Walking Blind, Revised and Expanded Edition: Essays on Faith

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.

Robert L. Canfield is emeritus professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis