I’ve Written a New Book from the “Other Side” of my Life

I am pleased to announce the recent publication of my new book entitled, Questions of Faith: Encountering Christ at the Point of Doubt and Confusion [Mazarin Press, Raleigh, NC; additional details below]. The title and subject matter may surprise many of you, since only a handful of my “workers’ comp” colleagues would know that for the past 32 years, I have not so delicately balanced an active professional “secular” life in legal scholarship with the sacred.

I’m Doubly Blessed!

That is to say that for these many years now, while it has been my distinct privilege to play an important role with Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (18-vols., Matthew-Bender/LexisNexis), as well as half a dozen other, smaller publications in our field [e.g., Workers’ Compensation Law: Cases, Materials, and Text (Carolina Academic Press)], nevertheless, I am constantly and happily reminded that Jane and I moved to Durham from the Charlotte area (with four children in tow) way back in ‘86 in order that I could do graduate work at Duke University in Theology and Church History (I earned an M.Div. in 1989).

Virtually all my sacred writing during these years has been limited to short articles published in a number of small church-related journals and similar publications. In recent years, however, Jane and a few close friends have kept nudging me to gather some writings from a personal journal that I’ve maintained since the mid-80s. I have now done so and Questions of Faith is the result of that gleaning activity.

Duke Law Professor Jeff Powell’s Generous Blurb

Here are some kind words about my new book that have been offered by a good friend, Jeff Powell, a professor at Duke Law School:

Tom Robinson’s wise and moving book touches the mind and the heart.  For me, perhaps the most memorable feature of a book that is rich with things worth remembering is the mix of people you meet and the experiences you share:  Bunny and “Not Good Enough,” Mr. Hardman, the history teacher and a certain “crazy, weird, special class,” the dress that linked a young woman to her grandmother “across the face of Death itself,” the dying girl who laughed when asked how she knew it was Jesus who had visited her:  “Oh silly – I can always tell by his voice.”  What brings them all together, Robinson shows us, is the living presence of Christ himself, who comes to us in our questions and doubts and confusions, and whom we can trust because, as Robinson’s grandmother taught him, “Jesus is a gentleman; you can always take the word of a gentleman.”  I can’t think of any book I’ve read that more clearly invites us to see that the universal Christ is with us in all the details of our lives.

— H. Jefferson Powell, Professor, Duke University School of Law

Further Details for Those That Are Interested

The book is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions. I’m supplying the specific Amazon URL since, as you might imagine, there are quite a few “Tom Robinsons” in the publishing world. It is also available directly from the small publisher’s web site, www.mazarinpress.com. Those ordering from the publisher save 5 bucks off the cover price and tend to receive the book a day or two quicker than if purchased from Amazon.