Walk On

Walk On emerged from John Goldingay's profound personal crisis when his wife Ann developed multiple sclerosis in her thirties, transforming their lives and his understanding of faith. Goldingay, an Old Testament scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary, found himself confronting the gap between academic theology and lived experience as he watched his vibrant, intellectually gifted wife gradually lose her mobility, speech, and cognitive abilities. This spiritual autobiography chronicles not a crisis of faith but a deepening of it through suffering.

Goldingay refuses easy answers or triumphant narratives about suffering. Instead, he offers a raw, honest account of learning to trust God amid circumstances that make no sense and finding grace in the midst of loss. He explores how the Psalms became his prayer book, how friendship sustained him, and how God's presence manifested not in miraculous healing but in daily endurance. The book wrestles with fundamental questions about divine sovereignty, human suffering, and the nature of hope when circumstances do not improve. Goldingay's approach is both deeply personal and theologically sophisticated, drawing on his scholarly expertise while remaining grounded in the concrete realities of caregiving, grief, and persistent faith.

Walk On has endured because it avoids both sentimentality and despair, offering instead a model of faith that encompasses doubt, anger, and bewilderment without abandoning trust in God's goodness. Goldingay's willingness to live in tension rather than resolve it prematurely has made this work particularly valuable for those facing their own inexplicable losses. Who should read this: anyone walking through prolonged suffering, caregivers facing burnout, and those who want to understand how robust faith engages honestly with life's most difficult realities. This is not for readers seeking quick comfort or simple explanations for suffering.