Podcast appearances and mentions of Barbara Brown Taylor

“The body is not just something we have, it is how we know the world. It is the first and last place we meet God.” - Barbara Brown Taylor

If you're new here, this is a favorite episode we do once a quarter. Barbara Brown Taylor, a fantastic author, coined this phrase years ago: what's saving my life, and I love the regular practice of taking note of what that is for me. I'm sharing ten things that are saving my life right now in this particular season of life, and they, as always, are quite the smattering of unrelated things. Helpful Companion Links Order my new book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Jesus by Jon Guerra The BEMA Podcast RMS Coconut Cleansing Balm (affiliate link) Caroline Girvan YouTube channel Merlin Bird Identifier app Get a Summer Playbook Get the next Latest Lazy Letter that lands in inboxes on Wednesday, May 7 Sign up for the Latest Lazy Listens email. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the midst of our busy lives, we can so easily miss the sacred shining through every moment. Children are instinctively drawn to bewilderment and astonishment at the wonder of life, and yet it is a way of seeing that often fades as the rigours and responsibilities of adult life take over. Barbara Brown Taylor has been exploring the idea of reverence in her work for decades through her beloved books, such as An Altar In The World and Learning To Walk In the Dark. In this conversation, she speaks of the gifts of both reverence and irreverence in rediscovering a more attentive and alive way of being in the world. Barbara and Dom share this conversation in Atlanta, Georgia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here we are in Holy Week, just a few days before Easter. Before we arrive at the resurrection, we have to walk through the crucifixion. One of my favorite guides in the dark is Barbara Brown Taylor who wrote one of my top 10 favorite books of all time, Learning to Walk in the Dark. For today's episode I want to offer a short reflection on walking in the dark – the challenges, yes. But also the necessity and the surprising gift. If you've been following along inside The Lent Collection, you'll recognize this from Day 24. If not, I hope this simple reflection offers something for you to carry into the remainder of this Holy Week. Either way, I hope you'll listen in. LINKS + RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE: Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor Download The Quiet Collection app Join The Soul Minimalist Substack Order a How to Walk into a Room Download the free discussion guide for How to Walk into a Room by visiting this page and clicking the button "Discussion Guide" Download the transcript

There are many ways God speaks to us, but our bodies, which He created and called "good" is one of those ways. And yet, we often ignore the signals our bodies give us. Our body is where the Spirit resides (I Corinthians 6:19). As Barbara Brown Taylor says, "....trust the body to enlighten the soul." What if we stop to ask what God is trying to tell us through our body's signals and functions? Quotes from: Eugene Peterson, Barbara Brown Taylor, Celeste Snowber Schroeder (Embodied Prayer), Tara Owens, and Jan Richardson (The Sanctuary of Women).For more information on integrative spiritual practices, go to breatheandbe.net.

Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. After serving three congregations—two in downtown Atlanta and one in rural Clarkesville, Georgia—she became the first Butman Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College, where she taught until 2017. Since then, she has spoken at events with wonderful names like Wild Goose, Evolving Faith, Awakening Soul, and Gladdening Light, but her favorite gig is being the full-time caretaker of a farm in the foothills of the Appalachians with her husband Ed and very many animals. Her new book, Coming Down to Earth, from Convergent Books, will be out in 2026. Chu serves as an editor-at-large at Travel+Leisure, teacher in residence at Crosspointe Church in North Carolina, and parish associate for storytelling and witness at the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley in California. He is the author of Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America and Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand. He is also the co-author, with the late Rachel Held Evans, of the New York Times bestseller Wholehearted Faith. Chu is a former Time staff writer and Fast Company editor whose work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Modern Farmer. In his weekly newsletter, “Notes of a Make-Believe Farmer,” Chu writes about spirituality, gardening, food, travel, and culture. An ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, he lives with his husband, Tristan, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. After serving three congregations—two in downtown Atlanta and one in rural Clarkesville, Georgia—she became the first Butman Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College, where she taught until 2017. Since then, she has spoken at events with wonderful names like Wild Goose, Evolving Faith, Awakening Soul, and Gladdening Light, but her favorite gig is being the full-time caretaker of a farm in the foothills of the Appalachians with her husband Ed and very many animals. Her new book, Coming Down to Earth, from Convergent Books, will be out in 2026.

What we do is what we become. Christians replace cultural habits we've imbibed with spiritual habits we intentionally embrace. What if we thought of our spiritual community as a spiritual habit?The sermon today is titled "The Habit of Community." It is the ninth installment in our series "Follow Me", and the first in the sub-series "Spiritual Habits." The Scripture reading is from Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV). Originally preached at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) on March 30, 2025. All lessons fit under one of 6 broad categories: Begin, Instill, Discover, Grow, Learn, and Serve. This sermon is filed under GROW: Spiritual Disciplines.Click here if you would like to watch the sermon or read a transcript.Podcast Notes (resources used or referenced):Sermon, “Our King's Table,” Fellowship Bible Church (Searcy, AR)Tim Keller Sermon, “Hope For The Church,” Nov 1, 2009.Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church.Everett Ferguson, The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology.I'd love to connect with you!Watch sermons and find transcripts at nathanguy.com.Follow along each Sunday through YouTube livestream and find a study guide on the sermon notes page.Follow me @nathanpguy (facebook/instagram/twitter)Subscribe to my email newsletter on substack.

Old Testament: 1 Samuel 1:1-19 (Link to text: https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=603295174)New Testament: Luke 18:1-8 (Link to text: https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=603295198)Sermon: Self AdvocacyScott StarbuckFocus: “It keeps our hearts chasing after God's heart. It's how we bother God, and how God bothers us back. There's nothing that works any better than that.” -Barbara Brown Taylor

Today's guest is Mihee Kim-Kort, a Presbyterian minister, speaker, writer, and as she calls herself “slinger of hopeful stories about faith and church.”Mihee has been a public figure for some time now - her writing and commentary can be found in the New York Times, TIME Magazine, BBC World Service, USA Today, Huffington Post, Christian Century, On Being, and more (see her bio for the full list). In 2021 she was named one of the “21 Faith Leaders to watch.” By the Center for American Progress. She is co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, Maryland and a doctoral candidate in Religious Studies at Indiana University.In addition to all that impressiveness, Mihee is also a friend of mine, a colleague in ministry, someone who's been a part of my life for a few decades. And although we don't talk enough, when we do talk, it's rich, it's fun, and while we don't shy away from going deep, we can't resist bursting into giggles along the way.Mihee and I had this conversation… I won't say how long ago. We had both just gotten over Covid. I had to exit the conversation for 5 minutes with a coughing attack. Kids and dogs continually interrupted us. (Thank goodness for editing!) Yet somehow, in the course of this conversation, we recognize the importance of the Psalms as a companion in times of sorrow and joy, a container for what we find difficult to hold, and a template for the fullest possible expression of what it means to be human – as we process our grief and as we move into resilience.In particular, I wanted to ask Mihee about a New York Times article she wrote in the aftermath of the Atlanta spa shootings in March 2021, in which 8 people were killed, 6 of whom were Asian women. In response to that terrible event, Mihee wrote an article that asks hard questions, that's courageous and prophetic. I always wondered how she did that. It turns out that reading the Psalms was part of her story.Find out more about Mihee Kim-KortIt's been a while since I posted a longform podcast! If you haven't heard the catalog of longer podcasts on Psalms and resilience, they are worth a listen.I've been lucky enough to have incredible conversations with a number of insightful friends and wise teachers, including Barbara Brown Taylor, Pádraig Ó Tuama, Munther Isaac, and Avivah Zornberg. These conversations have enriched my understanding of the Psalms, and how they lift our spirits especially in difficult times, and how they offer healing and hope.Scroll back on the Podcast Archive to hear other long-form episodes.If you appreciated this podcast, if it made you think, if it allowed you to go deep, if it made you smile at times, if it offered you something of value, if it brought you some inspiration and consolation… consider becoming a paid subscriber. You will receive a complimentary Psalms for the Spirit Journal ebook (180 pgs) with reflection questions to accompany our 44 Psalms set to Celtic melodies. There will be further bonuses coming up in the near future.Psalms for the Spirit is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new podcasts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit psalmsforthespirit.substack.com/subscribe

This week's podcast brings a sermon preached by Barbara Brown Taylor at the 2024 Festival of Preaching in Cambridge last September (Features, 20 September 2024). She considers how the Church can bear witness to good news “in a world so full of the other kind”, such as global warfare and climate change, political divisions and churches closing, the loneliness epidemic, and systemic racism. Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest and best-stelling author, whose books include Holy Envy (Books, 14 June 2019) and Always a Guest (Books, 18 December 2020). The Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature runs from Friday 28 February to Sunday 2 March. For more details and to book tickets, visit https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Photo credit: Tom Perkins Limited-time digital subscription offer (until 24 January): £10 for 2 Months Digital edition PLUS 2 month free app subscription to Reflections for Daily Prayer: www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe

Send us a textWe are continuing our series exploring the lives of modern contemplatives who have helped shape our spirituality.  Today is Barbara Brown Taylor. We encourage you to check out some of her writings.  Mentioned in today's episode were Altar in the World and Learning To Walk in Dark. Learn more at https://barbarabrowntaylor.com/Support the show

This week we share a "Space for God: Advent" devotional led by Kristy Wallace Grant.  Kristy guides us into a practice of lectio divina focused on Isaiah 45:3.  She helps us appreciate more deeply the attention paid to darkness in the Advent season and enter more fully into the "treasures of darkness" the Lord offers us as we begin the liturgical year.View Our Complete Archive of “Space for God” Prayer PracticesLearn More About Spiritual Direction through CoracleExplore More Advent Resourcesinthecoracle.org  |  @inthecoracleSupport the show

This month, the Academy Podcast features Barbara Brown Taylor's teaching from a Five-Day in Alabama in 2022. In this episode, Barbara reflects on the spiritual significance of twilight, exploring how this threshold time between light and dark mirrors our own journeys through faith, transformation, and the unknown. Join us for a compelling discussion as Barbara invites us to embrace the sacredness of liminal spaces, to find divine presence in moments of transition, and to open ourselves to the mystery that twilight holds. Discover how twilight can be a teacher in the journey of descent and transformation, where we are invited to live faithfully in the tensions of life. Barbara Brown Taylor is a best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest.  Her first memoir, Leaving Church, won an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association in 2006.  Her next three books earned places on the New York Times bestseller list.  Taylor has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Emory University, Mercer University, Columbia Seminary, Oblate School of Theology, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. Her latest book, Always a Guest, was released in October 2020 from Westminster John Knox Press. JOIN US We're excited to announce that the next Two-Year Academy begins November 3, 2025. Lear more at https://academy.upperroom.org/event/two-year-43/. The online application for Academy #43 will be available in the very near future. If you want to be one of the first to know when registration is open, please complete this simple form to give us your name and contact information so that we can inform you as soon as the application is ready. Show Notes: Episode tracks: “Far Side of the Sea,” “Versailles,” and “Fearless” by Amy Stroup, used with permission. For more information and resources visit: academy.upperroom.org/resources Support Our Work If the Academy Podcast or any of the ministries of The Academy for Spiritual Formation have benefited your life and spirituality, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to show your support. You can learn more about how your gifts make a difference at https://academy.upperroom.org/donate/

Original Air Date: August 13, 2018Oprah sits down with one of America's leading theologians, the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in 2014. The former Episcopal priest, religion professor and best-selling author explains why we should accept darkness in all its forms and how facing the unknown can be a spiritual practice. In her book "Learning to Walk in the Dark," she writes about how we can transform ourselves by facing the challenging situations in our lives head-on, including moments of profound sadness. Find out why Barbara believes people need to embrace the deepest shadows of their lives in order to break through their fears and find strength. Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPods  You can also watch Oprah's Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN   

From host Lisa Colon DeLay, a powerful reading and short reflection on the incarnational aspects of pain from the fantastic book An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor.

Recorded on Sunday, August 18, 2024. Other scripture cited: Matthew 22:34-40; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13.Support the Show.

Original Air Date: February 24, 2021When you pay attention to what feeds your energy, you move in the direction of the life for which you were intended. Trust that the Universe has bigger, wider, deeper dreams for you than you could ever imagine for yourself. Think about the parable of the mustard seed: if you have faith, even if it's as tiny as a mustard seed, you can move mountains. In this Super Soul podcast, Oprah sits down with such acclaimed teachers, writers and thought leaders as: Sue Monk Kidd, Tim Storey, Dr. Shefali, Pastor A.R. Bernard, Barbara Brown Taylor, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jean Houston, Caroline Myss and Deepak Chopra to discuss the seeds of potential that sprouted in their own lives leading to an evolution of consciousness. Similar seeds are waiting to sprout and awaken in each of you. Interviews with these talented writers, speakers and thought leaders are excerpted from Oprah's Emmy Award-winning show Super Soul Sunday. You can also find this compilation and other insightful conversations, in Oprah's best-selling book The Wisdom of Sundays. Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPods  You can also watch Oprah's Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN   

This message from Terry Timm explores the joy and bewilderment of the disciples as they witness Jesus' bodily resurrection, highlighting the significance of his shared meals with them and what this means for our understanding of resurrection and transformation. Drawing on the wisdom of thinkers like Barbara Brown Taylor, we discuss how we are called to embody the Gospel, becoming the hands and feet of Christ in our communities. Together, we embrace the resurrection as a motivating force to share love and facilitate change, stepping into our roles as instruments of peace and reconciliation. 

Welcome to worship at Mount Olivet. “Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it. So welcome to your own priesthood, practiced at the altar of your own life. The good news is that you have everything you need to begin.” ― Barbara Brown Taylor

We are disappointed to announce that an unexpected health issue kept Barbara Brown Taylor from traveling to Memphis for Calvary's Lenten Preaching Series. Barbara wrote a sermon to be delivered in her absence titled “Blessed are the Spiritually Bankrupt.” The Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. After serving three congregations—two in downtown Atlanta and one in rural Clarkesville, Georgia—she became the first Butman Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College, where she taught until 2017. Since then, she has spoken at events with wonderful names like Wild Goose, Evolving Faith, Awakening Soul, and Gladdening Light, but her favorite gig is being the full-time caretaker of a farm in the foothills of the Appalachians with her husband Ed and very many animals.

Listen to Rev. Elizabeth Moseley and Rev. Mitchell Boone talk about sin from a progressive Christian perspective, using Barbara Brown Taylor and "The Good Place" as inspiration.

In her book “Learning to Walk in the Dark,” Barbara Brown Taylor writes about her exploration of Organ Cave. In the darkest part, a beautiful rock full of tiny crystals resembling glitter caught her eye. She put it in her backpack as a souvenir. Later, back in her room, Taylor pulled out the rock anticipating miniature fireworks; but instead, it looked more like an ordinary piece of gravel! The rock's “light” was a treasure only in the dark. In the Bible, Isaiah 45:3 says, “I will give you the treasures of darkness- riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord” So, if you find yourself in a dark place today, just know that there are some treasures that can only be revealed to you there.

Show Notes:We are excited to welcome Barbara Brown Taylor to The Weight for a conversation about hospitality and being in the center and being at the edge of a religion--how is it different when you're the outsider versus when you're on the inside? How do you let people who believe in something completely different strengthen your own faith? Barbara leaned into these lessons when she taught a Religion 101 class at Piedmont College, now Piedmont University, in Georgia. She got to watch the real love and hospitality of Buddhist monks and Muslim Imams who “welcomed a bunch of awkward strangers, and fed us, and showed us where to sit and gave us places of honor and thanked us for coming.” And in return, she was able to deepen her own faith and extend hospitality and love to the others in her own life. She used her experiences teaching that course to write Holy Envy, which was published in 2019.Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, teacher, and the best-selling. She has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Emory University, Mercer University, Columbia Seminary, Oblate School of Theology, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. Resources:Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of OthersFind Barbara Brown Taylor on the Web:https://barbarabrowntaylor.com Follow her on Social Media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorBarbaraBrownTaylor/Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/71455.Barbara_Brown_Taylor 

Much of life is a choice to fling or not to fling. Will we be extravagant with the love we've been given, or will we hold ourselves back because of fear, the chance that all our flinging might not make a difference, or that we'll be hurt in the process? “An abundant imagination feeds us courage,” my pastor Michael Rudzena said. “There is more than just one shot. There are seeds showering down all around us.”   Links:  Here's a link to some of Barbara Brown Taylor's sermon on this passage. And here's a link to my pastor Michael Rudzena's sermon on the same passage. I announced my new book and cover last week on Instagram. So excited to share it with you! This reflection and practice were also published this week in The Slow Way Newsletter. Find a transcript of this episode here.  Find Micha's website and sign up for her weekly newsletter here Find Micha on Instagram Find Micha on Threads. (Who needs Twitter?!)  Micha's other (award winning!) podcast, The Lucky Few, is all about Down syndrome advocacy. She cohosts it with Heather Avis and Mercedes Lara.  Preorder my new book Blessed Are The Rest of Us: How Limits and Longing Make Us Whole at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and available everywhere books are sold.  

Surprise! Another bonus episode featuring Barbara Brown Taylor from our 2022 Evolving Faith conference. Barbara skillfully walks us through how to own our ever evolving relationship with scripture. She reminds us that just as the text has stood the scrutiny of our ancestors, it can also handle ours. Barbara challenges us to see our own relationship with scripture as a quilt, with no two being the same. “Working on your quilt isn't the same as designing your own Bible, though we do that too. It's a matter of taking responsibility for how you read it and why along with the honor of putting your fingerprints on it as generations before you have done.” You don't want to miss this episode, and you'll most definitely want to share it with anyone in your quilt making circle.  Show Notes 2023 Evolving Faith Conference

Hunger for Wholeness: Technology Troubles and Satisfying Hungers with Barbara Brown Taylor (Part 2)In the second part of this two part interview, Ilia continues her conversation with author and priest Barbara Brown Taylor. The two discuss the humanitarian challenges facing the world and church today, particularly those posed by technology and its allure of power and transcendance. In light of this, Barbara and Ilia predict the future of the institutional church, and what the religious communities of the future may look like.ABOUT BARBARA BROWN TAYLORBarbara Brown Taylor is a best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church, won an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association in 2006. Her next three books earned places on the New York Times bestseller list. Taylor has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Emory University, Mercer University, Columbia Seminary, Oblate School of Theology, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. Her latest book, Always a Guest, was released in October 2020 from Westminster John Knox Press.“Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.”Support the showA huge thank you to all of you who subscribe and support our show! This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from The Fetzer Institute—we are very grateful for their support. Support 'Hunger for Wholeness' on Patreon as our team continues to develop content for listeners to dive deeper. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for episode releases and other updates.

Hunger for Wholeness: Culture, Darkness and Pantheism with Barbara Brown Taylor (Part 1) with Ilia Delio.In this episode, Ilia Delio interviews best-selling author and Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor. Their conversation kicks off discussing Barbara's book “Learning to Walk in the Dark,” the merits of darkness and challenges of contemporary culture. Ilia asks Barbara how her theology is informed by nature, what the future of our understanding of God looks like.ABOUT BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR“Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.”Barbara Brown Taylor is a best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church, won an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association in 2006. Her next three books earned places on the New York Times bestseller list. Taylor has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Emory University, Mercer University, Columbia Seminary, Oblate School of Theology, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. Her latest book, Always a Guest, was released in October 2020 from Westminster John Knox Press.Support the showA huge thank you to all of you who subscribe and support our show! This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from The Fetzer Institute—we are very grateful for their support. Support 'Hunger for Wholeness' on Patreon as our team continues to develop content for listeners to dive deeper. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for episode releases and other updates.

This is one of those episodes and this week it's all about what is helping me life a joyful life right now. I first heard this idea from the Lazy Genius Podcast, and the host, Kendra Adachi said she got this idea from the author, Barbara Brown Taylor. Taylor asks and answers this question in her memoir, Leaving Church. I put this episode on the list for this month, but I've had a pretty hard and stressful couple of months, and quite honestly, I almost decided not to do this episode because I couldn't think of anything that was making my life better right now. But then I realized that that was the exact reason I needed to do this episode, and I ended up coming up with five things that are saving my life. Listen in to hear what these five things are!  Links from the Episode:  Olive and June Affiliate Link Book - Joyful: the surprising power of ordinary things to create extraordinary happiness Book - Legends & Lattes  Hale Center Theater in Orem You can see the rest of the show notes on the Friendly Podcast Guide website. 

"I like it much better than ‘religious' or ‘spiritual' — to be a seeker after the sacred or the holy, which ends up for me being the really real."– Rev. Barbara Brown TaylorFrom Krista, about this week's show:It's fascinating to trace the arc of spiritual searching and religious belonging in my lifetime. The Episcopal priest and public theologian Barbara Brown Taylor was one of the people I started learning about when I left diplomacy to study theology in the early 1990s. At that time, she was leading a small church in Georgia. And she preached the most extraordinary sermons, and turned them into books read far and wide. Then in 2006, she wrote Leaving Church — about her decision to leave her life of congregational ministry, finding other ways to stay, as she's written, "alive and alert to the holy communion of the human condition, which takes place on more altars than anyone can count.” She's written other books since, with titles like An Altar in the World, Learning to Walk in the Dark, and Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. Being in the presence of Barbara Brown Taylor's wonderfully wise and meandering mind and spirit, after all these years of knowing her voice in the world, is a true joy. I might even use a religious word — it feels like a "blessing." And this is not a conversation about the decline of church or about more and more people being "spiritual but not religious." We both agree that this often-repeated phrase is not an adequate way of seeing the human hunger for holiness. This is as alive as it has ever been in our time — even if it is shape-shifting in ways my Southern Baptist and Barbara's Catholic and Methodist forebears could never have imagined.Barbara Brown Taylor is the author of many books, including An Altar in the World,  Leaving Church, Holy Envy, and Learning to Walk in the Dark. Her 2020 book is Always a Guest, a compilation of recent sermons. She is the former rector of Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church of Clarkesville, Georgia, and she taught for two decades in the religion department at Piedmont College.This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Barbara Brown Taylor — ‘This Hunger for Holiness'." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.___________Please share On Being with friends, family, book clubs, neighbors, colleagues, and perfect strangers in the checkout line at the grocery store. And if you can take a minute to rate On Being in this podcast app, you'll be bending the arc of algorithms towards this community of conversation and living.Also: sign up for our Saturday morning ritual of a newsletter, The Pause, for replenishment and invigoration in your inbox — and of course all things On Being — at onbeing.org/newsletter. And delve more across our social channels: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok.

"I like it much better than ‘religious' or ‘spiritual' — to be a seeker after the sacred or the holy, which ends up for me being the really real."– Rev. Barbara Brown TaylorFrom Krista, about this week's show:It's fascinating to trace the arc of spiritual searching and religious belonging in my lifetime. The Episcopal priest and public theologian Barbara Brown Taylor was one of the people I started learning about when I left diplomacy to study theology in the early 1990s. At that time, she was leading a small church in Georgia. And she preached the most extraordinary sermons, and turned them into books read far and wide. Then in 2006, she wrote Leaving Church — about her decision to leave her life of congregational ministry, finding other ways to stay, as she's written, "alive and alert to the holy communion of the human condition, which takes place on more altars than anyone can count.” She's written other books since, with titles like An Altar in the World, Learning to Walk in the Dark, and Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. Being in the presence of Barbara Brown Taylor's wonderfully wise and meandering mind and spirit, after all these years of knowing her voice in the world, is a true joy. I might even use a religious word — it feels like a "blessing." And this is not a conversation about the decline of church or about more and more people being "spiritual but not religious." We both agree that this often-repeated phrase is not an adequate way of seeing the human hunger for holiness. This is as alive as it has ever been in our time — even if it is shape-shifting in ways my Southern Baptist and Barbara's Catholic and Methodist forebears could never have imagined.Barbara Brown Taylor is the author of many books, including An Altar in the World,  Leaving Church, Holy Envy, and Learning to Walk in the Dark. Her 2020 book is Always a Guest, a compilation of recent sermons. She is the former rector of Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church of Clarkesville, Georgia, and she taught for two decades in the religion department at Piedmont College.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.___________Let's get together. We're going to do another listening party — listening, all together and with Krista, to the final episode of this season. Register here.___________Please share On Being with friends, family, book clubs, neighbors, colleagues, and perfect strangers in the checkout line at the grocery store. And if you can take a minute to rate On Being in this podcast app, you'll be bending the arc of algorithms towards this community of conversation and living.Also: sign up for our Saturday morning ritual of a newsletter, The Pause, for replenishment and invigoration in your inbox — and of course all things On Being — at onbeing.org/newsletter. And delve more across our social channels: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok.

The clearing of the temple: Jesus disrupts our thinking. Causes us to ask questions. What are we doing here? He disrupts our thinking in two ways (more than two, but we only have time for two here). First, Jesus disrupts our thinking about the other. The system of exploitation that was set up blocking access to the divine in the temple made Jesus angry. The marginalized, the poor had no access to worship in the temple without paying an outrageously inflated price first. Blocking access to the divine? Who do we think we are? This is one of the reasons we at ReNew made the decision we made a year ago - to be open and affirming. Second, and last, Jesus disrupts our thinking about our own bodies - challenging us to see them as temples, homes of the divine. This isn't what we were taught. We've been taught to mistrust and fear our own bodies. Jesus talks about his own body as a temple for the divine. Do we have a healthy theology of the body? How can we move past our fear, mistrust and squeamishness and offer our whole lives to God - including our bodies? These are the kinds of disruptive questions the church needs to answer. Barbara Brown Taylor says a lot about our bodies, and how crucial it is that we love our own so that we can love others' bodies better. It's impossible for us to love our own bodies more without increasing our love for all bodies. Which means, of course, that we can't love our own bodies and stand by while other bodies are mistreated and abused. Which is why our kids might save us, with their willingness to call out the oppression and hatred around us. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: John 2:13-22 http://bible.com/events/49042822

Boyd revisits his conversation with Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor on the principle of 'holy envy' and connects it to Pope Francis' Advice for LentSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Society often weaponizes our differences. But Barbara Brown Taylor says that if we want to heal our polarized society, we should start by valuing our differences in faith. Barbara is the bestselling author of "Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others." She joins Boyd to discuss how she's been able to see God through other people's eyes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm Andi Smiley, the Friendly Podcast Guide. And I'm going to tell you what is saving my life right now. I first heard this phrase from Kendra Adachi, the host of The Lazy Genius podcast and she said she got this idea from author Barbara Brown Taylor. Barbara Brown Taylor asks and answers this question in her memoir, Leaving Church.  I really like the idea of focusing on the things that are making my life better, it helps me to see those things easier in my every day life. And as a stay at home mom of 3 littles 5 years old and younger in the winter where it's too cold for my kids to easily go outside, I need all the help I can get. I hope that you can find a nugget of info that can help you with your life, but more than anything I hope that listening to my list of 10 things can inspire you to make your own list of things that are saving your life right now. Links from the Episode: - Grab my Kid Podcast Guide! - Find the rest of the show notes on the Friendly Podcast Guide website.

Pastor Craig Hadley discusses the Sermon on the Mount and tells stories from Langston Hughes, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Martin Luther, and what all of it has to do with us in 2023. Sermon from February 4, 2023 at Paradox Church

On this Season 4 of Learning How to See, we continue to grapple with the question "do I stay Christian?" In Season 3, we looked at the "yes" and the "no" answer to that question. This season, we're asking: if you do decide to stay Christian without accepting the harmful elements of the Christian faith -- how are you going to do it? Join Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, and others to explore ways we all can live good and full, meaningful, and just lives--whether we continue to identify as Christian or not. We'd love to hear from you throughout this season. We'll be doing an episode responding to what arises for you. Contact us by leaving a voicemail or emailing us at podcasts@cac.org

Join Rev. Emily E. Ewing (they) and Rev. Kay Rohloff (she) and special guest Rev. Collette Broady Grund (she), creator of The Grief Lectionary,to explore new and nerdy connections to the scripture for Christmas 1, also known as the First Sunday of Christmas, which falls on January 1st this year, including our deep dive into grief! The scripture we refer to for this episode can be found here. For more on the Church calendar, or Revised Common Lectionary (which N@C uses for our episodes), check out our intro minisode. We talked about It's OK that You're Not OK by Megan Devine, the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking and book The Hot Young Widows Club (both by Nora McInerny), and Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor as great resources during grief. Emily also mentioned this scene from Doctor Who “The Time of Angels.” CN: we talk about ableism when discussing the deep dive, child murder in the Gospel reading. To support Nerds At Church, you can become a Patreon Supporter at any tier for extra perks and bonus content including uncut guest episodes, Live Q&As, merch, and more. If becoming a paying supporter isn't possible right now, please leave us a review instead — it helps sustain the show and spread the word! Check us out on Facebook & Twitter at @NerdsAtChurch to connect! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nerdsatchurch/message

It's the benediction episode in our “Ending the Year with a Bang” series and what a well of wisdom we have for you. The Dalia Lama of the Christian faith who resides in and walks the trails of beautiful rural Georgia–a For the Love favorite—Barbara Brown Taylor, shares her priceless insights with us. She and Jen talk blueberry pies, retired racehorses who get a second chance at life in her backyard, and making room for friendships when the world wants us, above all else, to be productive. She shares a “Farewell to 2022” prayer that she composed specifically for this podcast community (which might have elicited a tear or two) and how considering new rhythms in our day to day might bring us new life in 2023. Barbara wants to remind us that God created this world to be enjoyed and to heal and nurture us. As we contemplate how we are looking to live in this coming year, BBT has this to say to us all: “be patient with the changing seasons and not insisting that spring be like fall or that winter be like summer; trust the change in them. There's a rhythm that is settling into a pattern and then there's a point at which the rhythm means breaking the pattern to insert a slower rhythm, a more attentive rhythm. It is a great walk of trust.”  * * * Thank you to our sponsor! BetterHelp | Visit BetterHelp.com/forthelove and get 10% off your first month   Thought-Provoking Quotes “It's been an odd liminal transition space between two heavy pandemic years and then seeing what comes next with really no assurance about what comes next. Which I think for people of faith, it is a great walk, a great kind of trust walk. So my 2022 has been a lot about deciding how much normal I want to go back to and what kind of a tempo I want to live because at this point everything's picking up again and I have found myself rushing and busy and distracted and I remember that too well and there are not enough years left to live like that. So 2022 has been for me a hinge year. It's been a year for coming to terms with age, both the fear of what that means and the invitation that it brings perhaps especially for a woman, I'm not sure about that. But the fear is about the stereotypes.” - Barbara Brown Taylor “I prayed much differently in my twenties than I did in my thirties or forties or now. So to be patient with the changing seasons and not insisting that spring be like fall or that winter, be like summer, but to be patient with the rhythms and to trust. To trust the change in them.” - Barbara Brown Taylor “Part of realizing God is with us is giving up illusions. That means that God is very chatty and always available. I mean I'm an introvert so I recognize one when I see one. And sometimes God with us means God's silent and withdrawn and that does not mean God's gone.” - Barbara Brown Taylor “My understanding of my Christian faith is it's the religion of the neighbor and it's the religion whose prime teacher said, "If you've got to choose between your religion and your neighbor, choose your neighbor…Because I never told you to love your religion.” - Barbara Brown Taylor “The faith of my childhood did not teach me that God had any interest in our pleasure…in fact the opposite was more true. The harder something was probably the godlier it was. Or the more I denied myself something that felt beautiful or wonderful, that probably meant I was being obedient…God made this world to just be so enjoyed and to heal us and to nurture us. And that feels so crystal clear, true to me now that I'm shocked that it wasn't always.”  - Jen Hatmaker “I've got to attend to the sustainability of a supple heart. And all of that means as we've been talking about kind of changing closer, further back, local, global, just finding a way to remain present to all the things you just named and more without becoming wooden or completely fatigued beyond any usefulness.”  - Barbara Brown Taylor “Hope can become a way of not being in the present, a way of refusing what is happening right now and a kind of insistence on a better thing coming. And so I'm real wary of hope unless it functions right here, right now. And so hope becomes really a wish to be more faithful to the reality I'm planted in when it's horrible and when it's lovely.” - Barbara Brown Taylor “This is the age when all the cliches come true. Life is short and grief is the price we pay for love and all fleshes grass. And guess what? Love, intimacy, closeness, friendship. That's what counts. That's what lasts.”  - Barbara Brown Taylor   Guest's LinksBarbara Brown Taylor Website Barbara Brown Taylor Facebook   Resources Mentioned in This Episode Rhythm of Prayer Book   Connect with Jen!Jen's website Jen's Instagram Jen's Twitter Jen's Facebook Jen's YouTube

Episode SummaryBarbara Brown Taylor is who you want to be when you grow up. Her life is a legacy of wisdom and wonder, walking the long road toward becoming fully human. In this intimate conversation that is more memoir than interview, she looks back on a long pilgrimage of faith while sharing some of the secrets she's found along the way. As she reminds us, “This is not the life I planned or the life I recommend to others. But it is the life that has turned out to be mind, and the central revelation in it for me—that the call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human.” Along the way she shares what suffering and pain has taught her, and how life isn't so much about eliminating the bad but finding a balance between light and darkness, despair and hope. Together, we explore what it means to slow down and listen to your life, to embrace your humanity as you strive for the Divine. As favorite poet Mary Oliver wrote, “To live in this world you must be able to do three things. To love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.” I hope you will take the time to listen to your life, to see if for all the beauty and agony it brings as you too walk this long pilgrimage toward becoming fully human, fully divine. BioBarbara Brown Taylor is An American Episcopal priest, professor, and New York Times bestselling author who has dedicated her life to the pursuit of becoming fully human. Her most beloved works include An Altar in the World, Learning to Walk in the Dark, and Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. She completed her undergraduate work at Emory University and went on to study at Yale Divinity School where she graduated in 1976. In 1996, she was named one of the twelve "most effective" preachers in the English-speaking world by Baylor University. She was awarded the 1998 Emory Medal by the Emory Alumni Association of Emory University for her distinguished achievement in education. She has been an Avon lady, a cocktail waitress, a horseback riding instructor, and a parish minister, but her favorite job was teaching world religions at Piedmont College for twenty years before putting the chalk down in 2017. She now divides her time between writing, speaking, and caring for the land on which she lives. Barbara and her husband Ed tend a small farm in the foothills of the Appalachians.Quotables“I was raised by parents who took me to libraries instead of churches.”“It took teaching world religions to realize Christianity was probably the most diverse, global tradition. And there are hundreds if not thousands of ways of being Christian.”“It's a wide, wide Christian world and I still identify that way…I'm the kind of Christian who will never be fully cooked.”“I'm clearly a person who believes what we most have in common is our humanity, not our religion.”“Jesus never told me to love my religion…If given the choice between loving my religion and loving my neighbor, I choose the neighbor.”“If we are made just a little lower than the Angels and made in the image of the Divine, it is quite something to be human.”“Both in Christian life and life universally, I keep meeting people who don't feel fully equipped yet to live their lives.” “If I'm going to love my neighbor, it is extremely important to ditch my stereotypes.”“We do a lot of judging one another by our yard signs, and I am so weary of that dichotomy.”“There was a time when my writing about Nature earned me a kind of outsider status of being pagan or pantheist.”“For the first time I began to see all the people my beloved tradition left out.”“Outsider status really ended up being like pilgrim status.”“As a mainline Episcopalian, what could be further from where most evangelicals started.”“I don't speak of the Christ, but I'm happy to talk about Jesus.”“I do believe the spirit of God lives in ALL that God has made.” “Darkness is the way of unknowing…It's the way you set your feet on when you don't know where you are going.”“You shed a lot of beliefs along the way as you acquire wisdom and experience and new friends.”“What darkness has taught me is that it is fine to slow down enough in the dark to feel my way instead of thinking my way forward.”“Suffering is not a spiritual practice I would choose, but it seems unavoidable.”“I think the hardest thing about suffering is the idea that we are alone in it.”“It's really helpful for people to look in their folders marked darkness and see what is in there and interrogate what is in there.”“There are a lot of things we wrestle with out of the public eye that we acquire the wisdom to speak about it IN the public eye.”“I think you just unearthed my primary faith statement which is, ‘I choose to believe the universe is for me and not against me.'”“I do wake up curious every day of my life, and I wake up attentive and with wonder.”“The time ahead is so much shorter than the time behind, so it's time to get serious about things.”“I think the Benedictines said every day keep your death before you. Not to make you a grim reaper but to make you aware of the preciousness of what you have.”If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review

It's a question often asked and answered by writers and podcasters alike and it's easy to see why — it's simple, it's direct, and it's deeply thought provoking. Along with making a list of what I'm learning each season, I also love to make note of what's saving my life. Thanks to Barbara Brown Taylor for bringing this question into the public conversation, and to John Claypool to asking it of her so many years ago. So that's today's episode. Listen in.     Links + Resources From This Episode: Leaving Church by Barbara Taylor Brown My Autumn playlist Myquillyn's playlist Hope You Like Banjos Created Colorful - Use code EPF20 for $20 off your consultation (expires Oct. 31, 2022) What the Heck is EOS? by Gino Wickman and Tom Bouwer Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

There is a blessing to be found in the naming of God. To name God is a grace we have been given, an invitation to connect with the unnamable, unfathomable Divine.  What and how we name God is the story we're telling ourselves and the world. What would you name God? More in this week's #theslowwaypodcast Links: This reflection and practice were also published this week in The Slow Way Newsletter. Read Macrina Wiederkehr's, The Flowing Grace of Now Read “Naming Objects Is the Opposite of Thoughtless Consumption” from The Atlantic, here Read “Why People Name Their Machines” from The Atlantic, here Read “Entering the Dark Cloud of God,” a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor, here Find a transcript of this episode here.  Find Micha's website and sign up for her weekly newsletter here Find Micha on Instagram Find Micha on Twitter Micha's other podcast, The Lucky Few, is all about Down syndrome advocacy. She cohosts it with Heather Avis and Mercedes Lara. Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer is available everywhere books are sold   

Lately I've been reclaiming blessing, not as something we get if we're lucky or pious enough. But blessing as a gift by which we honor one another. It is taking something ordinary and pronouncing it remarkable, sacred. Barbara Brown Taylor says the act of blessing is not so much the work of conferring holiness as it is the hope-filled task of recognizing and acknowledging the holiness already there. What if we release that other notion of blessing, the one that can make us feel small or unseen by God? What if instead we look for ways to “share in God's audacity,” to boldly call the world around us good?  More in this week's #theslowwaypodcast Links: This reflection and practice were also published this week in The Slow Way Newsletter. Read An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor Find a transcript of this episode here.  Find Micha's website and sign up for her weekly newsletter here Find Micha on Instagram Find Micha on Twitter Micha's other podcast, The Lucky Few, is all about Down syndrome advocacy. She cohosts it with Heather Avis and Mercedes Lara. Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer is available everywhere books are sold   

We are excited to welcome Barbara Brown Taylor to The Weight for a conversation about hospitality and being in the center and being at the edge of a religion--how is it different when you're the outsider versus when you're on the inside? How do you let people who believe in something completely different strengthen your own faith? Barbara leaned into these lessons when she taught a Religion 101 class at Piedmont College, now Piedmont University, in Georgia. She got to watch the real love and hospitality of Buddhist monks and Muslim Imams who “welcomed a bunch of awkward strangers, and fed us, and showed us where to sit and gave us places of honor and thanked us for coming.” And in return, she was able to deepen her own faith and extend hospitality and love to the others in her own life. She used her experiences teaching that course to write Holy Envy, which was published in 2019.Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, teacher, and the best-selling. She has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Emory University, Mercer University, Columbia Seminary, Oblate School of Theology, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. Resources:Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of OthersFind Barbara Brown Taylor on the Web:https://barbarabrowntaylor.com Follow her on Social Media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorBarbaraBrownTaylor/Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/71455.Barbara_Brown_Taylor 

Original Air Date: April 1, 2019On a special edition of “Super Soul Conversations,” Oprah Winfrey discusses her book, “The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life's Direction and Purpose,” featuring some of the most profound insights and Aha! moments. In this follow-up to her New York Times best-selling book “The Wisdom of Sundays,” Oprah shares her own key lessons and the personal stories that helped set the course for her best life. Hear from luminaries and trailblazers in a wide array of fields share the life lessons that helped them find meaning and purpose in their own lives: A.R. Bernard, Sue Monk Kidd, Shefali Tsabary, Elizabeth Gilbert, Caroline Myss, Brian Grazer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tracy Morgan, Sister Joan Chittister, Wintley Phipps, Shauna Niequist, Wes Moore, Amy Purdy, Adyashanti, Steven Pressfield, Iyanla Vanzant, Michael Singer, India.Arie, Gary Zukav, Michael Beckwith, Carole Bayer Sager, Janet Mock, Brene Brown, Barbara Brown Taylor, Marianne Williamson, Brother David Steindl-Rast, Shonda Rhimes, Jay-Z, Eckhart Tolle, Joe Biden, Tracy McMillan, Glennon Doyle, Stephen Colbert, Thich Nhat Hanh, Gloria Steinem, Jimmy Carter, Lynne Twist, Bryan Stevenson, John Lewis, Cicely Tyson, Jordan Peele, Trevor Noah, Jeff Weiner, Goldie Hawn and Elizabeth Lesser. If you are feeling stuck or at a crossroads, wondering if there is more to life, “The Path Made Clear” provides inspiration and guidance to help you discover not only who you are, but who you are meant to be.

Is there a way for Christianity to exist without rejecting other religions? Is the Bible actually against religious pluralism? What can we learn from people of other faiths to help us be better humans, or even better Christians? Nate and Shelby look at other religions with Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor, discuss her book Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, and address John 14:6 where Jesus says “I am the way, the truth and the life." ☆★☆ Support us on Patreon for 2 episodes every month of our Patreon-only podcast called Utterly Heretical, a monthly Zoom call and access to a private Facebook Group where we all hang out. (Just $5!) Hosts: Nate Hanson & Shelby Bennett (MA in Biblical Studies) Music: Jpoetic, Cale Haugen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

★ Support our work and get 2 bonus episodes and a zoom call every month, plus access to our private Facebook Group with 200+ other listeners. Find out more here!Is there a way for Christianity to exist without rejecting other religions? Is the Bible actually against religious pluralism? What can we learn from people of other faiths to help us be better humans, or even better Christians? Nate and Shelby look at other religions with Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor, discuss her book Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, and address John 14:6 where Jesus says “I am the way, the truth and the life." Hosts: Nate Hanson & Shelby Bennett (MA in Biblical Studies)Music: Jpoetic, Cale Haugen, Joel Harris ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In our first episode of season 2, Barbara Brown Taylor discusses the realities of spiritual wilderness and asks us to consider what it looks like to have a faith lean enough to survive. She explains that a true wilderness means coming to the end of our perceived safety and learning that we've never really had any guarantees all along. Barbara says that grief is necessary for the vitality of the soul and asks us to imagine what subsistence spirituality would mean in our own wilderness. Then Jeff and Sarah discuss the unforeseen ways grief has impacted our lives since this talk was given at the 2019 conference and the beauty of a lean spirituality that can carry us through loss. Show Notes

It's the question Barbara Brown Taylor asks and answers in her memoir, Leaving Church, and one many of us have carried forward to ask and answer as well. The best questions are shareable and re-answerable and today I'll share my list of what's saving my life. Because when you are in a season of discernment and decision-making (which is almost always), it's helpful to name and celebrate where the life comes from. Listen in.   Links + Resources From This Episode: Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor Episode 76: Create a Simple Morning Routine Episode 90: Start with this Simple Rhythm Episode 141: Redo Your Morning Routine Caffeine Eye Cream by The Inkey List Episode 167: Spiritual Direction for Beginners Episode 178: How to Find a Spiritual Director On Being feat. Gordon Hempton with Krista Tippett I Used to Be a Human Being by Andrew Sullivan Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.