Podcast: Barbara Brown Taylor
E. Lane Gresham
Rabbi Rami speaks with Barbara Brown Taylor, a best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest.
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 two books, An Altar in the World (2010) and Learning to Walk in the Dark (2015), earned places on the New York Times bestseller list. In 2014 TIME included her on its annual list of Most Influential People; in 2015 she was named Georgia Woman of the Year; in 2016 she received the President’s Medal at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Her fourteenth book, Holy Envy, was released by HarperOne in March 2019. (Check out our review here.)
In this podcast, Barbara and Rabbi Rami have a wide-ranging discussion, including talking about some of the Christian traditions that have gotten lost in Protestantism—such as early contemplative practices, and Mary/the divine feminine archetype—that are now being re-discovered and embraced. The two long-time friends also talk about how having a dear friend in another spiritual tradition can allow you to find more depth in your own.
It is human nature to want certainty, Barbara says. “I do think, though, that it's the longing for solid ground that makes the running water so painful. And if I could learn to make my home on running water, I would suffer less; I would be less miserable. I'm approaching 70. Good luck with solid ground. I haven't found that a match up with real life in any way. ... Perhaps is is time to learn to walk on running water.”
Want more? Read our Q&A with Barbara.
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