By turns champion of the Christian difference and voice of dissent; friend to Moley and Water Rat and scourge to those of scientistic bent--these are but a few of the many guises of David Bentley Hart, whose books, essays, and reviews over the past twenty years have established him as one of America's foremost theologians, critics, and men of letters. Few have ave escaped Hart's withering scrutiny, as he has exploded comfortable attitudes of believers and unbelievers alike. Here he turns his vital, and at times acerbic, pen to matters of truly high import: books and authors--and in so doing ranges far and wide across our intellectual landscape. Writing on everything from Alice to Zen, here are meditations on culture, theology, and politics; on words, sports, and nature. Disarming, insightful, illuminating--and often wickedly funny--the essays in The Dream-Child's Progress give evidence of the great gift we have in Hart: a Christian intellectual engaging our world with warmth, candor, and clarity--but most of all, with charity.