Book Review: Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life by Alister McGrath

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           Alister McGrath has written several works regarding the thinking and arguments of Richard Dawkins and C. S. Lewis. He is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford and is Professor of Divinity at Gresham College. Having authored more than 50 books, it is of interest how often his interests overlap with similar interests from the atheist Richard Dawkins and C. S. Lewis, who converted from Atheism to Christianity during the course of his life.

            In this book, Dr. McGrath brings these two intriguing and well-known writers into a conversation. They could hardly be more different and yet the subject matters they consider so important overlap considerably. Engaging with their views is a helpful way to sharpen one’s own thinking on a penultimate subject like the meaning of life.

            The book begins by considering where each author’s (Lewis & Dawkins) source of meaning comes from. Ultimately the questions of meaning must be grounded in a worldview and Dr. McGrath shows the worldview of Dawkins to be one of Darwinism. Some readers may be initially confused by this suggestion since they may think of Darwinism primarily as a scientific theory. But as the author points out, the term can also mean an overarching worldview which encompasses the scientific theory. This is what Dr. McGrath is talking about (pgs. 4-5). The difficulty that Dr. McGrath points out is that Dawkins seems to have made a blunder in the basis of his thinking. Dawkins believes in scientism which states that only the natural sciences are a source of reliable knowledge. Because of this starting point, he thinks that any God of the Bible must be a created God who was made by something/someone else. But as McGrath points out, this is a purely speculative and faith-based suggestion that ignores what Christianity and the Bible actually claim about the God they serve – that He is a self-existing being who is also eternal.

            Lewis, on the other hand, understood this far better. In fact, as Lewis reflected on his atheism, he realized he was angry with the very God he said did not exist. But why was he angry? He realized that God did exist and that his anger certainly would not make God go away or cease existing.

            Regarding faith and reason, McGrath does an excellent job showing how many of Dawkins’ arguments for atheism can easily be turned on their head to prove the opposite and that this actually tells the reader something about the meaning of life. For instance, Dawkins claims that belief in God is often a wish-fulfillment – the idea that a person wants there to be a God and so they create one to feel better. But as McGrath points out, while this may be the case in some instances, an atheist could just as easily wish there to be no God and then says there is no God in order to feel better about their current situation.

            As the reader quickly realizes, Dawkins often makes blunders in argument. For instance, he suggests that because something cannot be scientifically proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, it must be false. But one cannot prove Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in a purely scientific manner. There is no experiment that could prove such a thing. Subsequently, Dr. McGrath points out flaws in his thinking and worldview which leads to his views on the meaning of life. Conversely, Dr. McGrath also considers the development of Lewis’ views on God and how he argued that meaning ultimately came from that God.

            By using these two individuals and their significant body of work, Dr. McGrath provides an intriguing and yet concise interchange that will have the reader considering not just the views of these two important authors but also the biggest questions of human existence. This is a short book, only 70 pages, that will leave the reader with much to ponder.

Alister McGrath, Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life, London: SPCK, 2019. 70pp.