
Leaving Church
A Memoir of Faith
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Narrated by:
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Karen Saltus
About this listen
After nine years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Barbara Brown Taylor arrives in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500), following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock - Taylor is one of the only professional women in the community - but small-town life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves, but ultimately she finds herself experiencing "compassion fatigue" and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith she may have to leave.
Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor's realization that this may in fact be God's surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope - and ultimately, renewal.
©2006 Barbara Brown Taylor (P)2011 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From simple practices such as walking, working, and getting lost to deep meditations on topics like prayer and pronouncing blessings, Taylor reveals concrete ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of devotion if we pay attention to what we are doing and take time to attend to the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Making eye contact with the cashier at the grocery store becomes a moment of true human connection.
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By: Brian D. McLaren
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Faith Unraveled
- How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions
- By: Rachel Held Evans, Sarah Bessey
- Narrated by: Rachel Held Evans
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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From New York Times best-selling author Rachel Held Evans: a must-listen for anyone on the journey of doubt, deconstruction, and ultimately faith reborn. Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith. Rachel recounts growing up in a culture obsessed with apologetics, struggling as her own faith unraveled one unexpected question at a time.
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Recharging my faith
- By nitasue11 on 09-07-20
By: Rachel Held Evans, and others
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Searching for Sunday
- Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church
- By: Rachel Held Evans
- Narrated by: Rachel Held Evans
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn't want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals - church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing her back. And so she set out on a journey to understand the Church and to find her place in it.
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Don't bother
- By Andi Andrzjewski on 12-05-16
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How the Bible Actually Works
- In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News
- By: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Peter Enns
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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How the Bible Actually Works makes clear that there is no one right way to read or listen to the Bible. Moving us beyond the damaging idea that “being right” is the most important measure of faith, Enns’ freeing approach to Bible study helps us to instead focus on pursuing enlightenment and building our relationship with God - which is exactly what the Bible was designed to do.
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The subtitle matters
- By Adam Shields on 03-08-19
By: Peter Enns
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A New Kind of Christianity
- Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith
- By: Brian D. McLaren
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren. In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church - questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is....
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Clear, Careful, Considerate Confrontation
- By Celia on 09-10-12
By: Brian D. McLaren
What listeners say about Leaving Church
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- Sam
- 12-07-24
Wonderfully moving story of openness, faith and burnout.
Barbara Brown Taylor expresses what so many of us are feeling. We long for something we can’t quite put into words and seek to meet that longing by committing to work we believe in. When our efforts are not enough, we try harder, driving ourselves and those around us to suffer, and losing the joy to which we are called.
Her beautiful, compassionate writing and her gentle humor let me go deeper into things I hadn’t fully articulated. I felt seen, cared for and set free.
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- Shawn P. Stapleton
- 07-28-17
Extraordinary!
Would you consider the audio edition of Leaving Church to be better than the print version?
I did not read the print version
What was one of the most memorable moments of Leaving Church?
When BBT began speaking of the difference between the life of faith and the life of "Mother Church," and the demands Mother Church places on the person of faith -- demands which can negatively nuance the person's faith walk.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
I loved the fact that the reader had some characteristics (like over-pronounced consonants at the ends of words) that characterize BBT's speaking style. I did not care for the reader's predictable inflections, which gave the narration a "sing-song" quality.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Barbie
- 05-02-16
loved it,
Well written. Helps one to get out of the traditional "safe" boxes of life to enter into the greater life that God has offered to each of us.
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- RS
- 02-20-18
A good read.
Leaving Church was excellent. Barbara told her journey into spirituality and becoming an ordained minister and on to leaving ministry and her relationship with God throughout. As a therapist, I can relate to caregiver fatigue, even when you love what you do. I have also chased my spirituality sometimes doing better without being tied to a church, and sometimes needing what a church can provide. This provided some excellent perspective. I highly recommend!
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2 people found this helpful
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- kim olstad
- 02-15-23
Engaged me head, heart, faith and bodily
Perhaps it’s because I’ve been on a similar journey - but I know these are salient questions for many… BBT shares here in a way that helps me ponder, wonder and heal.
I do prefer it when she personally reads, but
Can’t complain about this narrator.
I’m really grateful for this “offering “
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- Karen
- 03-18-16
Good account, lovingly written, tritely read
Taylor's open account of her personal struggle with vocation is a lovely read. Her way with words is as vivid as ever. The narration however makes the book seem trivial and affected. I yearn to listen to Barbara read this herself.
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5 people found this helpful
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- JC
- 01-28-21
Not her best but still good
I’ve read several things by BBT all very well written as is this. But this doesn’t have the power of Learning to Walk in the Dark. At least not for me, but still worth the time.
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- Illini Two
- 05-07-12
Barbara Brown Taylor at her best
What made the experience of listening to Leaving Church the most enjoyable?
The writers experiences are relevant and applicable for a Christian seeking to actually follow Jesus of Nazereth in 21st century America
Who was your favorite character and why?
The author herself
Which scene was your favorite?
Her surprise that God's beautiful world of nature is still there to inspire if one looks hard enough
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It is great to know others are on the same pilgrimage
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5 people found this helpful
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- ifamericansonlyknew
- 07-31-19
The "Voice" of the reader was cringe-worthy!
I love Barbara Brown-Taylor's work and this book was no exception. I find her authentic and relatable.
The book itself is brilliant.
However.. listening to whomever was chosen to read this book was akin to fingernails on a chalkboard. The voice was inappropriately sweet and condescending for a topic that is often wrenchingly painful for people living it.
Did the "voice" read this book prior to her recitation? Did she consider the context, audience, and purpose?
It was so terrible to listen to her sing-song glib intonations that I found this audio version of the book nearly impossible to stomach. UGH!
For those of us for whom "leaving church" has been an oft painful journey with questions and self-doubt at nearly every turn I felt almost a mocking tone from the reader. Horrible choice for the "voice" and such a shame for a brilliant book
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5 people found this helpful
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- Jeff C
- 02-15-17
Well Read -- Little Long
Good autobiography of her calling and discernment. Some of the nuggets got lost in the over writing of details and story telling that took away from the narrative.
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