Erik Strandness Biography

Dr. Strandness practiced neonatal medicine for 20 years before changing careers in 2009. During the latter part of his medical career, he became increasingly convicted by a disconnect between the way he practiced medicine and the way he lived out his faith. In the hospital, he would prescribe medications and employ medical technologies based on time-tested, peer-reviewed scientific literature, but embarrassingly found himself practicing his faith based on personal anecdotes and untested theories. He had to ask himself how he could, in good conscience, prescribe Christianity to others without first carefully testing it in the laboratory of life.

He then began to aggressively investigate his faith by going back to school and obtaining a masters degree in theology and becoming a fellow in the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. All of his investigation prompted him to write several Christian apologetic books. His first, The Director’s Cut, introduces a unique “bottom-up” approach to apologetics which frames the Christian worldview in a theatrical context. He was honored to discuss this book on the nationally syndicated radio talk show, In The Market with Janet Parshall, in September of 2014. His second book, Cry of the Elephant Man, explores the significance of being created in God’s image as an explanation for human exceptionalism as well as powerful evidence for the existence of God. His third book, God Spoke, makes the case that our spiritual nature is the result of our hardwired human longing to rethink the thoughts of a God who has already spoken his mind.

During his eight-year break from medicine he taught at a classical Christian school, provided worldview education to men at the Union Gospel Mission, and became an Association of Christian Schools International certified continuing education provider. He returned to neonatal medicine in 2017 and worked for an additional five years finally retiring from medicine in 2022. He currently teaches apologetics at a private Christian school while remaining active writing articles for Premier Christian, lecturing on Christian worldview, and is in the midst of writing a fourth book tentatively titled “Everyone Groans: An Apologetic of Lament.” He is passionate about helping Christians understand their faith so that they can effectively engage their critics as well as winsomely proclaim the Gospel to others with gentleness and respect. He currently lives in Spokane and is married with three children.