Around Old Bethany: A Story of the Adventures of Robert and Mary Davis

In the rolling hills of late 19th-century Missouri, newlyweds Robert and Mary Davis arrive in the frontier community of Bethany carrying more than their belongings - they carry a desperate hunger for authentic faith. The town swells with immigrants and their competing denominations, each claiming to hold the truth, and the young couple finds themselves drowning in a sea of doctrines, each contradicting the other. What begins as an earnest spiritual search becomes a perilous journey through doctrinal confusion, heated debates with confident preachers, and eventually, violent confrontation with the local religious establishment - the domineering Peter Newby and his hot-headed brother Jake. As Robert and Mary risk everything for what they believe is the pure, unadorned Christianity of the New Testament, they discover that seeking truth in a world of false certainties may cost them their peace, their safety, and perhaps even their lives. This is a vivid portrait of faith struggling against the weight of human ambition and the corruption of sacred ideals.