John Lennox is a man who puts his money where his mouth is. He isn't an ivory tower academic with a load of untested theories and untried arguments. He has tested, tried and proved them in the arena of public debate with the most prominent atheist spokespersons.
This book gathers up much of the material Lennox has used so effectively in taking on the cultural phenomenon of the New Atheism. He shows that it is sadly wanting in philosophical sophistication, lacking in intellectual firepower and totally devoid of an evidential basis. He makes his case from science, history, morality, philosophy and scripture, taking on the attacks and arguments (such as they are) of the New Atheists, showing that not only does Christianity survive the attacks but it shines in them.

He commences in his first chapter by addressing the common misconception of there being a conflict between God and faith on one side and reason and science on the other. He most helpfully points out that right from the beginning God encouraged science. Lennox also reminds us that modern science was birthed in a Christian culture and sprang from a belief in a rational God who created an intelligible universe according to regular laws. Thus, the very fact science can be done at all points to God. Lennox notes that the view that Christians oppose science is a gross caricature, and in fact "in the twentieth century scientific models of a beginning were resisted because they might increase the plausibility of belief in God."
Lennox takes Hawking to task for his logical fallacies and philosophical blunders. In regard to the statement "Philosophy is dead" in The Grand Design, Lennox writes, "But this itself is a philosophical statement. It is manifestly not a statement of science. Therefore, because it says that philosophy is dead, it contradicts itself. It is a classic example of logical incoherence."
Hawking's view of the timeless existence of the law of gravity necessitating the universe's creation of itself is also exposed to be logically incoherent. Lennox concludes, "a little bit of philosophy might have helped."
Lennox's distinction of kinds of explanations (agency and mechanism) is most helpful, and shows that belief in God as an explanation is not a science-stopper or a God-of-the-gaps.
Lennox deals with the common distortion / redefinition of "faith". He shows how the New Atheists are hoist by their own petard in this matter, "The faith of the New Atheists turns out to have no evidential base. Their view, therefore, is a perfect example of their own (erroneous) notion of a "faith" position."

Chapter two deals with the accusation that religion is poisonous / dangerous.
Lennox shows that lumping all religions together and dealing with them under one heading is a lazy approach. It is also hypocritical because "They themselves, as self-confessedly peace-loving people, would not like to be arbitrarily classified with violent extremists of their own worldview persuasion, such as Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot."
Lennox points out that a religion must not be defined or condemned by those who abuse its teachings. He shows that violence done in the name of Christ is done in disharmony with His example and disobedience to His teachings.
On the subject of children, Lennox agrees with Dawkins that the terms "Christian children" and "children of Christians" are not the same, and Christianity is something that cannot be coerced. He goes on to show the horrifying ramifications of Dawkins' accusation that bringing up a child in a religion is child abuse. Dawkins seems ignorant and times when, and places where, people took a similar view, and children were taken from loving parents, raised by the State and force-fed atheism.
Lennox shows the personal, social, universal benefits of Biblical Christianity and the unequalled good it has done throughout history and throughout the world.

In chapter three Lennox examines atheism's record and impact in the world, and shows it to be far from flattering. He also shows that, unlike Christianity, these humanitarian horrors cannot be said to be in contradiction to an atheistic worldview, they are rather perfectly consistent with it. The most strident and vocal atheists are shown to be the most ignorant. If they knew more about history they would probably keep their voices and heads down.
Lennox is on top of the history of the twentieth century, not just through extensive reading, but extensive travel behind the Iron Curtain, and his familiarity with people personally affected by State-enforced atheism shines through.

Having addressed the good and evil with Christianity and atheism, Lennox takes us deeper in chapter four to show that the categories of good and evil could not actually exist if God does not exist.
He clarifies the often-misunderstood point that this is not to say atheists can't know or be good, "but that atheism does not supply any intellectual foundation for morality."
He takes on the efforts of people (particularly Sam Harris) who try to derive morality from science, and shows how these efforts fail, and Hume's point still stands - you can't get an ought from an is! Or as C. S. Lewis put it, you can’t get "a conclusion in the imperative mood out of premises in the indicative mood..."
Going to an even deeper level, Lennox explains that on an atheistic / materialistic view of the world there can be no free will or moral responsibility: "But how can we rebel, if we are nothing but our genes?"

Having established that atheists cannot condemn any behaviour and at the same time be consistent with their worldview, Lennox in chapter five does defend the God of scripture against the condemnation levelled at Him (asking us to bear in mind that atheists have no foundation for this condemnation).
He shows the embarrassing ignorance of the meaning and context of scripture that Dawkins displays in relation to the command to love ones neighbour. He then critiques Dawkins' own Ten Commandments.
Lennox deals with issues like the Canaanite invasion and sets it in its context. The conquest was unique, an act of judgment, and was delayed. Israel was similarly judged when they were guilty of the same sins, and the language used of total destruction is evidently hyperbolic and formulaic of decisive victory. He moves on to speak of the subject of ultimate justice on a Christian worldview. He concludes the chapter by showing that God is not detached from our suffering. He has entered into this arena, He has suffered. This provides the segue to the next chapter - chapter six, is the atonement morally repellent?

In this chapter Lennox shows the seriousness of sin, and the fact that it cannot (and ought not) just be swept under the rug. "The New Atheists do not understand the Christian message of the cross and salvation, because they do not understand the seriousness of human sin. They mock the former because they have trivialized the latter."
The inability of humanity to make themselves right with God by our own efforts is clearly proven, and the necessity of justice being done in regard to sin is convincingly shown.
He shows the sacrifice of none other than God incarnate is the only way God's justice and mercy can both be satisfied. Thus the necessity and beauty of the atonement is presented and vindicated.

Chapter seven deals with the subject of miracles. Lennox deals extensively with Hume, and shows that his argument against miracles is self-contradictory, undermines science, and misses the very point and purpose of miracles - they are supposed to be out of the ordinary!
He shows that belief in miracles necessitates a belief in the uniformity of nature and the regularity of scientific law. People in ancient times knew that virgins didn't naturally conceive and dead people didn't naturally rise. Only with such an understanding could a miracle have any force.

This leads to chapter eight - Did Jesus rise from the dead?
Lennox first establishes the historicity of Jesus. He then establishes the reliability of the New Testament, both in the transmission of the text and the trustworthiness of the text. He then comes to the specific evidence for the resurrection - the death and burial of Jesus, His empty tomb and appearances. These are defended in a convincing and common sense way. Hume's criteria for believing the testimony for a miracle is then brought in, and again, the testimony of the disciples is shown to stand.

In the concluding chapter Lennox shows how God can be known through direct experience and not just argument and evidence, focussing on the “starry heavens above us and the moral law within us”.

Lennox combines wit and wisdom, intelligence and integrity, evidence and experience, in taking on the opponents of Christianity and advancing the case for Christianity. This book is a pleasure to read. If you got a bit lost in the mathematics of God's Undertaker, rest easy. This book is very accessible, and the arguments very understandable. You'll enjoy every step of the journey as he shows that all the attacks on the God of the Bible have missed the target, and God lives.

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Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists are missing the target