Holy Envy

Finding God in the Faith of Others

By: Barbara Brown Taylor

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The renowned and beloved New York Times best-selling 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. Reimagining 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.

©2019 Barbara Brown Taylor (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Learning about other Faiths

Great Book! There are many other religious
People of different faiths. Learn about other faiths and how we all can find some common ground and discover something good in those faiths that makes us discover some holy envy of that goodness. Fascinating!

Freedom

I loved this book and will listen quite a few more times. I find it liberating.

Thought provoking and challenging

This book really made me look at other face and open up my heart to inclusivity

Fake accent is beyond annoying

Great book, but can’t finish audio version. I grew up in the South and find an authentic lilting Southern accent pleasant, but this was fake, fake, fake. Couldn’t bear to listen to it. Will get kindle version to enjoy BBT in her authentic voice — written word.

Wow!!!

This book has encouraged my own faith and has open the door of my heart to seek continued encouragement in the faiths of world religions. I walked away with a sense of loving humanity more.

An open-hearted journey of faith. Superb!!!

Life got busy, and this priest found her faith dwindling. In her own words, she dropped the bucket of her faith into the well of her own Christian tradition, and instead of coming up with living water, it came up empty. What changed? It was the same church she had served and been served in for years. Join this author as she shares her journey of finding her faith, losing it for a while, then finding it again. The author is a Christian, but the lessons she learns about seeking noble truths in the spiritual traditions of others is timeless and universal. I cannot recommend this book enough! If you or someone you love is seeking some way to deepen your spiritual life, regardless of your background or tradition, this is the book for you! This is not an effort to proselytize anyone, but rather a deep introspective journey about how to find holiness, beauty, and faith worthy of emulation in the faith of those around you!
This is one of my all-time favorite books, and I recommend it without reservation!

Wow - I highly recommend this book! It was an emotional roller coaster as will as deeply spiritual!

Wow - I highly recommend this book! It was an emotional roller coaster as will as deeply spiritual!

An Excellent Account of HOLY ENVY

Loved the passion, effort, Biblical interpretation, and poetical insights on this vital spiritual/religious topic: the influence
of spiritual/religious thoughts on every person ---> from religious/areligious; spiritual/aspiritual; theist/non- theist/atheist alike.
Holy Envy draws one in to the value of religious understanding, moral reasoning and finding the truth underlying religious
practices. This book begins the discovery
of my religious journey. As a fellow clergy-person (along with the author) I felt
encouraged to open my heart and mind to another's rich faith experience.
Thank you, Barbara Brown Taylor !!

Wonderfully challenging

I found this book, wonderfully challenging to my faith in the Catholic Church, and in Christianity. While I still embrace my faith, I’m challenged to see it differently and from the edge, the existential periphery, so that I can embrace other people and I love them where they are. Thank you for a great Read

Insightful

I loved everything about this book, especially the author’s honesty. She explained her spiritual questioning and journey eloquently. Her insights into the worlds’s major religions were eye-opening. Her point of view on Bible stories was unique. I would love to return to college just to take her class!