Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others
Written by Barbara Brown Taylor
Narrated by Hillary Huber
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
Barbara Brown Taylor
Barbara Brown Taylor is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller An Altar in the World and Leaving Church, which received an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. Taylor is the Butman Professor of Religion at Piedmont College, where she has taught since 1998. She lives on a working farm in rural northeast Georgia with her husband, Ed.
More audiobooks from Barbara Brown Taylor
An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learning to Walk in the Dark: Because Sometimes God Shows Up at Night Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Always a Guest: Speaking of Faith Far from Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home by Another Way: A Christmas Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Holy Envy
Related audiobooks
A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found it Again Through Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us about Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stumbling toward Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eternal Current: How a Practice-Based Faith Can Save Us From Drowning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Faith---A Search for What Makes Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Without Limits: Jesus' Radical Vision for Love with No Exceptions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chasing Francis: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Religion?: A Personal Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mudhouse Sabbath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ask Me for a Blessing (You Know You Need One) Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miracles and Other Reasonable Things: A Story of Unlearning and Relearning God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wholehearted Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grounded: Finding God in the World-A Spiritual Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
New Age & Spirituality For You
The Great Divorce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing The Uncommon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Grief Observed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Many Lives, Many Masters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three Questions: How to Discover and Master the Power Within You Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild at Heart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weight of Glory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Abolition of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Free Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Naked Now: Learning To See As the Mystics See Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Miracles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Holy Envy
93 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great in opening people's mind to view other religions fairly.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The ideas in this book may be a nice idea, but they are absolutely non-biblical.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Well written, but I’m left confused as to why she still considers herself a Christian, or wants to be. It seems to defeat her arguments, on such a personal level. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m left with more questions than anything else.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With an open mind, it was delightful and insightful. I am grateful for it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taylor describes her experiences teaching a World Religions course and meditates on its meaning for her own spirituality. She finds much to admire in each of the five major world religions; so much so that a student feels compelled to drop her class because she wasn't pointing out where the non-Christian religions were in error. She envies the ferocious mysticism of the Sufis and the focus of Judaism on good works. She loves the imam who says that he does not want to convert them to Islam; he wants them to be better Christians, Hindus, or whatever they already are. She reflects on the need of some religions to make others wrong so that they can be right. Throughout she displays an admirable humility about her own knowledge and depth. That humility, I think, is what makes it possible for her to see the attractiveness in other ways of looking at God. In the end, her focus is on finding the best ways to love her neighbor, especially those neighbors who are spiritual strangers.