Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

“I cannot overstate how liberating and transforming I have found Leaving Church to be.” - Frederick Buechner, author of Beyond Words

“This memoir […] is full of surprises[…] In her renewal is our own.” - Peter J. Gomes, Harvard University

“Taylor describes doubt, faith and vocation, their limits, and how the church both blesses and muddies the waters.” - Nora Gallagher, author of Practicing Resurrection

“Taylor is a better writer than LaMott and a better theologian than Norris. …she is the best there is.” - Living Church

“Told with insight, humor and compassion.” - The Columbus Post Dispatch

“A beautifully crafted memoir … . There is a refreshing honesty … a slice of courage in a world that too often refuses to admit its vulnerability… . Leaving Church does not bash the church. It is a love story about letting go and learning to live with the mystery of what may happen next.” - San Diego Tribune

“This new memoir is among the summer’s best books…” - Detroit Free Press

“A wonderfully gifted Christian writer and speaker.” - Kansas City Star

“A fiercely honest and gracious book about our primary vocation to be human.” - Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and author of Reimagining Christianity

“Leaving Church is a canticle of praise to creator and creation.” - Thomas Lynch, author of The Undertaking and Booking Passage

“Such is the power of Brown Taylor’s prose…and her humanity that this story becomes one of hope.” - Columbus Dispatch

“An Episcopal priest renowned for her eloquent sermons turns her talents to memoir…” - Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Lovely … revealing … poignant… . I found in Taylor’s narrative a companionable voice…” - Garret Keizer in Books & Culture

“I love this book … . Her beautiful, absorbing memoir will bless countless readers…” - Lauren Winner, The Dallas Morning News

“A finely crafted memoir … a rich evocation of her lifelong love affair with God.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

”…Taylor at her best, writing about congregational moments with such artistic grace and wit that we see them afresh” - Christian Century

“Even without the collar, Barbara Brown Taylor is one of our most important spiritual writers today.” - ExploreFaith

Barbara Brown Taylor is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller An Altar in the World and Leaving Church, which received an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. Taylor is the Butman Professor of Religion at Piedmont College, where she has taught since 1998. She lives on a working farm in rural northeast Georgia with her husband, Ed.