Walking Blind, Revised and Expanded Edition
Essays on Faith
- Christian Living
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2025
FritzSearch.com earns a commission on purchases made through Bookshop.org links.
Publisher's Description
In this collage of essays, Robert L. Canfield examines passages of the Bible that have informed his understanding of himself, his faith, his life, and his career. Its narratives, proclamations, claims, and promises have influenced his priorities, his preoccupations and public consciousness, and his approach to the deep questions that, on a subliminal level, vex all of us. In the biblical passages he examines here, he reflects on the nature of the human condition, the origins of the Christian movement, the importance of creativity in the practice of authentic faith, the social implications of the gospel, the status of those who have "never heard," the contemporary threats to Earth's ecosystem, and the wonder of the cosmos. Some of the passages examined here receive little notice by biblical commentators. He addresses this work to those who have limited knowledge of the Bible in hopes of inspiring them to examine its various writings as sources of personal wisdom and self-understanding as well as perspective on the ever more urgent issues of public and international concern.
Endorsements (3)
“In these beautifully written and thought-provoking essays, Canfield draws an important distinction between religion and faith. Walking in religion is about control and conforming to rules and regulations. In contrast, walking ‘blindly’ by faith in Jesus requires us to trust God completely as we are led ‘blindly’ by the Holy Spirit.”
“When I left home at eighteen, two questions screamed in my head for a cogent answer to my Christian fundamentalist indoctrination: Is it true? And does it work? Canfield answers the first in chapter 3 on the resurrection. The remainder of his book handles the second, from American culture to our constitution. It is an effort that defies credulity. Who can imagine a scholar, surely not an anthropologist, taking on such a herculean challenge? Canfield takes this bait. And the result is a mental stimulation of the highest order.”
“[In this work] Canfield muses on lesser-known Bible passages, not anthropologically, but rather theologically as an anthropologist. He brings people in the Bible to life, showing how, in their context, they handled life experiences with emotion and response relative to their circumstances. As human beings, we today, do the same—the human condition binds us all. Canfield’s well-researched and culturally analyzed reflections demonstrate there is ‘nothing new under the sun.’ Ultimately, individuals as well as whole societies must ‘walk by faith and not by sight.’”
See something wrong on this page? Report a problem