The Religious Journey

About the Book

This book is an emergency physician's answer to doubts that surfaced in his college years about the reality of God. He asks his readers, especially those afflicted with similar doubts, to join him as he once again ascends the slope of God's existence. During a 60-day sojourn, he guides them along the path he took from doubt to theistic faith and provides them with an objective foundation upon which their subjective beliefs may rest. Five classic arguments for God's existence are explained in terms that are easy to understand. In addition, the rebuttal of atheists is analyzed and the weaknesses in their position exposed. An easy-to-follow format and easy-to-read style, along with frequent use of quotations from a variety of sources, serve to maintain the interest of readers from start to finish.

Although several recent overviews of Christian theology have been geared to the general public, only a chapter or two in each has been allotted to God's existence. Dr. Stewart's religious journey differs from these broader works by giving the reader a more exhaustive summary of the subject. From beginning to end, its focus is the existence of God. Each of the traditional arguments is given its own chapter, and each is explained in terms understandable to non-theologians. Once introduced, each argument is then reexamined in the light of today's science. The overall effect is rather novel: a meshing of the old and new. Theology and science join hands, and faith in God is the victor.

The last 40 years have been marked by the rise of humanism, secularism, and atheistic science. In the aftermath, many inside and outside the church struggle with belief in God and long for understandable answers to their questions. These individuals are the book's intended audience and their embrace of God its purpose.

About the Author

Randy Stewart puts his medical and religious background to work in The Religious Journey: The Existence of God. The son of a southern Baptist pastor, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978 from Samford University, majoring in History and Religion. He has served 15 years as a bivocational minister of music in Southern Baptist churches. A 1984 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Medicine and a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, he is currently the Director of Emergency Medicine of Marshall Health System in northeast Alabama. He lives in Arab, Alabama with his wife, Cathy, and their two daughters, Mary Catherine and Allison.

Dr. Stewart's personal struggle with doubts about God and his persistent search to find the answers form the foundation of this book. Using his God-given gifts of simplification, analogy, and organization and his medically-engendered strengths of objectivity and problem solving, he passionately retraces his religious journey, hoping that what he has written will be used by God to make a difference in individual lives.