Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others

by Barbara Brown Taylor Narrated by Hillary Huber

Overview

The renowned and beloved New York Times*bestselling author of*An Altar in the World*and Learning to Walk in the Dark recounts her moving discoveries of finding the sacred in unexpected places while teaching the world's religions to undergraduates in rural Georgia, revealing how God delights in confounding our expectations.

Barbara Brown Taylor continues her spiritual journey begun in Leaving Church of finding out what the world looks like after taking off her clergy collar. In*Holy Envy, she contemplates the myriad ways other people and traditions encounter the Transcendent, both by digging deeper into those traditions herself and by seeing them through her students' eyes as she sets off with them on field trips to monasteries, temples, and mosques.

Troubled and inspired by what she learns, Taylor returns to her own tradition for guidance, finding new meaning in old teachings that have too often been used to exclude religious strangers instead of embracing the divine challenges they present. Re-imagining some central stories from the religion she knows best, she takes heart in how often God chooses outsiders to teach insiders how out-of-bounds God really is.

Throughout*Holy Envy, Taylor weaves together stories from the classroom with reflections on how her own spiritual journey has been complicated and renewed by connecting with people of other traditions-even those whose truths are quite different from hers.* The one constant in her odyssey is the sense that God is the one calling her to disown her version of God-a change that ultimately enriches her faith in other human beings and in God.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Hillary Huber delivers a cogent and heartfelt narration of bestselling author Barbara Brown Taylor’s beautiful and timely new audiobook. As the theology teacher and former Episcopal priest describes her experiences teaching comparative religion in rural Georgia, her memoir also serves as a deep consideration of what the world’s faiths have to teach both the religious and the non-religious. A natural preacher, Taylor writes with an eye for visual detail and plotline. Huber’s friendly, rhythmic, Southern-tinged tone highlights Taylor’s gift for storytelling. In addition, Huber’s clarity and attention to punctuation and pacing emphasize Taylor’s excellent writing, which is both accessible and lovely. As Taylor and her students visit temples, mosques, churches, synagogues, and sacred groves, they, and we, are reminded of the humanness of all religions. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

11/12/2018
In simple and sharp prose, Taylor (An Altar in the World), a former Episcopal priest who teaches religion at Piedmont College in Athens, Ga., explores how teaching an introductory religion course has influenced her own views on faith and Christianity. Told as a series of vignettes structured around her course tracing world religions—primarily Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism—through history, the book has an academic tone but also wonderfully imbues the mundane with meaning through descriptions of class field trips to mosques, temples, and shrines that incorporate student reports and anecdotes from class to illustrate the evolution of her students’ thinking and the changes brought by physically visiting sacred and holy places. Taylor tells her class that her real subject is “divine diversity”—the attempt to live peaceably and with convictions in a world where differing religions make wildly varying truth claims. Though the lessons and field trips touch on multiple faiths, Taylor’s meditations frequently morph into biblical exegesis as she applies the lessons of other religions to her own understanding of Christianity. For example, the openness of Buddhist monks prompts her to consider the similarities they share with Christian ascetics. For Taylor, religious strangers can be the best teachers, as they provide a new perspective on the human relationship with the divine, and, she reasons, a sophisticated theology of comparative religions should always be informed by on-the-ground research. Taylor’s fluid book, which includes a small, well-chosen bibliography, is a fine primer on interfaith studies. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

At a time when many people are entrenched behind the walls of familiar traditions, this book is a literal godsend.” — Retailing Insight

“This indispensable book guides us through America’s rapidly diversifying religious landscape, highlighting resonances between different religions, narrating moments of spiritual inspiration, and always emphasizing moments of human connection.” — Eboo Patel, author of Out of Many Faiths

“Engrossing, delightful...In short, it is a timely and important book.” — Psychological Perspectives

“I’ve long wanted a book like this to be written. And Barbara Brown Taylor is the perfect guide to finding God in other faiths. Her new book reminds us that God is bigger than any one religion. Prepare to come to know God in a new way.” — James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

“There are few people writing today who I esteem more highly than Barbara Brown Taylor. In an age in which religion sometimes seems weaponized, furthering the distance between us, I can’t think of a more important offering than this beautiful book.” — Shauna Niequist, New York Times best-selling author of Present Over Perfect 

“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, author of God of Love

“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)

“In Holy Envy, once again, Barbara Brown Taylor does not disappoint with this capacious engagement of our religious and spiritual neighbors. The book is like a breath of fresh air that scatters the dust off the surface of my faith, and I am rejuvenated and hopeful.” — Mihee Kim-Kort, author of Outside the Lines

“In simple and sharp prose, Taylor, a former Episcopal priest who teaches religion at Piedmont College in Athens, Ga., explores how teaching an introductory religion course has influenced her own views on faith and Christianity...[a] fluid book.” — Publishers Weekly

“Taylor acknowledges that none of us has a corner on the transcendent, that we each have something to give and receive while remaining true to our faith. She reminds us that religion is more than beliefs, that it involves our deepest selves and is the fabric of our shared lives.” — Library Journal

“Taylor asks us to see these other ways of approaching a mysterious divine, to embrace ‘the God just beyond our understanding.’ . . . she writes with an authenticity and self-awareness that few non-fiction books possess.” — Spectrum magazine

“Heartfelt, thoughtful, and beautifully written, Taylor’s book will give readers who are undertaking their own spiritual journeys a sense of purpose and perspective.” — BookPage

“Taylor is by any measure a glorious writer. . . . Her willingness to explore new worlds of meaning and her high respect for all faiths offer a noble example.” — Spirituality and Health

James Martin

I’ve long wanted a book like this to be written. And Barbara Brown Taylor is the perfect guide to finding God in other faiths. Her new book reminds us that God is bigger than any one religion. Prepare to come to know God in a new way.

Shauna Niequist

There are few people writing today who I esteem more highly than Barbara Brown Taylor. In an age in which religion sometimes seems weaponized, furthering the distance between us, I can’t think of a more important offering than this beautiful book.

Mirabai Starr

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.

Mihee Kim-Kort

In Holy Envy, once again, Barbara Brown Taylor does not disappoint with this capacious engagement of our religious and spiritual neighbors. The book is like a breath of fresh air that scatters the dust off the surface of my faith, and I am rejuvenated and hopeful.

Booklist (starred review)

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.

Psychological Perspectives

Engrossing, delightful...In short, it is a timely and important book.

Retailing Insight

At a time when many people are entrenched behind the walls of familiar traditions, this book is a literal godsend.

Eboo Patel

This indispensable book guides us through America’s rapidly diversifying religious landscape, highlighting resonances between different religions, narrating moments of spiritual inspiration, and always emphasizing moments of human connection.

Spirituality and Health

Taylor is by any measure a glorious writer. . . . Her willingness to explore new worlds of meaning and her high respect for all faiths offer a noble example.

Spectrum magazine

Taylor asks us to see these other ways of approaching a mysterious divine, to embrace ‘the God just beyond our understanding.’ . . . she writes with an authenticity and self-awareness that few non-fiction books possess.

BookPage

Heartfelt, thoughtful, and beautifully written, Taylor’s book will give readers who are undertaking their own spiritual journeys a sense of purpose and perspective.

APRIL 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Hillary Huber delivers a cogent and heartfelt narration of bestselling author Barbara Brown Taylor’s beautiful and timely new audiobook. As the theology teacher and former Episcopal priest describes her experiences teaching comparative religion in rural Georgia, her memoir also serves as a deep consideration of what the world’s faiths have to teach both the religious and the non-religious. A natural preacher, Taylor writes with an eye for visual detail and plotline. Huber’s friendly, rhythmic, Southern-tinged tone highlights Taylor’s gift for storytelling. In addition, Huber’s clarity and attention to punctuation and pacing emphasize Taylor’s excellent writing, which is both accessible and lovely. As Taylor and her students visit temples, mosques, churches, synagogues, and sacred groves, they, and we, are reminded of the humanness of all religions. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170068500
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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