From the Bookshelf of The Memoir Book Group…

Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

Barbara Brown Taylor

Start date: October 19, 2011

Finish date: November 29, 2011

Discussion: Leaving Church

Discussion leader: Donovan Mattole

Why we're reading this: We'll be reading the book, "Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith" by Barbara Brown Taylor.

"Eat this book. An…more
[close] We'll be reading the book, "Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith" by Barbara Brown Taylor.

"Eat this book. And you will be satisfied. Here is a story of a life told with the clarity, beauty and honesty ...of a mountain stream. Barbara Brown Taylor describes doubt, faith, and vocation, their limits, and how the church both blesses and muddies the waters. Those who attend church, those who do not, and everyone in between will find here a feast, and the satisfaction of an eloquent voice speaking the truth."
Nora Gallagher
Author of Practicing Resurrection

Annie Dillard has said that Barbara Brown Taylor's writing is "wonderfully intelligent, moving, and direct." Now, in the tradition of the writings of Kathleen Norris and Anne Lamott, Taylor gives an account of her journey. From city to country, from full time parish minister to college professor, from urban dweller to part-time farmer, Taylor discovers that life with God entails "a wondrous uncertainty" despite our best laid plans. After ten years in a big urban church, Taylor arrives in Clarkesville (population 1,500) thinking her dream has come true. And it has. But five and a half years later, Taylor realizes that in order to keep her faith she must now leave the church--that, in fact, God is leading her into a new direction, one she could not have imagined when she was first ordained. Anyone who has experienced doubts about his or her chosen vocation, or those drawn to worship God in a community but who have a hard time finding their place in church, will find a kindred spirit in Taylor.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No topics in Leaving Church yet. Start one now »

What Members Thought

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 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. ...more

24 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2011 Donovan Mattole rated it liked it

Shelves: memoirs, memoir-book-club

Just finished this book and we had a great discussion in our book club about it.

Like · see review

Nov 14, 2012 Dawn marked it as to-read

Dec 31, 2018 Stacy marked it as to-read

Group Home Bookshelf Discussions

Photos Videos

Send invite Members Polls