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Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 1,612 ratings · 210 reviews

By now I expected to be a seasoned parish minister, wearing black clergy shirts grown gray from frequent washing. I expected to love the children who hung on my legs after Sunday morning services until they grew up and had children of their own. I even expected to be buried wearing the same red vestments in which I was ordained.

Today those vestments are hanging in the sacr...more By now I expected to be a seasoned parish minister, wearing black clergy shirts grown gray from frequent washing. I expected to love the children who hung on my legs after Sunday morning services until they grew up and had children of their own. I even expected to be buried wearing the same red vestments in which I was ordained.

Today those vestments are hanging in the sacristy of an Anglican church in Kenya, my church pension is frozen, and I am as likely to spend Sunday mornings with friendly Quakers, Presbyterians, or Congregationalists as I am with the Episcopalians who remain my closest kin. Some-times I even keep the Sabbath with a cup of steaming Assam tea on my front porch, watching towhees vie for the highest perch in the poplar tree while God watches me. These days I earn my living teaching school, not leading worship, and while I still dream of opening a small restaurant in Clarkesville or volunteering at an eye clinic in Nepal, there is no guarantee that I will not run off with the circus before I am through. This is not the life I planned, or the life I recommend to others. But it is the life that has turned out to be mine, and the central revelation in it for me -- that the call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human -- seems important enough to witness to on paper. This book is my attempt to do that.

After nine years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Barbara Brown Taylor arrives in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500), following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock -- Taylor is one of the only professional women in the community -- but small-town life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves, but ultimately she finds herself experiencing "compassion fatigue" and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith she may have to leave.

Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor's realization that this may in fact be God's surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope -- and ultimately, renewal.(less)

Paperback, 272 pages

Published April 10th 2007 by HarperOne (first published 2006)

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Oct 13, 2011 Padraic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-i-am-still-christian

I had not come across Brown's writings before (my wife, on the other hand, raves about her). This is a beautifully written and gentle memoir about an Episcopal priest choosing to leave formal ministry for a more broadly defined sense of the divine. I know there are millions of these stories out there, but few are as exquisitely crafted and ultimately reassuring as this one. It spoke well to the heart of a weary Catholic.

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Nov 06, 2007 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, theology

At first, this memoir seemed almost too painful to read.

I have witnessed firsthand the way in which clergy and church leaders can be stretched to the breaking point trying to be all things to all people in the fractious household of God.

It's not an easy task, and in some cases, it's not a task that can be accomplished at all, which is the subject of Barbara Brown Taylor's book. After years of serving as an assistant rector in a large church in Atlanta. Rev. Taylor willingly and eagerly became p...more

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Sep 17, 2010 Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This book was "almost" amazing. I did love the book and I find Taylor's spiritual insight both sensitive and liberating. She has communicated what I've felt for several years about the personal spiritual journey and the love/hate relationship many people share with "organized" Christianity - yes - I said Christianity not religion. Being a Christian is very simple and too often "churchianity" makes it far too difficult. While Taylor's "leaving church" was not a jarring as I expected it to be, I a...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Deirdre Keating rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: inspirational, memoir

It wasn't the book I wanted it to be, but I loved it even more for telling its own story, instead of the one I had in my head as I began.

A beautiful and generous book. I wanted a slightly less guarded tone, but when it felt guarded, it was her old congregation's privacy she was mostly guarding. We couldn't have started our faith journeys more differently, but we ended up on very similiar land.

The last 50 pages of my copy is full of dog-ears. Here's one of my favorite passages:
"What if people wer...more

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Sep 11, 2008 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Leslie by: doug knowlton

Shelves: memoirs

As someone who has left churchand religion I was in for over 20 years, I have tried to find and read as many memoirs as I can about people that have left their churches, their religions, their faiths. This book is about a woman who becomes an Episcopal priest, loves it, gets burned out, and stops being a priest and becomes a professor. It's very well written and insightful. She doesn't stop believing what she believed all along, but her beliefs evolve, they aren't static. Her adjustment to becom...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Dan De Leon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Without commenting too much on the writing style, flow of the memoir, etc., I want to offer a quick perspective from a minister presently in full-time pastoral ministry. The book is divided into three sections (the most comprehensive and detailed of which is the first): "Finding," "Losing," "Keeping." Basically, although the details of my ministerial setting and experience are far different than those of Taylor's, I related most to the first section. In reading about her time in parish ministry...more Without commenting too much on the writing style, flow of the memoir, etc., I want to offer a quick perspective from a minister presently in full-time pastoral ministry. The book is divided into three sections (the most comprehensive and detailed of which is the first): "Finding," "Losing," "Keeping." Basically, although the details of my ministerial setting and experience are far different than those of Taylor's, I related most to the first section. In reading about her time in parish ministry at Grace Calvary Episcopal Church, I discovered a beautiful affirmation of my present involvement in pastoral ministry. Basically, I was relieved to discover that I am not alone and I am not crazy! It is not unique after all to be a pastor in a medium-sized church and the only minister on staff, herding the cats we clergy lovingly call a congregation. It is not wholly exceptional to spend one hour fielding complaints from a congregant about how the church is or isn't spending his or her pledged offerings, another hour receiving walk-in individuals and families in need of assistance with utility bill payments and purchasing groceries, another hour planning a worship service in its entirety and preparing the bulletin for it, another hour going through the required tediousness of snail mail, hourly logging, and various other paperwork, another hour visiting a hospitalized church member dealing with anything from the moments before childbirth to wondering whether they will survive the spinal infection that landed them in ICU, another hour overnighting documents that need notarized signatures in order to move the building project of a capital campaign forward and following up on said express mailings with phone calls that are followed by additional calls when your voicemails are not returned, and another hour gathering and studying various materials for sermon prep. Where do ministers find the time to actually write sermons, pray, be in purposeful contemplation of and with the Divine, and care for themselves? Taylor's book exposes that clergy experience for lay readers and for those outside the church setting, and it reminds ministers of the possible reality of their own experience and the need to change it for the sake of the church as well as the minister him/herself. Perhaps this is what Jesus is getting at when he says that those who lose their lives will save it.(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Jon marked it as to-read

"Encountering God in other people is saving my life now. I do not look for angels anymore, although I have nothing against them. The clerk at the grocery store is messenger enough for me, at least if I give her a fraction of the attention that I lavish on my interior monologue. To emerge from my self-preoccupation long enough to acknowledge her human presence is no mean feat, but when I do I can almost always discover what she has to teach me – and not only she, but every person who crosses my p...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Debra rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author was an Episcopalian Priest who walked away from a very strong identity to her church and it rattled her to the foundations of her faith. Anyone who has left a church, regardless of the religion, can relate to the universal truth about feeling betrayed and dislocated without something so pivotal as to how we connect with God.

Like so many of us who bring our idealistic notions into church with high expectations of both serving God and experiencing God, a popped church balloon can send u...more The author was an Episcopalian Priest who walked away from a very strong identity to her church and it rattled her to the foundations of her faith. Anyone who has left a church, regardless of the religion, can relate to the universal truth about feeling betrayed and dislocated without something so pivotal as to how we connect with God.

Like so many of us who bring our idealistic notions into church with high expectations of both serving God and experiencing God, a popped church balloon can send us plummeting to the ground. The ground is very hard and for many of us we end up splattered everywhere and it takes a long time to put Humpty Dumpty back together again--and then we're not the same--what with those cracks all over!

When I left my church, I had no idea that others had left. I had know idea that Christians had similar "exit" experiences of betrayal, hurt and grief when leaving their churches. The damages done when leaving a church does not seem to be about religion, but more about leaving a conviction in God. We feel betrayed by God. We question how it was even possible to be led down this path? Is it God's fault? Is it our fault?

For the author, she literally had to decide what to do the day "after" she left her clergy position with her church, whereas for some the realization they've left might take a long time.

Barbara Brown Taylor went through actual physical withdrawals, finding herself on the floor with horrible headaches. It seemed she started pulling herself together by remembering the Sabbath and making time for a personal relationship with God, rather than all the doing for everyone else. Her healing came through nature and by opening her mind to other religions, weighing them against her own, and finding peace somewhere in the middle.

The author found it hard to go to other churches, and her the transition from leader to follower was unsettling. For me, just attending a Christian church felt like betrayal on the highest order! I'd jumped off the jet and onto the bullcart! Oh what we can do to our spiritual lives.

Like the author, I couldn't find spiritual or emotional support. Local Christian Pastors had no experience to counsel me, and for Barbara she'd been the counselor!

Our differences part here, as Barbara went off looking for the meaning behind other religions and embraced them, while I had been down those "many roads," and had settled onto the Road to Damascus.

She wrote a moving story of her father's decline and death from cancer, another subject that I'm very familiar with, and she made this astute observation while watching him die and wondering about his relationship with God: "All I found out was how helpless love can be, with nothing left to do but suffer alongside with the beloved."

I highly recommend this book to affirm that the loss of a church can be devastating but the return to spiritual health entirely possible.(less)

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Sep 09, 2012 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, mainstream-us, spirit

Leaving Church is a beautiful, slow meditation on finding a belonging of the spirit, whether that be inside or outside a house of worship. Taylor, an Episcopal priest for nine years in downtown Atlanta, then for five more in rural Clarkesville, Georgia, slowly learns that the demands of clerical life are choking her ability to connect to the divine. The story of her struggle to find balance between her work and home lives will be familiar to many people; her sense of what's missing for some from...more Leaving Church is a beautiful, slow meditation on finding a belonging of the spirit, whether that be inside or outside a house of worship. Taylor, an Episcopal priest for nine years in downtown Atlanta, then for five more in rural Clarkesville, Georgia, slowly learns that the demands of clerical life are choking her ability to connect to the divine. The story of her struggle to find balance between her work and home lives will be familiar to many people; her sense of what's missing for some from regular church services will likewise be thought-provoking and enlightening in turn.

Taylor and I do not share the same faith tradition, but even if I consider the Christianity of my youth, I'd say we didn't share a faith tradition then. Taylor looks for the divine in all things, and finds the greatest divine resonance in the outdoors, among other living things, be those people, animals, birds, or creatures of the water. She celebrates the Bible as a set of stories written by humans who desperately wanted to live up to the example of the holy ones who had gone before, rather than an absolute Truth. She has a great deal of wisdom to offer about the difference between Jesus' lived life and the religion that rose up in memory of that life. All of these things were missing from my childhood church. I left the church a long time ago, but I retain a sense of a divine, positive presence in the world. Taylor's book particularly resonated for me on that subject - her meditations on the largeness of the divine were very beautiful.

Taylor's referencing of Native American religious systems is problematic - she often reduces hundreds of distinct religious traditions into one monolithic "Native American religion." There are other word slips - the use of the word Negro in one place; comments about the "privilege" of poverty in another that seemed to me to be privileged in an entirely different way. Still, I found the heart of the book to be utterly lovely, and I'm glad it's a book that I've read.(less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christianity, literary-memoir, nonfiction, religion

I have a jumbled reaction to Taylor's memoir Leaving Church, which tells the story of her decision to resign from her position as an Episcopal priest in rural Georgia. First of all, Taylor writes beautifully. Her metaphors read like Wendell Berry poems, and the more you reread them, the more they give back to you. Taylor has thought deeply about why she felt called to leave formal ministry and she generously shares the fruit of her reflection with readers. There is much in her story to provoke r...more I have a jumbled reaction to Taylor's memoir Leaving Church, which tells the story of her decision to resign from her position as an Episcopal priest in rural Georgia. First of all, Taylor writes beautifully. Her metaphors read like Wendell Berry poems, and the more you reread them, the more they give back to you. Taylor has thought deeply about why she felt called to leave formal ministry and she generously shares the fruit of her reflection with readers. There is much in her story to provoke rich discussions--in fact, for the past few days I've been urging my partner to read the book because I would love to talk about it with him.

At the same time, I had a hard time understanding why some of Taylor's questions and revelations about Christianity's anti-semitic history, historical quashing of different interpretations, tendency to overuse hierarchy, etc., came to her so late in her life. I kept thinking, "Didn't she study that in seminary?" Frankly, I think that that isn't a very fair reaction for me to have; this is her life, after all, very different from mine--a different generation, a different Christian tradition, a different personality, a different life path. I guess that's what it is: Taylor's journey is of a kind that I can imagine my mother having, but for me many of the new ideas that Taylor encounters after leaving the priesthood are thoughts, questions, viewpoints, and information that I had access to at a much younger age (which isn't to claim that I mastered these things in any way, just that I had much earlier exposure). Maybe it's the internet? So I had to work a bit to lay that feeling aside several times and just appreciate Taylor's journey as her own journey, reminding myself that her encounters with these ideas, at her age and in light of her unique experience, are probably richer and more multi-faceted than my own, coming to her with a very different significance after having served as a priest for several decades.

In some ways, I felt that Taylor ended her book around the exact same place I have been for the past several years--"camping in the yard" of the church, rather than being able to join what is going on at the altar; feeling that "the way many of us are doing church is broken" but "we do not know what to do about it." In Taylor's book, I was looking for advice on where to go from here, but Taylor only speaks to that in the final few pages of her book, and in somewhat abstract terms. Then again, this might also be the fault of my reading--maybe I was looking too hard for concrete answers to my own dilemma, for a vividly marked path, so much so that I read right over what Taylor actually offered. Maybe I should read this book again, with a more ready willingness to learn from what's in it.

I guess what I'm saying is: if you've been "camping in the yard" of your religious tradition for a while already, some of what Taylor covers may seem like old ground. But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to learn from in her memoir.

In any case, I enjoyed the book, and I would be very interested if Taylor would write another memoir five or ten years from now to talk about where she goes from here.(less)

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Nov 27, 2011 Melanie added it

Shelves: memoir, religion

I normally rate the books that I read, but in this case, I am going to take a wimpy pass on providing a rating. The story follows a woman Episcopal priest who joins the clergy- helps her church grow quite quickly and then eventually burns out feeling empty and further from the Divine than she has ever been before. In all her religiosity and business for God she misplaced her love relationship. She then becomes a teacher and is free to explore religion again and anew.

I loved the story and the wa...more I normally rate the books that I read, but in this case, I am going to take a wimpy pass on providing a rating. The story follows a woman Episcopal priest who joins the clergy- helps her church grow quite quickly and then eventually burns out feeling empty and further from the Divine than she has ever been before. In all her religiosity and business for God she misplaced her love relationship. She then becomes a teacher and is free to explore religion again and anew.

I loved the story and the warnings about not becoming overly religious or ceremonial. I also appreciate where she has been and come through, as I have also been burnt by the church and left for dead upon exiting ministry.

She has many great quotes and I will list some below. I guess I struggle with some of her ideas. They are massively uncomfortable to me, but I don't feel I can rate this book lower because of it, because I am not prepared to declare myself completely right or even necessarily at odds with most of what she is saying. The part that made me the most uncomfortable was her views on the Bible. "... a great deal of Christian theology began as a stammering response to something that had actually happened in the world. Because Jesus dies instead of ushering in the messianic age, Paul responded with a doctrine of atonement. Because the risen Christ struck his followers as very close kin to God, the early church responded with a doctrine of the Trinity. Because Christians did not turn out to be much better behaved than anyone else, Augustine responded with a doctrine of Original sin." (p. 108) This just makes me so uncomfortable because Jesus taught many of these things himself, though maybe without the catch titles listed above. I don't think the Church is responsible for making these up.

Later she says: "I will keep the Bible, which remains the Word of God for me, but always the Word as heard by generations of human beings as flawed as I. As beautifully as these witnesses write, their divine inspiration can never be separated from their ardent desires; their genuine wish to serve God cannot be divorced from their self-interest. That God should use such blemished creatures to communicate God's reality so well makes the Bible its own kind of miracle, but I hope never to put the book ahead of the people whom the book calls me to love and serve." (p. 216)

I like many of her ideas, (church reform, Jesus as the new Adam) but I cannot sit comfortably with the above thoughts on the Bible. (admittedly, I am far from prepared to defend my opinion that the Bible is infallible, yet I am not prepared to place it's authority underneath my own ideas or whispers from the spirit in my single heart.) I agree that the Holy Spirit is important, but I think we need to pass all things through the test of God's Word, the ultimate truth. It seems the author is afraid people will stop living and purely study the Bible for life and truth, but in my experience, I don't see much danger in our current generation spending too much time in study and not enough in life and love. The Bible is the road map to life and anything else makes me extremely uncomfortable.

I am glad to have read this book, I might even read more of what she has written, but I am cautious of some of her beliefs.(less)

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Nov 19, 2011 Noel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, received-through-paperbackswap, women-s-lit

The memoir of a woman who struggles to find herself through her work and discovers she must remove herself from her work to figure herself out. It's a book of revelations, of those kodak moments which shatter all that which we have held true since we were kids. Well written, very introspective and very respectful of those with strong religion-based faith as well as agnostics.

"...she had been prepared all of her life to choose between good and evil. What no one had prepared her for, ...was to ch...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author is an Episcopal priest who moves from parish priest to college professor, so the book is about her change of professions rather than giving up her faith in God. She had served on the staff of a large urban church in Atlanta for nine years before she spent five years as pastor in a rural Georgia church. She referred to having 'compassion fatigue.' "By my rules, caring for troubled people alway stook precedence over enjoying delightful people, and the line of troubled people never ended...more

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May 10, 2011 Andrew David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In her thoughtful memoir Leaving Church, Barbara Brown Taylor explains that the idea of joining the priesthood “seemed only slightly less dicey ... than being chief engineer at a nuclear plant. In both cases, one needed to know how to approach great power without loosing great danger and getting fried in the process.” In some sense, then, Leaving Church is all about getting burned. Taylor's affair with the Divine begins in the Kansas prairie grass behind her childhood home, winds through the hal...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Winnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Susan Greene gave me this book.
After 9 years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Taylor arrives in rural Clarksville, GA (pop. 1500) following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock. She is one of the only professional women in the community -- but smalltown life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves...more

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Feb 06, 2010 Michele rated it 4 of 5 stars

Leaving Church is one of those books that has been recommended to me over and over again in the last few years by people whose opinion I trust. Because I share enough of Taylor's story to have it resonate with me, I suppose I would say that I could not make time to read it before now. I would add that I am grateful it came into my hands when it did.

I underlined a good portion of the book; there are sentences that both sting and ring true for someone who has also found her worth in being good (an...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I first discovered Barbara Brown Taylor on a podcast from ItunesU. She gave a sermon at Duke chapel called "Exposed! The Imposter Syndrome" which I highly, highly recommend downloading. It is a thought-provoking articulation about the issue of heaven and hell. I listened to a couple more podcasts after that and, lo and behold, Amazon.com (who knows me oh so well) has this book on my list of recommended reads. Taylor served as an ordained Episcopal priest for 10 years in a church in Georgia. She...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Rhonda Rae Baker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: healing, legacy, loss, memoir, motivational, own, religious, spiritual

I totally identified with this memoir. Leaving the church organization is the best thing that I have ever done. It was a starting point for my spirituality even though there were many things that hurt me within the walls of the church. Religiosity has left a sour taste in my mouth, especially when it comes to one person believing they are better than others. Some of this story was funny because I understood where she was coming from. Some of it was serious because I know what it is to be judged...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Demetrius Rogers rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, ministry

On the minus side of two. I feel bad rating this so low. Taylor is actually quite likable and her writing skills are exquisite. But, I felt the book may have been more of a therapy to the author than to the reader. She may have needed to write this book (to get it out of her system); but I, for one, didn't need to read it. It wasn't particularly helpful. I didn't learn anything new; maybe a couple of things were just reinforced and that is: keep to your giftings and stay within your means. Prett...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christianity-and-spirituality, christian-church, memoir, nonfiction

I picked this one up since it was recommended by Sarah Sentilles, an author who I very much admire. As I am not Episcopal, many of the rituals and ceremonies of priesthood that Taylor describes are unfamiliar to me, but the underlying "church-ness" is not. She recounts her calling to the ministry, her education and ordaining, her service in a church in Atlanta, and later, in the small town of Clarkesville, where her arrival as a female pastor causes many families to leave the church. As the year...more

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Dec 03, 2009 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-memoir, religious-spiritual

Beautifully written, thought-provoking, profound memoir of a woman who becomes an Episcopal priest (renown for her preaching skills), loves it, but gets burned out, and after a lot of guilt & soul-searching gives up her pastorate to become a religion professor and spiritual seeker. The book gives an eye-opening (to me) account of the life of an ordained minister/priest. It's an almost achingly honest story of her struggle between wanting to serve God as an Episcopal priest and wanting to lov...more

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Jan 16, 2008 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

Ironically Barbra Brown Taylor's experience of personal/spiritual growth through the process of leaving her pastorate to teach, convinces me that I shouldn't at all be eager to jump ship. If our life isn't deeply rooted in community, everything is open to question. Taylor glories in this. I am not so sure. There is something good about being able to explore things as an outsider, but it is not the same thing as belonging.

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Nov 19, 2009 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

How can a leader of the flock grow in their own spirituality? If one must spend most of their time tending to others and teaching the religion's precepts, it seems to leave no time for one's own spiritual exploration. Here is one Episcopal priest who found the mantle of shepard was more like a cage. Part of the problem was that she wanted to do it all and help everyone and couldn't allow herself her own time. Part of the problem was the way a church leader is viewed, automatically leading to a s...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Martha rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is not a description of a particular faith or religion though there is plenty of that in there. There are also plenty of references to God that some may find jarring. This story is reallly about the rea life struggle of a "giver" and "helper." Ms Taylor found out that being a priest is all about being "on" all the time and available to others. She was unable to draw any clear boundaries where her life ends and others begins. She struggled through the decision to leave her church and continu...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Michael Cremin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion, life-lessons

In the end, it is the liberal Episcopalians who speak to my soul. Marcus Borg, Sarah Miles, John Spong, Gene Robinson, the good people at St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston, and now Barbara Taylor. This is a beautiful, spiritual book about a woman whose call to priesthood ends up encompassing much more than her ordination. Mrs. Taylor was an Episcopal priest for nearly twenty years before leaving her ministry and becoming a Professor of Religion. She writes honestly and lyrically about how she ended...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Readnponder rated it 4 of 5 stars

Barbara Brown Taylor, an episcopal priest, explains why she left clerical ministry in this memoir. She continues to attend church and she continues to minister to those in need, but not as a full-time day job. She currently teaches religion in a college.

To me, it seemed that burn out played a big part of her decision. "When have you helped enough?" Well, never, because the needs keep coming, but no one can live like that for very long.

The issue of gays in the church was also heating up during...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Keith Madsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

What is it like for a woman, a woman who had to fight her way into a male-dominated profession like the Episcopal priesthood, all because she hungered to serve God, to just leave it? That is what Barbara Brown Taylor, a nationally influential writer and preacher, did; and this book is her story. Brown has a personal writing style which makes it easy to relate to her experience. As a pastor myself, I especially related to her references to people distancing themselves from you once they realize y...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Glen Grunau rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has been required reading for the spiritual formation graduate program at Carey College in Vancouver. Two of my Soulstream friends have been in this program. I borrowed this book from one of them – my friend Nancy when I was visiting her a couple of months ago and saw it sitting on her book shelf. One of my favourite voyeuristic habits is to scan the bookshelves of people when I am a guest in their home. The title of this book jumped out at me as it represents an important theme in my...more This book has been required reading for the spiritual formation graduate program at Carey College in Vancouver. Two of my Soulstream friends have been in this program. I borrowed this book from one of them – my friend Nancy when I was visiting her a couple of months ago and saw it sitting on her book shelf. One of my favourite voyeuristic habits is to scan the bookshelves of people when I am a guest in their home. The title of this book jumped out at me as it represents an important theme in my life, considering that I left my own church almost one year ago. It represents the third book on leaving church I have read in recent years but in some ways the most profound because it was written from the vantage point of a minister so immersed in the church, that she lost her identity and almost her own soul in the process. I'm not sure I have witnessed such honesty by a member of the clergy before.

I was strongly attracted to Barbara Brown Taylor, as I always am to Christian leaders who courageously testify to their own vulnerability and brokenness. I have certainly had my fair share of experience with ministers in the church who have been oblivious to their own ego driven false self agendas that have made them completely vulnerable to losing their identity beneath their title and role as Minister of the Gospel. If this is not one of the most unfortunate and tragic ironies in the church, I cannot imagine what is. However, just as tragic in my own life is my recognition in recent years of how I lost my own identity in the roles and titles that I held, no, grasped and clung to, in my years in church leadership. I shudder as I recall how close I came to pursuing full-time Christian ministry at a time when my false self was actively and unconsciously propelling the bulk of my ambition. I love how Taylor admits that climbing the ecclesiastical ladder is really no different than climbing the corporate ladder. How could we have made it so different when the underlying condition is often identical? Somehow we have fooled ourselves into thinking that “holy ambition” in Christian ministry is protected from such self-interest. (less)

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Feb 07, 2009 Bill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pastoral-reads

A powerful and thought provoking work, that made me think twice about what it means to be called by God as a pastor. A great storyteller, who fills the pages with stories that make you laugh till you double over, but then hits you with a truth so hard that it stands you back up.

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Mar 24, 2011 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the most amazing books I've read in a long time. Taylor writes beautifully and expressively. Every metaphor is well-crafted and multifaceted. The love of each word is evident as this book was a blessing. My first reaction to the book was that it seemed so very accurate to me. As a child of a pastor, I've witness first-hand many of the painful effects the preaching life can have on a minister. I tried not to call any particular event from my earlier years to mind (because I don't want to r...more

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About Barbara Brown Taylor

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Barbara Brown Taylor’s first trade book was met with widespread critical acclaim, including the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and NPR’s Fresh Air. Taylor served All Saints’ Church in downtown Atlanta for nine years as an associate priest before moving to rural north Georgia in 1992 to become rector of Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville, Georgia. A frequent gue...more

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“I know plenty of people who find God most reliably in books, in buildings, and even in other people. I have found God in all of these places too, but the most reliable meeting place for me has always been creation. Since I first became aware of the Divine Presence in that lit-up field in Kansas, I have known where to go when my own flame is guttering. To lie with my back flat on the fragrant ground is to receive a transfusion of the same power that makes the green blade rise. To remember that I am dirt and to dirt I shall return is to be given my life back again, if only for one present moment at a time. Where other people see acreage, timber, soil, and river frontage, I see God's body, or at least as much of it as I am able to see. In the only wisdom I have at my disposal, the Creator does not live apart from creation but spans and suffuses it. When I take a breath, God's Holy Spirit enters me. When a cricket speaks to me, I talk back. Like everything else on earth, I am an embodied soul, who leaps to life when I recognize my kin. If this makes me a pagan, then I am a grateful one.” — 6 people liked it

“With so much effort being poured into church growth, so much press being given to the benefits of faith, and so much flexing of religious muscle in the public square, the poor in spirit have no one but Jesus to call them blessed anymore.” — 5 people liked it

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Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

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