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When God is Silent: Divine language beyond words
In these 1997 Lyman Beecher Lectures in Preaching delivered at Yale Divinity School, the author focuses on the task of those who preach and those who hear sermons in a world where people thirst for a word from God.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
44 people are currently reading
1082 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Brown Taylor
62 books1,237 followersBarbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church (2006), won an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. Her last book, Learning to Walk in the Dark (2014), was featured on the cover of TIME magazine. She has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Columbia Theological Seminary, Candler School of Theology at Emory University, McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. In 2014 TIME included her on its annual list of Most Influential People; in 2015 she was named Georgia Woman of the Year; in 2016 she received The President’s Medal at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Mercer University and is working on her fourteenth book, Holy Envy, forthcoming from HarperOne in August 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
April 3, 2012
This is a slight little book, size-wise, but I have three times as many highlights in it as any other book I own. It is dense with ideas like a fruitcake is full of goodies.
It is targeted toward pastors, but approachable for anyone with a moderate understanding of theology. My mom bought copies for my siblings and I because she found it so meaningful, and I can certainly understand that impulse.
Taylor is teasing out what it means that we don't hear from God anymore. God used to talk to the Israelites all the time, but as the Bible progresses, we hear God's voice less and less. She argues that part of this is because we now live in a desert of noise, and we are thirsty for the Word, but can't make it out amidst all the other things we are listening to.
I want to share so many quotes with you, but I will settle for a few, to give you the flavor of her language and logic.
On a personal level, I was struck by this quote:
There is a nutritional deficiency disease called kwashiokor. It is not an overall lack of calories, but a lack of protein and micronutrients. People can fill their bellies with carbohydrates and not feel hunger pangs, but they are still lacking, to the point of death. Her statements here made me think about how we can feel like we are consuming enough to feed our souls, but still not feel safe and nourished.
There are some really painful moments of realization for me in this book. Somehow, the image of Jesus on the cross asking for word from his father, and his father giving him nothing, not bread nor even a stone, was one of the saddest crucifixion narratives I've read.
It is targeted toward pastors, but approachable for anyone with a moderate understanding of theology. My mom bought copies for my siblings and I because she found it so meaningful, and I can certainly understand that impulse.
Taylor is teasing out what it means that we don't hear from God anymore. God used to talk to the Israelites all the time, but as the Bible progresses, we hear God's voice less and less. She argues that part of this is because we now live in a desert of noise, and we are thirsty for the Word, but can't make it out amidst all the other things we are listening to.
I want to share so many quotes with you, but I will settle for a few, to give you the flavor of her language and logic.
"Without limits, we would have no feel for the infinite. Without limits, we would be freed from our longing for what lies beyond. It is precisely our inability to say God that teaches us who God is. When we run out of words, we are very near the God whose name is unsayable."
"At their request, God never spoke to all the people again. Secondary speech replaced primary speech. The pillar of fire and cloud that led the people through the wilderness gave way to a tabernacle they could carry around with them. The hot lava of God's voice cooled into the six hundred thirteen commandments of the law."`
On a personal level, I was struck by this quote:
Perhaps there is no proof a famine exists except for the fact that people are hungry. In the land of plenty, the source of that hunger can be difficult to diagnose. It is often not until we have tried to ease it with everything else we know that we discover by process of elimination our hunger for God. Our problem is not too few rations, but too many. The proof that we are in the midst of a famine of the Word are the suffocating piles of our own dead words that rise up around us on every side. It is because they do not nourish us that we require so many of them. It takes thousands of words, coming at us every moment, to distract us from the terrible silence within.
There is a nutritional deficiency disease called kwashiokor. It is not an overall lack of calories, but a lack of protein and micronutrients. People can fill their bellies with carbohydrates and not feel hunger pangs, but they are still lacking, to the point of death. Her statements here made me think about how we can feel like we are consuming enough to feed our souls, but still not feel safe and nourished.
There are some really painful moments of realization for me in this book. Somehow, the image of Jesus on the cross asking for word from his father, and his father giving him nothing, not bread nor even a stone, was one of the saddest crucifixion narratives I've read.
February 25, 2017
A beautiful, wise book about the impossibility of hearing from and talking about God, but also about the need to try. Written for preachers but worth reading for anyone who wants to hear from those same preachers, or communicate their thoughts about God to others - your children, through blog, through Sunday School, in all the different ways we speak about the unspeakable. It has a lot to say about silence and mystery and failure. It's beautiful.
December 1, 2020
Very well written, but I disagreed with many of her conclusions.
March 23, 2013
One of the most brilliant and honest books on faith I've ever read. This is not a book for those who enjoy formulaic and simplistic understandings of God and the life of faith. This is a book for those who struggle. It's a book for those who are willing to sit on an ash heap of questions and doubts knowing that God is still close at hand. It's a book for those who see faith more as a work of art and less as a math problem with easy to solve answers. Brilliant and challenging book!
November 21, 2019
Fantastic book
May 29, 2018
Taylor writes this book to preachers, first describing the cultural situation, then expositing from Scripture, then offering advice.
She observes that the culture is so saturated with noise, that people have become hard of hearing, and defensive toward messages. Silence can actually be striking, getting our attention better than noise.
In Scripture, we see that God was most silent, except for a few key times. When people came into contact with God, He was overwhelming. When people tried to explain Him, they didn't do justice.
In light of this, Taylor calls for economy, courtesy, and reverence in speech. It's better to say less, and only speak from our authentic experience, than it is to drown out God's silence with our ignorant chatter. Better to leave listeners hungry to experience it for themselves, than to cheapen it with limited words. We should also offer courtesy by leaving space for listeners to respond and find meaning, helping them drop their defenses and participate in the story. Jesus did this with images and parables, creating a contemplative silence in His listeners that ushered in a response. Finally, in reverence, we should leave the unsayable unsaid, seeking to bring people into God's presence rather than substituting Him with answers. Rather than trying to compensate for God's mysterious silence, we should seek to encounter God in a way that leaves us speechless. Just as we can't fully describe music or scenery, we may be wisest to simply point the way and say "you gotta see it for yourself."
Overall, I think Taylor offers a powerful correction against problems in our culture and tendencies in church. However, I feel that we can have a little more confidence in our ability to know God through what He has revealed in Scripture and through His Son, Jesus. Moreover, we can trust that He is present in His church through the Spirit, and guides them into truth.
If the church could express its truth with the economy, courtesy, and reverence that Taylor describes, I think it'll be doing well!
She observes that the culture is so saturated with noise, that people have become hard of hearing, and defensive toward messages. Silence can actually be striking, getting our attention better than noise.
In Scripture, we see that God was most silent, except for a few key times. When people came into contact with God, He was overwhelming. When people tried to explain Him, they didn't do justice.
In light of this, Taylor calls for economy, courtesy, and reverence in speech. It's better to say less, and only speak from our authentic experience, than it is to drown out God's silence with our ignorant chatter. Better to leave listeners hungry to experience it for themselves, than to cheapen it with limited words. We should also offer courtesy by leaving space for listeners to respond and find meaning, helping them drop their defenses and participate in the story. Jesus did this with images and parables, creating a contemplative silence in His listeners that ushered in a response. Finally, in reverence, we should leave the unsayable unsaid, seeking to bring people into God's presence rather than substituting Him with answers. Rather than trying to compensate for God's mysterious silence, we should seek to encounter God in a way that leaves us speechless. Just as we can't fully describe music or scenery, we may be wisest to simply point the way and say "you gotta see it for yourself."
Overall, I think Taylor offers a powerful correction against problems in our culture and tendencies in church. However, I feel that we can have a little more confidence in our ability to know God through what He has revealed in Scripture and through His Son, Jesus. Moreover, we can trust that He is present in His church through the Spirit, and guides them into truth.
If the church could express its truth with the economy, courtesy, and reverence that Taylor describes, I think it'll be doing well!
July 12, 2019
This book is Barbara Brown Taylor's Lyman Beecher Lectures delivered at Yale Divinity School in 1997. The original title was "Famine in the Land: Homiletical Restraint and the Silence of God." She takes her chapter titles from that original talk. They are: Famine, Silence, and Restraint. Intended primarily for preachers, Taylor delves into the way words are used, misused, and overused, not only in the pulpit but also in our culture at large. In a way that reminds me of Marilyn Chandler McEntyre's book Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. I'm also put in mind of Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. and his Warfield Lectures delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2012. I've enjoyed all three of these scholars and the way they have helped me think more critically about my own use of words in casual and formal settings.
Taylor uses the metaphor of food throughout her book and urges preachers to prepare a sermon that is simple and true, that will sustain people in a famine that has resulted from a surplus of words that lack nutritional value. I like the way my view of myself as a chaplain fits in with her view of the preacher as someone who has something to give, but ultimately wants to spur on the faith of the hearer. She also presents God in this way: "That is why God has hidden God's face: to increase our sense of loss until we are so hungry and lonely for God that we do something about it - not only one by one but also as a people who are once again ready to leave our fleshpots in search of real food." I am left wondering how I can prepare sermons that will inspire, challenge, and leave people hungering for God.
Taylor uses the metaphor of food throughout her book and urges preachers to prepare a sermon that is simple and true, that will sustain people in a famine that has resulted from a surplus of words that lack nutritional value. I like the way my view of myself as a chaplain fits in with her view of the preacher as someone who has something to give, but ultimately wants to spur on the faith of the hearer. She also presents God in this way: "That is why God has hidden God's face: to increase our sense of loss until we are so hungry and lonely for God that we do something about it - not only one by one but also as a people who are once again ready to leave our fleshpots in search of real food." I am left wondering how I can prepare sermons that will inspire, challenge, and leave people hungering for God.
March 22, 2018
Barbara Brown Taylor, ordained as an Episcopalian priest, is a mystic. She left her priestly duties some time ago, and has made her way as a writer, a professor, and a lecturer. I had the good fortune of hearing her speak at Seattle University's "Search for Meaning," book festival. Ms. Taylor draws from all the wisdom sources. She is quite clear that all the paths ultimately lead toward God. To me "god" is a single point of energy all seekers gravitate toward, and some unite with in this life. I accept that god is silent, because I don't expect energy to speak. However, most believers, especially in the the Abrahamic faiths believe God spoke in the past. The problem is that God has been silent since Christ's baptism, God the Father, at any rate. Jesus spoke quite a bit, but since his passing the silence has been total. That makes for over two thousand years of silence. This book is an examination of the meanings and effects of God's previous statements, and what to do with God's current, long-lasting silence.
When God is Silent is a short book, 133 pages, but a complete meditation. If you are looking for, or praying for God's voice in this universe you'll find a lot to think about in this crisp, well-written, friendly, and thoughtful book. If you're afraid God may never speak again, there is comfort here. And if you want to refresh your thinking about "the one," Ms. Taylor offers cool, clear water.
When God is Silent is a short book, 133 pages, but a complete meditation. If you are looking for, or praying for God's voice in this universe you'll find a lot to think about in this crisp, well-written, friendly, and thoughtful book. If you're afraid God may never speak again, there is comfort here. And if you want to refresh your thinking about "the one," Ms. Taylor offers cool, clear water.
January 2, 2021
I wanted this book because I have read and loved other things by Barbara Brown Taylor and wanted to know what she might have to say about "When God Is Silent." But it was not merely a casual curiosity for me; nor was it just an academic interest. It has been a personal problem with which I wanted some help. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. Well, I discovered...
The book contains the lectures she delivered in 1997 at Yale Divinity School as the Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching. She was talking to divinity students...about preaching. The three lectures are approximately 40 pages each, entitled "Famine," "Silence," and "Restraint."
"Famine." I didn't so much anticipate where she was going with this title, but I should have--it fits: people are hungering and thirsting out there for a word from God, but there is famine in the land. She explores the nature of language and how it is used and abused, of communication. She lifts up the need for listening and speaking with sensitivity, clarity, and humility.
I anticipated more with the titles "Silence" and "Restraint," see how well your imagination works.
On first glance and given the title, you might think this could be a book of poetry. It is small in format: 5"x7" and only 1/2" thick. And I do think there is an economy of language here...few if any words wasted. She is an artist with words.
The book contains the lectures she delivered in 1997 at Yale Divinity School as the Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching. She was talking to divinity students...about preaching. The three lectures are approximately 40 pages each, entitled "Famine," "Silence," and "Restraint."
"Famine." I didn't so much anticipate where she was going with this title, but I should have--it fits: people are hungering and thirsting out there for a word from God, but there is famine in the land. She explores the nature of language and how it is used and abused, of communication. She lifts up the need for listening and speaking with sensitivity, clarity, and humility.
I anticipated more with the titles "Silence" and "Restraint," see how well your imagination works.
On first glance and given the title, you might think this could be a book of poetry. It is small in format: 5"x7" and only 1/2" thick. And I do think there is an economy of language here...few if any words wasted. She is an artist with words.
March 30, 2020
This book is so timely for those struggling to speak for God to give hope to people in troubled times. With her usual elegance, Brown inspires “voices” to guard carefully their need and use of words. A musical score finds beauty from its rest notes.
A quote for reflection: “In a way that surpasses understanding, our duty in this time of famine is not to end the human hunger and thirst for God’s word but to intensify it, until the whole world bangs its forks for God’s food. That is what the famine is for, according to scripture. That is why God has hidden God’s face: to increase our sense of loss until we are so hungry and lonely for God that we do something about it—not only one by one but also as a people who are once again ready to leave our fleshpots in search of real food.”
A quote for reflection: “In a way that surpasses understanding, our duty in this time of famine is not to end the human hunger and thirst for God’s word but to intensify it, until the whole world bangs its forks for God’s food. That is what the famine is for, according to scripture. That is why God has hidden God’s face: to increase our sense of loss until we are so hungry and lonely for God that we do something about it—not only one by one but also as a people who are once again ready to leave our fleshpots in search of real food.”
June 5, 2020
This slim volume was given to me by my spiritual director to help me learn more about writing sermons. But this book has a lot to say to anyone exploring faith. Barbara Brown Taylor is a celebrated preacher whose images are simple and powerful. She has a gift for humanizing scripture and giving us the right example at the right moment. Job, Isaiah, Jesus, and all the rest, struggled. Sometimes directly asking for answers, and having to live in the silence. It is not lost on her that adding more words to our culture that has an endless stream of words sometimes makes no sense. If we preach, when we preach, we have to fill the gap between God’s silence and our waiting community. Guess the message is, “Make it count.”
Read
April 17, 2023I’ve inherited a small collection of theology books from my grandparents, and I read Barbara Brown Taylor’s three lectures from Yale Divinity School, collected as When God Is Silent (1998), this month. The thrust of her argument is that, despite the apparent human desire to hear directly from God, communicating with the divine is a physically and emotionally gruelling experience, and maybe when we don’t seem to hear God speaking, that in itself is a form of communication. Lots of interesting ideas, especially about the prevalence of words and speech in our highly-connected era, although as this was written in the late ‘90s, some of her anecdata (and some of her alarm for the fabric of society being threatened by technology like… Walkmans) feels quaint.
May 3, 2025
Will likely be one of my favorite books by BBT. This one touched me deeply. There have been so many times I have longed to “Hear” God’s voice with greater clarity and certainty. It is nice to hear that theologians with greater understanding and knowledge than I wrestle with this as well. Maybe the wrestling is the point altogether.
Quotes:
Why do things happen? God only knows. And we are not God.
Our knowledge of God is limited by our language. God is not objectifiable.
Only an idol always answers. The God who keeps silence is the God beyond anyone’s control.
Where do you go to listen for God’s silence and God’s speech? Who taught you that and whom have you taught to do the same?
And so much more!
Quotes:
Why do things happen? God only knows. And we are not God.
Our knowledge of God is limited by our language. God is not objectifiable.
Only an idol always answers. The God who keeps silence is the God beyond anyone’s control.
Where do you go to listen for God’s silence and God’s speech? Who taught you that and whom have you taught to do the same?
And so much more!
April 8, 2021
Not easy to equate too.
This is not what I imagined. I found a real void. One lacking real presence like God was on holiday. I took nothing but crumbs from this book. Having walked in great darkness I have always felt the presence of God beside me silent or otherwise. I cannot equate to this at all. God is indeed beyond our finite minds but the bible means he can always be heard not the best book on this,subject alas
This is not what I imagined. I found a real void. One lacking real presence like God was on holiday. I took nothing but crumbs from this book. Having walked in great darkness I have always felt the presence of God beside me silent or otherwise. I cannot equate to this at all. God is indeed beyond our finite minds but the bible means he can always be heard not the best book on this,subject alas
September 29, 2018
After reading this book, the preacher glimpses the magnitude of the gift entrusted to he or she. Dr. Brown explains the balance and relationship between famine, silence and restraint in preaching the Words of Scripture and understanding the God we preach about. I recommend this book to preachers and Christians searching for a deeper meaning of worship and respect of those who preach the Bible.
October 24, 2018
I’m starting to learn that the pastors that have influenced me the most did not give me quick easy answers. BBT is one of the best pastoral theologians of our time, and her challenge for leaders of faith to ask better questions, rather than give answers to the questions we will never answer is humbling and inspiring.
September 3, 2019
This is a short book geared to the preacher but relevant for anyone who wonders how to hear God. And of course she writes beautifully: “we substitute liturgy for justice”. “In a world of machines, silence signals malfunction”. “Christians proclaim, Jews listen ... what if ‘hear us, Lord’ became ‘speak, Lord’”
March 11, 2023
A book addressed to preachers
In my opinion, this is an interesting book with probing thoughts and questions. However, I think readers should read and be aware that it is what is in the parentheses—a lecture on preaching primarily to preachers. She deals more with what we say, what we don’t say, etc. than the silence of God.
In my opinion, this is an interesting book with probing thoughts and questions. However, I think readers should read and be aware that it is what is in the parentheses—a lecture on preaching primarily to preachers. She deals more with what we say, what we don’t say, etc. than the silence of God.
August 8, 2018
Although I didn't necessarily recognise the major problem in the world and in preaching in particular form there being too many words and of God not speaking, I did relate to her suggestions about preaching being honest, courteous and economical. Part 3 on restraint was the best for me.
December 26, 2020
Encouraging read during a tough season
It puts a better perspective on our need to feel God's presence in our lives. His silence makes a sound too glorious for us to comprehend in a noise polluted world
It puts a better perspective on our need to feel God's presence in our lives. His silence makes a sound too glorious for us to comprehend in a noise polluted world
April 5, 2021
I think every MDiv student should read this book. The idea that God can and does speak to us in silence is very powerful. Only complaint is that the book is so short—which of course is an ironic thing to say about a book that's extolling the wisdom of using fewer words.
July 1, 2024
Three essays, Famine, Silence, and Restraint frame the thoughts of Barbara Brown Taylor in this short book. Provocative thinking about God and us, absence and presence, listening and speaking. Barbara Brown Taylor is always worth the read.
November 16, 2024
Such an insightful book. Taylor explores the loss of God's presence and the merits of God's silence in our noisy world. She suggests and leaves us thinking about God's persona and purpose for quietness.
February 7, 2025
This is a collection of sermons meant for pastors. I liked the section that talked about how we're bombarded by too many words and sounds and the part in the last of its 3 chapters that talked about why it's ok to be silent.
September 8, 2017
"In a time of famine typified by too many words with too much noise in them, we could use fewer words with more silence in them."
May 22, 2018
Powerful little book!
March 22, 2019
Powerful! Definitely want to reread and recommend to others.
September 18, 2021
Great book
March 11, 2024
Barbara could turn me Episcopalian.
August 26, 2024
Wow I loved this. Spoke into my life in a way a book never has before. This has changed how I look at my life as a Christ-follower and how I should listen to God when I don’t hear Them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews