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: To Live a Life of Love
Summary: 4 Stars
This gracefully written narrative tells the story of Taylor's journey toward ordained ministry, her years as an Episcopal priest, and her departure from that life into a new vocation as a college professor. She decides that the most important calling is not to be ordained or to be religious, but to be fully human and to live a life of love. This is a touching autobiography, an eloquent memoir of faith.Book Review: interesting journey
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoyed reading the memoir Leaving Church. I enjoy hearing other people's faith journeys and this was well written. It shows that faith and seeking God broadens and changes as it grows. The author is open about this process and how it isn't always easy, especially when you are invested in the process.Book Review: A memoir of Experience
Summary: 3 Stars
This book would have been more accurately described in the subtitle as a "Memoir of Personal Experience".
She dismisses orthodox Christian Theology and doctrine as something that the Apostles and Early Church had to "come up with" to explain this or that.
Ultimately it is a story of how the narrow Christian path and Church "didn't work" for her, and many of her thoughts and experiences confirm the fact that women were never meant to be "priests" in the first place (though this fact enrages those who hold to the political language of "equal rights" versus sound apostolic theology).
I found the book pleasant and very readable, but at the same time it was a sad story of how Christ just "wasn't enough". While most in our culture will find it "affirming" or down right "spiritual", it is a disappointment for the orthodox Christian who may wish to read a story about how Christ and the scriptures contain "all things necessary for salvation".
Barbara's approach in later life is gnostic and universalist. In the words of her Presiding Bishopess, "saying Christ is the only way is to put God in too small of a box". Emotions, feelings, and cravings rule the day in the final analysis of her relationship to Christ, and it seems that "leaving" orthodoxy is freeing to her, though I question she was ever there in the first place. Ultimately, God is the final judge of what she has done and what she now teaches.
Her elevation of Native American theology and her fondness of "other paths" leads the committed Christian looking elsewhere for a story of knowing Christ and Him crucified, and following Him in a culture that values personal choice and heterodoxy over all other things.
In the end it is a volume that will find great company with the writings of Spong, Borg, Ehrman, and others who deny the reality of John 14:6 and the authority of Holy Sripture in the name of being on "an authentic journey".
If I have to "put my eggs in one basket" I am going to have to stick with the Apostles and the Church Fathers and leave "other ways" up to Barbara, fine preacher though she is.
Book Review: A Personal Schism
Summary: 3 Stars
Barbara Brown Taylor's "Leaving Church" is a vivid memoir describing her journey from being an Episcopal priest to living in Nature. Taylor, ironically, is still teaching about religion, though she is no longer a religious. She has been laicized. Her departure from the ordained ministry reflects the current divisions within the Episcopal Church (USA).
Taylor's "Leaving Church" illuminates,like a medieval manuscript,the life of an ordained woman within ECUSA,as well as in a part of the country where female pastors aren't that much accepted. ECUSA has ordained women for three decades, but there are still dioceses--and people--that resist. It's fascinating to see the women's ordination issue from a woman's firsthand perspective. The description of her ordination is powerful. She briefly mentions the LGBT issues within ECUSA as well, reflecting that the pastors who mentored her might very well have been gay. Unfortunately,she is far too brief in describing the debates within her parish.
"Leaving Church" ends with Taylor,no longer an ordained priest,living as a priestess within Nature. No longer governed by the liturgical cycle, she lives by Nature's cycles. "Leaving Faith" leaves the reader hungry for more.
Book Review: Perhaps not a book with universal appeal.
Summary: 2 Stars
I very much looked forward to reading this book and was aware that it was getting some very nice reviews. So, I was surprised to be underwhelmed and disappointed by it. Perhaps, if I knew the author, had heard any of her inspiring sermons or read her other works, I would view this memoir more favorably. Before writing this review I consulted with one other person in my church who just finished the book. Interestingly, that person had a very similar reaction to mine. I give the book 2 stars because it appears to resonate with some readers - perhaps, the majority of those who are actually reading it. But, I can't imagine that its appeal would be universal among general readers or even the niche of Christian readers. The best way to explain this thought may be through a comparison. Consider the book "My Struggle with Faith", by Father Joseph Girzone (author of the "Joshua" series): (1) it is an uplifting personal account with a clear intent to benefit and inspire the reader, (2) the book is all about faith and is fully relevant to clergy or laymen,(3) the cover bears the picture of a happy human face. In contrast, "Leaving Church": (1) is not uplifting and feels like a rationalization for the author's life decisions, (2) is not really about faith, but more about job burn-out and one person's struggle to achieve a healthy balance between personal and professional life, (3) the cover on my copy features a beautiful white bird fleeing from the gate of an antique cage - are we to assume that the author views herself as the beautiful bird and views the Episcopal Church as an antique cage?
Perhaps the author should be applauded for her honesty, but I was deflated by her apparent inability to sit in a pew after her own decision to relinquish her position behind the pulpit. I was also deflated by her admission of mourning the loss of social status once she removed the collar. These things represented conflicts to me because the author seems to want to convince the reader that she has achieved a better and purer form of faith now that she has left church.
I would definitely not recommend this book to people in search of their spiritual compass. Nor would I give this book to anyone who is enthusiastic about pursuing a life of service in the clergy.