Books by Brights
TOWARDS THE LIGHT: A Fifth-Generation Baptist Minister's Journey from Religion to Reason
Author: John S. Compere, Ph.D.
ISBN-10: 0977723593
ISBN-13: 978-0977723591
To Purchase: Amazon US / Amazon UK
Description
This book begins with an account of how I, a fifth-generation Southern Baptist minister, struggled to stay in the church and the ministry after significant theological doubts began in college and finally at age 32 left the ministry to go back to graduate school for my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
After the introductory autobiographical chapter, I examine the essential tenets of the Christian faith, including the history of how the Bible came to be in its present form and to be the accepted "Word of God" for believers. I also analyse central aspects of religious experience from a psychological perspective. Chapters include Jesus as Paul Bunyan/ Faith: Believing Without Evidence/ `The Born Again Syndrome/ Bloody Religion: A Bloody Shame/ In Religion, Sin is spelled S-E-X/ Untouched By an Angel/ A Realistic Look at Prayer/ Requiem for the Soul/ The Bible: It Ain't Necessarily So.
My motivating passion is help the millions of nominal believers who have entertained serious doubts about the faith they've inherited to be able to see other options for leading a good and rewarding life. I also think that the problem religion poses for today's world, with our current ability to totally destroy civilization in a nuclear holocaust coupled with a world-wide, religion-based ideological standoff, simply MUST be addressed if we are to survive.
This book includes no footnotes and essentially no quotes from others. It is my own conclusions from a lifetime of study and experience.
About the Author
John S. Compere, Ph.D., who was ordained into the Southern Baptist ministry while in college, is the great, great grandson of the Rev. Lee Compere who came to America from the London Missionary Society as a missionary to native Americans. After leaving the ministry and receiving his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, he subsequently taught at Wake Forest University and Medical School, as well as having a private practice of psychology. After consulting several years at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC, he moved on to become a Professional Speaker to business and professional conferences and conventions. He is now retired, except for accepting invitations to speak about his journey "towards The light". He and his wife Joyce currently live in Chandler, AZ.
