Towards the Light: A Fifth Generation Baptist Minister’s Journey from Religion to Reason - Couverture souple

Compere, John S.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0977723593 ISBN 13 : 9780977723591

Editeur : Writers Cramp Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

Towards the Light describes the agonizing journey of a devout fifth-generation Southern Baptist clergyman from unassailable belief to utter and complete atheism. The book lays out in detail why he outgrew the religion of his ancestors and moved towards the light of reason. After leaving the ministry, Dr. Compere went back to graduate school where he received a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Thus, his book includes psychological explanations for many religious phenomena including being born again, believing in the efficacy of prayer, and why religion continues to be so ubiquitous in an otherwise modern society. Dr. Compere is convinced that many people of faith have entertained serious doubts about the religion they inherited and should be supported in their search for how to live a good life without a belief in the supernatural. He examines many of the essential tenets of the Christian faith including an explanation of their origin while providing cogent reasons for no longer accepting the myths upon which they rest. “Growing up a minister's son, the church was not just a part of my life -- it WAS my life. Everything in my world revolved around the church and its teachings. From my earliest memories, Christian dogma was relentlessly drilled into me until I believed that my only purpose on earth was to glorify God. Anything short of that was failure. I got the message. I gave my first sermon at age fifteen and became an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Church at eighteen. Although serious theological doubts began in college, I set them aside and managed to continue in the ministry until I had completed a seminary degree and served two pastorates. After a decade of denial, I finally admitted to myself that I was becoming publicly phony and privately cynical. I couldn’t live with that so I left the ministry which had been my whole life, and struck out in a new direction, one which would allow me to live with integrity. This is the story of my journey Towards the Light and of the inescapable, but heretical, conclusions about religion which occurred along the way.”

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

John S. Compere, PhD, is a retired Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professional Speaker who currently lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife, Joyce. Dr. Compere received a BA in English from Mississippi College (1956), a BD in theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1961), an MA in psychology from Wake Forest University (1969) and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina (1972) and subsequently taught psychology at Wake Forest University and Medical School in Winston-Salem, NC, as well as having a private practice as a clinician. He was a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. He also was one of the initial consultants at the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC, and from that association began speaking to corporate and professional conferences on Psychology You Can USE. He became a full-time professional speaker in 1989 and has spoken in 48 of the 50 states in the USA. He was a member of the National Speakers Association and served as the President of the Carolina's Speakers Association while living in North Carolina. He is currently a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Humanist Association, the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix, and of Americans United For Separation of Church and State. John Compere was destined to be a Southern Baptist minister before he was born. His family had been Baptist ministers going back five generations, a time when slavery was a way of life. He was ordained by the time he turned 18. Family and freinds were shocked when he left the ministry at age 32 to return to graduate school where he earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina. Prior to going back to graduate school in psychology, Dr. Compere was a Southern Baptist minister, having been ordained at 18 as the fifth-generation in his family of Baptist ministers. His great, great grandfather came to America as a missionary from the London Missionary Society, working with Native Americans. John also served as a student missionary to Alaska on two different occasions during his teens, living and building a church building in the small Eskimo village of Selawick, AK. John served four different churches as pastor, as well as serving as youth minister at the campus church while in seminary.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Writers Cramp Publishing
• Date d'édition: 2016
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0977723593
• ISBN 13: 9780977723591
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 236
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible