Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

Framed as a failed love affair with a small church in rural north Georgia, Barbara Brown Taylor’s journey from city to country, from full-time ministry to university professor, and urban dweller to part-time farmer is insightful, humorous, and wonderfully human. After ten years in a big urban church, Taylor arrives in Clarkesville, (population 1500). Five-and-a-half years later, compassion fatigue strikes, and Taylor realizes that in order to keep her faith she must leave the church, despite feeling that she is betraying the church and losing a part of her identity. Taylor struggles to figure out what faith looks like from the pews instead of the pulpit. Anyone who has experienced doubts about his or her chosen vocation, or those drawn to worship God in community but who have a hard time finding their place in church, will find a kindred spirit in Taylor.