Blessed Unbeliever
Ebook
Sean grew up a privileged child nurtured in the womb of his Southern California fundamentalist church. He dreamed of becoming a missionary pilot and hoped Kathleen Wilberforce will share his dream. But he loses Kathleen to a rival, then watches his dream crash like a toy airplane when he washes out of the Torrey Bible Institute mission aviation program (Chicago). Flailing about with disappointments and unanswered prayers, he performs a blasphemous ritual to convince himself that he has become an atheist. Kathleen unexpectedly shows up at the Institute but carries a dark secret that shames her and isolates her from Sean. Meanwhile, Sean finds that being a good atheist is harder than he thought. In his anguish, he seeks a path back to aviation, back to Kathleen, and back to God.
“If you grew up fundamentalist, as I did, memories of that life—good and bad—will jump out at you from every page of James Hurd’s story of faith lived, faith lost, and faith regained. His protagonist, Sean, travels a familiar route away from God and church, one marked by the common allures and doubts of modern life. His return is made possible by grace and rediscovered love.”
—Daniel Taylor, professor emeritus of English, Bethel University
“James Hurd’s creative pen touches me as he lays bare Sean McIntosh’s soul struggles. Raised in a fundamentalist church, McIntosh enrolls in Torrey Bible Institute’s flight school only to washout. Classroom responses to honest doubts fail to arrest McIntosh’s descent into atheism and a climactic act of blasphemy. This is not a feel-good novel of Christian triumph, but a true-to-life account of overcoming spiritual anomie.”
— James F. Lewis, professor of religious studies, Bethel University
- Title: Blessed Unbeliever
- Author: James P. Hurd
- Publisher: Resource Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666756975, 9781666756968, 9781666756951, 1666756970, 1666756962, 1666756954
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666756975
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-18T20:31:47Z
James P. Hurd graduated from Moody Bible Institute (Chicago) and Pennsylvania State University. After flying ten years in Latin America with Mission Aviation Fellowship he taught anthropology at Bethel University, St. Paul. He speaks to churches and community groups on the Amish and other anthropological topics and publishes a monthly ezine (Wingspread) at: https://jimhurd.com. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Barbara.