Barbara Brown Taylor made the cover of Time in a remarkably unusual way. She lived in Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Alabama before earning her undergraduate degree at Emory University in Atlanta, followed by a degree at Yale Divinity School and ordination as an Episcopalian Priest. After serving as a priest in Atlanta, she took a job at Grace-Calvary Church in Clarksville, Georgia, where she fell in love with the Blue Ridge mountains. Then she became a professor at nearby Piedmont College. Now she is a farmer nearby, and also an author whose thirteen books include two New York Times best-sellers. The title of this book refers to the book’s focus: her experience of learning by teaching a course at Piedmont on World Religions. She found herself envying much of the spirituality she found in other religions and even disowning some of her own conceptions as she learned from the spiritual journeys of her students and those they encountered at monasteries, temples, and mosques. Ultimately, she found her own Christianity energized and expanded and enlightened by the experience. “In showing up for the complex beauty of all the world’s great wisdom traditions, Barbara finds her way home to her own faith. Among the finest memoirs I have ever read of the life of a teacher.” - Mirabai Starr. “Taylor nudges her students away from spiritual appropriation and comparison, moving them instead toward challenging discernment of their faith and the faith of others. Taylor, like the best faith leaders, is a great storyteller. . . . Highly recommended.” - Booklist (starred review). “Engrossing, delightful...In short, it is a timely and important book.” - Psychological Perspectives.
New York: HarperOne/HarperCollins, 2019. 238 Pages with Notes and Recommended Reading. Hardback in dust jacket