Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
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Book Reviews of Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
Book Review: A Precious Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the course of my life I have learned certain things about salad; it has good, nourishing things in it, like spinach, almonds, feta cheese, and olive oil. Sometimes you can add strawberries. With a splash of balsamic vinegar, it sings. Other times it is dressed with slightly less healthy things like mayonnaise or sour cream, but generally its ingredients have a clear line of succession back to something alive; apples, raisins, eggs, potatoes.
Then I moved to South Dakota, where I was introduced to "salad". Unlike what I have just described, this concoction is made of things like Cool Whip and crushed up Oreos. It tastes good in the moment, but by the end of it I am always left slightly nauseous and wondering where it came from.
There's a lot of spiritual "salad" out there. Thankfully, this offering is not in that group. From the moment you crack open the cover, it sings. Her story of earthy, fragrant devotion to God is refreshing and very alive. It breathes the living life of Christ and speaks from the still beating but wounded heart of the church. Thankfully, Taylor veers only briefly into the sordid realm of political hot button issues, and for good reason.
With fifteen years in the pastoral crucible under her belt, and an evident love for all of us, Taylor comes across as someone you can trust. Her words in this precious memoir are nourishing, full of flavor and, like the vegetables in her Georgia garden, entirely organic.
Book Review: Touching Mind and Heart...
Summary: 5 Stars
Acclaimed Episcopal priest, Barbara Brown Taylor, finds herself after twenty years of pastoring "burnt out" and in need of spiritual reflection. She decides rather abruptly to leave, with the permission of the Bishop, and to take time to explore the "edges" of Christianity and spirituality, after years of explaining and proclaiming the "center."
Her journey is personal, yet universal, a time of searching and seeking, rethinking old assumptions and beliefs and exploring the very foundations of life. No one can read this book without finding nuggets of thought, of challenges to one's own life, of questions and explorations of our own faith journey.
Some have found her thinking infected by "New Age" philosophy and other uncommon spiritual approaches leading her away from the central truths of Christianity. I found her thinking profound and provocative, a strengthening of faith rather than the opposite. The book is especially recommended to church members and officials because in some telling passages she relates how difficult it is to relate to church members on a casual basis in that many believe they have to assume a mantle of religious thought and themes, rather than just be themselves, when talking to clergypersons.
She is a fine writer, sometimes poetic, never tiresome nor pedantic. Highly recommended for the permanent bookshelf of books to pick up now and then when your batteries are low.
Book Review: From another Pastor
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first BTB book. I've been reading articles by her for a long time, but was intrigued with this title. Frankly, I find "religious" books tiresome and boring much of the time. But, Brown has captured so many of the struggles I have had with the institutional church with such grace and gentleness, that I found myself welling up many times while reading. Her phrasing and descriptive passages about the meaning of the collar and the vestments of ministry was particularly poignant to me. I found myself feeling deeply her experience of serving the elements of the Eucharist. I, too, feel the sacredness of that moment, even though I serve in a less liturgical tradition.
Would that all of us who long to "leave church" could find another satisfying answer to God's inexorable call on our lives. I found myself wondering, still, after the book was finished, how she was able to leave the pastoral ministry. Sometime I hope that I might get a chance to sit on a porch, rocking, with her and have her explain it to me. Each time I even think of "leaving Church" I feel the relentless call of God pulling me back to serve in the place that I, in many ways, find after these 20 years, I don't want to be.
Even though the book was wonderful, and has taken its place on my shelf along with LaMotte and other female authors I highly value, she didn't answer the "Why I left Church" question for me.
Book Review: Leaving Church -- An excellent book
Summary: 5 Stars
Leaving Church was possibly the best book I have ever read exploring the issues of religion and faith and everyday life. Taylor looks at the questions of 'what is faith?', 'what is Christianity?', and 'how do those ideas tie in, or have meaning for me in terms of my personal experience of the divine?'
She also looks at the issues common to many people, women in particular, of becoming so immersed in taking care of others that one utterly loses oneself.
Taylor has a way of showing us how the seemingly simple or straight-forward 'demands' of faith need to fracture into a prism of possibilities and concerns when confronted with the actual complexities of the tapestry of human life.
I would recommend this book to anyone attempting to live the best life possible, and torn by the compromises that come with having limited resources of time, money, and energy. Taylor has been there before us, and has many insights to share that lighten one's load and broaden one's perspective.
Charry Stover
Crestone, Colorado
Book Review: Hope Renewed
Summary: 5 Stars
The age of 76 years is not an easy time to have a crisis of faith. I was, and am, faced with many questions about my Church. After reading Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor, the small questions have lessened in importance and a much larger picture has emerged.
I knew Barbara Brown Taylor to be a powerful preacher and retreat leader, but her writing has a personal tone with which the reader can identify and from which many answers can be gleaned.
I will read more of her books and feel that their importance is only now being realized by the faithful. For those of us who were, and still are, puzzled by the happenings in our Church today, her comments have been more than just helpful. They have kept me, and the friends for whom I have purchased the book, in the Church and hopeful for its future.