief, evidence, faith, and the question “Is there a God?” I’ve noticed in other works by McGrath that he often leaves the reader with food for thought regarding apologetics or the relationship of evidence and faith, and though brief, this book also inspires readers in that sense.
Chapter four is entitled “Human nature: who are we?” and explores Lewis’s and Dawkins’s take on what or who we are as humans. Here McGrath reflects on the limitations of human nature. For Lewis, it is limited by sin, which leads the reader to a discussion of Christ as transforming the way we think, and as renewal and repair. I do wish the gospel had been a little clearer. It is not the point of the book, but it’s my personal opinion that anytime the “big questions” are considered, the good news should be presented as a little more important than one might gather from this book.
The conclusion “Searching for meaning” is one readers won’t want to miss. Though shorter than the chapters, it is just as rich. The reader will walk away with a sense of the insufficiency of science alone to give meaning and virtue to life. There must be something more. “For Lewis, the Christian Narrative allows us to hold together the functionality and meaning of our universe.” (pg 58).
In the introduction, McGrath states he hopes this brief engagement with the issues will stimulate his readers to explore them further. I would say this is a successful attempt at doing so, readers will be encouraged by this short book to explore meaning further. The engagements in this book will inspire those who read it to expand and enrich their understanding of the meaning of life.
Many thanks to SPCK for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.
The book is fairly brief with 58 pages not including notes or recommendations for further reading. In the first of four chapters McGrath introduces Dawkins’s and Lewis’s view of the “big picture” or their world views. He ends each chapter by reflecting on the world views of both men, Dawkins, a vocal atheist and evolutionary biologist, and Lewis, an important Christian thinker from the twentieth century. In the first chapter he encourages us to see science and religion, not as being at war with one another, but that each illuminates a part of life and can enrich the other.
The middle two chapters focus more directly on apologetics as McGrath interacts with ideas about truth, reasoned belief, evidence, faith, and the question “Is there a God?” I’ve noticed in other works by McGrath that he often leaves the reader with food for thought regarding apologetics or the relationship of evidence and faith, and though brief, this book also inspires readers in that sense.
Chapter four is entitled “Human nature: who are we?” and explores Lewis’s and Dawkins’s take on what or who we are as humans. Here McGrath reflects on the limitations of human nature. For Lewis, it is limited by sin, which leads the reader to a discussion of Christ as transforming the way we think, and as renewal and repair. I do wish the gospel had been a little clearer. It is not the point of the book, but it’s my personal opinion that anytime the “big questions” are considered, the good news should be presented as a little more important than one might gather from this book.
The conclusion “Searching for meaning” is one readers won’t want to miss. Though shorter than the chapters, it is just as rich. The reader will walk away with a sense of the insufficiency of science alone to give meaning and virtue to life. There must be something more. “For Lewis, the Christian Narrative allows us to hold together the functionality and meaning of our universe.” (pg 58).
In the introduction, McGrath states he hopes this brief engagement with the issues will stimulate his readers to explore them further. I would say this is a successful attempt at doing so, readers will be encouraged by this short book to explore meaning further. The engagements in this book will inspire those who read it to expand and enrich their understanding of the meaning of life.
Many thanks to SPCK for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.
September 3, 2019
In a now-deleted Instagram post, one famous worship leader claimed that “science keeps piercing the truth of every religion.” He made this remark as if no one has talked about science and Christianity. Author Alister McGrath is here to disprove this claim.
Richard Dawkins
McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. During his career, he has studied and written a book on evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. In this book, he brings Dawkins in conversation with Christian literary scholar C. S. Lewis.
In around 60 pages, McGrath looks at big pictures, worldview, and reasoned belief. He asks “Is there a God?” and “Who are we?” These are heavy topics and questions but McGrath keeps you informed, interested, and moving through the pages. The book quotes many including Nietsche, Tolkien, Aristotle, and Einstein.
C. S. Lewis
McGrath is also able to understand and explore C. S. Lewis. McGrath and Lewis both came to be Christians as adults, he does not give Lewis an easy pass. He wrestles with his ideas as well. McGrath even points the finger at Christians who must think more critically about their faith.
What I appreciate is that McGrath treats both Lewis and Dawkins with respect. He presents them as academics and scholars while showing us glimpses of who they are as people through their beliefs and how they see the world.
The Meaning of Life
Dawkins and Lewis are Oxford men but they are very different. McGrath is able to pick up on their differences and explain them in a way that is accessible, urgent, and relevant.
This is an important book for me as a high school Sunday School teacher. I will reference it when students need something more than what I can give them. And what this book has given me is engagement with great minds and a stronger love for One who I believe gives us the meaning of life, a life of meaning, and life itself.
I was provided a complimentary copy of Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life in exchange for an honest review.
Richard Dawkins
McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. During his career, he has studied and written a book on evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. In this book, he brings Dawkins in conversation with Christian literary scholar C. S. Lewis.
In around 60 pages, McGrath looks at big pictures, worldview, and reasoned belief. He asks “Is there a God?” and “Who are we?” These are heavy topics and questions but McGrath keeps you informed, interested, and moving through the pages. The book quotes many including Nietsche, Tolkien, Aristotle, and Einstein.
C. S. Lewis
McGrath is also able to understand and explore C. S. Lewis. McGrath and Lewis both came to be Christians as adults, he does not give Lewis an easy pass. He wrestles with his ideas as well. McGrath even points the finger at Christians who must think more critically about their faith.
What I appreciate is that McGrath treats both Lewis and Dawkins with respect. He presents them as academics and scholars while showing us glimpses of who they are as people through their beliefs and how they see the world.
The Meaning of Life
Dawkins and Lewis are Oxford men but they are very different. McGrath is able to pick up on their differences and explain them in a way that is accessible, urgent, and relevant.
This is an important book for me as a high school Sunday School teacher. I will reference it when students need something more than what I can give them. And what this book has given me is engagement with great minds and a stronger love for One who I believe gives us the meaning of life, a life of meaning, and life itself.
I was provided a complimentary copy of Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life in exchange for an honest review.
June 3, 2019
We all need a big picture of our universe and ourselves-but that neither science nor Christianity can deliver that larger vision on its own. Each illuminates part of our life but not all of it. Science does not tell me how to be a good person; Christianity does not tell me the values of the fundamental constants of nature. Yet both, taken together offer a larger picture. They need to be allowed to enrich each other.
Such an interesting read on what appears to be contrasting views but when done without pride and a real desire to know truth, science and Christianity do really compliment the other. Dawkins and CS Lewis are the examples of the text. Each strong in their views. CS Lewis is being an intellectual man, also explored Christianity in a way that Dawkins probably never considered. The text entails what is science and what is Christianity. Christianity is personal but it also entails experience with all of our senses. Science starts as a theory and by observation truth can be found.
McGrath explored the similarities of Dawkins and Lewis and how different their conclusions were. If you are a fan Lewis and or Dawkins, I think you would this read challenging and informative. It is a great reminder that science does not answer the question what does it mean to be human and why there is evil. Christianity gives us those answers and a solution in a Creator.
A Special Thank you to SPCK and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
Such an interesting read on what appears to be contrasting views but when done without pride and a real desire to know truth, science and Christianity do really compliment the other. Dawkins and CS Lewis are the examples of the text. Each strong in their views. CS Lewis is being an intellectual man, also explored Christianity in a way that Dawkins probably never considered. The text entails what is science and what is Christianity. Christianity is personal but it also entails experience with all of our senses. Science starts as a theory and by observation truth can be found.
McGrath explored the similarities of Dawkins and Lewis and how different their conclusions were. If you are a fan Lewis and or Dawkins, I think you would this read challenging and informative. It is a great reminder that science does not answer the question what does it mean to be human and why there is evil. Christianity gives us those answers and a solution in a Creator.
A Special Thank you to SPCK and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
November 10, 2019
In Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life, McGrath brings out the two of the greatest thinkers of our time on the table and (objectively) scrutinize their beliefs focusing only on the meaning of life. I love how McGarth presents these extraordinary gentlemen in this book. Both Oxford fellows (including the author), both had a landmark book and both experienced atheism and Christianity. This adds the level of thrill in diving in to this brief book. And I have to say, I got really hooked.
Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life is not the usual apologetics book. It’s a short and accessible book for atheist, Christians or anyone who both wants to know Dawkins and Lewis in one sitting. It’s serves as a springboard for other bodies of work these two intellectual giants have dished out (or to books of McGarth on the topics). There are lots of superb books that have great treatment with these gentlemen but if you want a starting point, this is the book for you.
By reading this book, I think you have gotten to the core or the most important part of any book that discuss these authors and their view of life. Peak inside the minds of these brilliant thinkers and how their views influence the world. Pick up this book and you’ll surely love it!
My verdict:
5 out of 5
Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life is not the usual apologetics book. It’s a short and accessible book for atheist, Christians or anyone who both wants to know Dawkins and Lewis in one sitting. It’s serves as a springboard for other bodies of work these two intellectual giants have dished out (or to books of McGarth on the topics). There are lots of superb books that have great treatment with these gentlemen but if you want a starting point, this is the book for you.
By reading this book, I think you have gotten to the core or the most important part of any book that discuss these authors and their view of life. Peak inside the minds of these brilliant thinkers and how their views influence the world. Pick up this book and you’ll surely love it!
My verdict:
5 out of 5
June 4, 2019
This is certainly an interesting book where Alistair McGrath takes the philosophies and ‘world views’ of two major and opposing thinkers of our age who did not have the opportunity to meet. This is done not by mocking up fake conversations (which would have been a very different book) but by comparing and contrasting the subjects’ professed ideas expressed through their writings. This book effectively attempts to construct the potential discussions that could have occurred should it have been possible for these two academics to have met.
The title takes in themes such as possible meaning in existence and what it means to be human, as well as evidence for faith and whether there is a God. Big topics indeed for such a slim volume.
McGrath is a true academic, but like both of his subjects in this book (Lewis and Dawkins) has a talent of allowing true academic thought and discussion to be understood by those not specialist in these fields and without dumbing down his arguments.
This is a great book that in a quite limited space allows for a genuine contemplation and discussion in the area that is arguably the most vital to us both as a species and as individuals created in the image of God. Fascinating and illuminating.
(Copy supplied by NetGalley/SPCK)
The title takes in themes such as possible meaning in existence and what it means to be human, as well as evidence for faith and whether there is a God. Big topics indeed for such a slim volume.
McGrath is a true academic, but like both of his subjects in this book (Lewis and Dawkins) has a talent of allowing true academic thought and discussion to be understood by those not specialist in these fields and without dumbing down his arguments.
This is a great book that in a quite limited space allows for a genuine contemplation and discussion in the area that is arguably the most vital to us both as a species and as individuals created in the image of God. Fascinating and illuminating.
(Copy supplied by NetGalley/SPCK)
December 9, 2025
Alister McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion (yes, both) at the University of Oxford. As such he is ideally placed to consider two very different perspectives on human nature, science, religion and the meaning of life. The biggest questions, in 58 pages!
Short this book may be, but you'll want to pause as you read, in order to fully appreciate some of the things he is saying here. If you power through without doing so, you may miss a great deal.
Readable, deep and thoroughly recommended.
Short this book may be, but you'll want to pause as you read, in order to fully appreciate some of the things he is saying here. If you power through without doing so, you may miss a great deal.
Readable, deep and thoroughly recommended.
June 7, 2019
An interesting introduction to the contrasting perspectives of C.S. Lewis and Richard Dawkins. This is a very short book and does not go into detail but it provides a thought-provoking overview of the two men and their beliefs. I look forward to reading Alister McGrath's other works.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
July 9, 2019
This was really interesting and on the whole easy to read and understand. The author looks at the meaning of life through the eyes of Richard Dawkins (celebrated atheist ) and CS Lewis ( celebrated Christian). Although at opposite ends of the spectrum, thus book shows that both writers make at times valid points that can not be wholly dismissed whatever side you may fall upon. A quick and educational read for all those interested in the science and Religion debate.
December 21, 2022
Such a good book- amazing clarity of the crucial issues of our days- scholarly, considered, balanced, humble and respecting of all….. reflecting a depth and breadth of understanding masterfully communicated in a way that is easily and fruitfully understood by any non academic….a book that is a model of how scholarly arguments should always be conducted and ‘translated’ into commonly understandable language. One of 5he best books I have read in years.
November 6, 2023
This is a very short book and therefore cannot really do justice to the topic. I’m familiar with CS Lewis, having read several of his books so I have a fair idea of how he thinks. I know a little of Dawkins and have no sympathy with his atheist ideology, in fact I find his views repulsive particularly his advice to someone having a child with Down syndrome to abort and try again. He obviously didn’t expect the reaction this view would have, a man for whom I have absolutely no respect.
August 12, 2019
My overall impression is that it doesn't do justice to both authors - but I don't think any book this size could. A sound introduction as well as an intriguing comparison to and between these two intellectual giants.
December 30, 2023
Good little book. Introduces and compares both Lewis and Dawkins on some very important topics. McGrath has engaged more extensively with both authors elsewhere. This book does not attempt to address his subject thoroughly, but he does open the door.
May 19, 2019
This was an interesting read, as it followed the journey of two atheists that found Christianity later. I found this to be informative and unique.
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November 3, 2020Morgen een interview met Alister McGrath, dus nog even snel twee boeken van hem lezen!
April 18, 2022
Not McGrath's best but still good. There were more than a few nuggets I found enlightening.
June 3, 2019
I like how the author merges the thoughts and views on life, philosophy and basic fundamentals of human nature of two well known figures. It's a compelling read that requires time to fully grasp the context of their thought and outlook on life.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
April 19, 2019
In this short book Alister McGrath compares and contrasts two popular communicators, C.S. Lewis, Christian apologist and Richard Dawkins, apologist for New Atheism. Under the four headings, Big Picture, Reasoned Belief, Is There a God? and Human Nature, McGrath analyses key arguments from each.
Since both McGrath himself and Lewis began as atheists before becoming convinced by the claims of Christianity it isn't surprising McGrath tackles Dawkins' easy dismissal of God. This was one of my main issues with Dawkins when I read The Blind Watchmaker some time ago. Unlike Lewis, who tried to convince the sceptic, Dawkins seems to preach to the choir with no evidence of anything other than a superficial knowledge of what he so comprehensively criticises in remarkably offensive terms.
McGrath also considers Dawkins' vision for human nature. Yes, Dawkins believes we are slaves to our selfish genes but, surprisingly, he believes that with the knowledge we have we can fight against our nature. What I find so difficult to understand about Dawkins is that he believes the universe has "no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference" and yet he passionately cares ... why, what does it matter?
This is only an introduction to the key writings of Dawkins and Lewis which are listed at the end for further study. I brought my own feelings about Lewis and Dawkins to this book and had them confirmed, no doubt others will have their own responses.
Since both McGrath himself and Lewis began as atheists before becoming convinced by the claims of Christianity it isn't surprising McGrath tackles Dawkins' easy dismissal of God. This was one of my main issues with Dawkins when I read The Blind Watchmaker some time ago. Unlike Lewis, who tried to convince the sceptic, Dawkins seems to preach to the choir with no evidence of anything other than a superficial knowledge of what he so comprehensively criticises in remarkably offensive terms.
McGrath also considers Dawkins' vision for human nature. Yes, Dawkins believes we are slaves to our selfish genes but, surprisingly, he believes that with the knowledge we have we can fight against our nature. What I find so difficult to understand about Dawkins is that he believes the universe has "no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference" and yet he passionately cares ... why, what does it matter?
This is only an introduction to the key writings of Dawkins and Lewis which are listed at the end for further study. I brought my own feelings about Lewis and Dawkins to this book and had them confirmed, no doubt others will have their own responses.
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