In His Own Image

About the Book

Stan was strongly influenced by his Southern Christian upbringing. Under the pressures of family and career, he attempts to simplify his life by taking a job teaching at a small college in Tifton, Georgia. He needs Tifton to provide that stereotypical small-town lifestyle that he always believed existed, even though he had never observed it. As that illusion and his marriage both evaporate, he begins to realize that there is a discrepancy between his Southern Christian values and how his keen senses perceive reality. A young Stan is polite with strong religious values. As he grows older, he turns from religion and becomes a bitter, cold man. The book opens with a devastated Stan at the funeral of his former student, Cleave. Cleave has committed suicide, but his motivation is a mystery that is slowly revealed as the story progresses through unlikely international connections to Tifton and Cleave’s even more unlikely connection to the September 11, 2001, attack on New York and Washington, DC. Cleave’s death further changes Stan’s perspective of the world and causes him to question all his previous conclusions about human interactions and human interactions with God. In His Own Image is about the commonality of human nature, despite the wide diversity of human cultures. Through a fictional story built around real historical events, In His Own Image shows how individuals are molded by their birth cultures but, eventually, have the opportunity to break from human influence and see the world in a new way. In His Own Image is not about religion itself, and no ultimate religious conclusions are presented. Instead, it deals with how religion shapes our perception of reality. The reader is challenged to distinguish the part of their religion that was created by man from that which comes from God.

About the Author

Lewis Brown made a career out of communicating the latest agricultural science to farmers and county extension agents. During his time at Auburn University and the University of Georgia, he won numerous awards for university outreach and communication programs, including the University of Georgia’s Walter B. Hill Award for Public Service and Outreach—the most prestigious such award given by that university. Now, as a University of Georgia professor and assistant dean emeritus, he continues his passion for agriculture as a consultant and as an executive director of a nonprofit foundation. In his first novel, he continues to utilize his communication skills and experience in international travel to tell a story in historical fiction. His story is relevant to everyone, especially in today’s melting pot of international cultures. He writes with a unique style that most find easy to read and impactful. Brown and his wife, Mary, live in Tifton, Georgia, the primary setting for In His Own Image.