Altar in the World, An: A Geography of Faith (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: pronouncing blessings, The Practice of Feeling Pain, The Practice of Encountering Others, The Practice of Being Present (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Author of an acclaimed memoir (Leaving Church) and a gifted preacher, Taylor is one of those rare people who truly can see the holy in everything. Since everyone should know such a person, those who don't can—no, must—read this book, with its friendly reminders of everyday sacred. Taylor's 12 chapters mine the potentially sacred meaning of simple daily activities and conditions, like walking, paying attention, saying no to work one Sabbath day each week. Hanging laundry is setting up a prayer flag, for God's sake. Since Taylor, an Episcopal priest, no longer pastors a church, she can "do church" everywhere: in line at the grocery store interacting with the cashier, walking a moonlit path with her husband. Her candor is another of the book's virtues: she is a failure at prayer, and cannot explain why or how it is, or isn't, answered ("I do not know any way to talk about answered prayer without sounding like a huckster or a honeymooner"). Savor this book. (Feb.)
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Review

"Leaving Church settled it for me that Taylor, as thinker and stylist, ranks with the best. The new book confirms that. . . . This book is not a page-turner. It's a page-lingerer. I wore out a highlighter marking passages I want to read again." (Dallas Morning News )

"An Altar in the World is a delight to the eyes, mind and heart, a book I will certainly return to again at a later time, if only to remind myself of the spirituality of everyday living." (America Magazine )

"Taylor's spiritual reflections are original, bringing fresh air to her topics because her spirituality is steeped in everyday life while illuminated by the ancient Christian spiritual tradition." (National Catholic Reporter )

"Taylor serves up beefy soul food.. . . Though she did not write the book to speak to the economic crash, those suffering from lost jobs, homes and status will find plenty to feed thought and faith." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution )

"A marvelous book. Barbara Brown Taylor's honesty is so fantastic, and she writes with such wit, that this book is a delight to read and a profound experience ." (ExploreFaith )

"The author seems simply incapable of writing a bad book. . . . Taylor is a great gift to the Christian church. And this volume, which focuses on spiritual practices, simply adds to her growing reputation." (Kansas City Star )

"She's deliberately exploring the turf where our feet hit the floorboards each morning - and where the day takes us into the world. Even if you're not a Christian, you'll find a wise friend in Barbara's book." (Read the Spirit )

"[A] lovely book. One of the best-known preachers in the country offers equal amounts of wisdom and erudition spent longing for more meaning, more feeling, more connection." (Booklist )

This book is the most practical but everyday mystical book I have read on spiritual practices. (Kate Campbell, singer-songwriter )

This is the most completely beautiful book in religion that I have read in a very long time. Gentle, humbly crafted, lyrical, and deeply wise, Altar is Barbara Brown Taylor as she was meant to be, a pastor who understands that knowing God occurs in a place beyond theology. (Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )

An Altar in the World is about how faith can be both practical and sensuous.In Barbara Brown Taylor's hands, the old division between heaven and earth is healed and both come alive. Your mind, your body and your soul will be well fed by this wonderful book (Nora Gallagher, author of Things Seen and Unseen and Changing Light )

Elegant, wise, and insightful, this book is also sacramental: it mediates the life it describes (Marcus Borg, author of Jesus )

"Taylor writes fluently, with an eye and ear for the striking image and memorable phrase. Many readers, especially the vast numbers of the "unchurched" but "spiritual," will find support and useful counsel." (Library Journal )

"Without denigrating altars in churches, Brown helps us discover and honor all the 'altars in the world'--the red Xs that mark the spot, but that we cannot see because we are standing on them. She does so with a depth that readers will appreciate and savor." (-U.S. Catholic )

"Taylor is one of those rare people who truly can see the holy in everything. . . . Savor this book." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061370460
• ISBN-13: 978-0061370465
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,023 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting To "No": The Joy Of Reading Barbara Brown Taylor, February 13, 2009

By	H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Barbara Brown Taylor, Episcopal priest, professor of religion, and author of LEAVING CHURCH, a book that resonated with many of us, in her latest work, AN ALTAR IN THE WORLD, does what she does so well: she gives advice and counsel to those both inside and outside the church on how to become more human and have a richer spiritual life. She reminds us that we need not travel to the shrines of seers in foreign lands but rather that we cannot see the red X that will free us because we are standing on it. In 12 chapters the author covers vision, reference, the Sabbath, physical labor, vocation, prayer-- a different topic for each chapter. One of the things so endearing about Taylor's writing is that she is so brutally honest about herself, revealing details about her life that many people would never talk about: that she shakes hands like a man, that she may like Bombay Sapphire gin martinis too much, that she is a "rotten" godmother, for instance. The most surprising thing I learned about her is that Taylor considers herself an introvert. I would never have suspected that. In addition to her forthrightness, Taylor, an English major somewhere in her studies, always writes eloquently so it is easy to wallow in her words. She is just as much at home quoting Wendell Berry or Rumi as the Old Testament character Job. There are so many beautiful passages here chockfull of truths: her account of when she was seven, watching falling stars with her father from whom she learned reverence as well as her description of the first church she loved, in the Ohio countryside, where the pastor "was the first adult who looked me in the eyes and listened to what I said. He was the first to tuck God's pillow under my head." (You can tip your hat to that image as it is so beautiful!) Many of us were fortunate to have such a person in our lives as well. And we could pick out of a church lineup-- or maybe not-- the lone woman Taylor encountered polishing silver in the sacristy at a church in Alabama merely by Taylor's description of her as a "pulled-together woman."

Although the author gives a whole litany of the things that Episcopalians bless ("The Episcopalins are fools for blessing things"), she left off pets and fleets of ships. (I'm not sure, however, that I'm ready to bless my bathroom or read a poem aloud to a tree yet.) But Taylor is not about words but practices, encouraging her readers to get off the porch-- except on Sabbath-- and do something. She is dead on in her comments that we should at least make eye contact with the grocery store cashier (we don't have to invite her to dinner) and learn to say "no," in my favorite chapter: "The Practice of Saying No: Sabbath." Her admonishment that we do absolutely nothing on the Sabbath, not even driving our cars or turning on our computers, is well worth trying to do. We are so busy that we miss what is really important. Finally, Taylor via Brother David Steindl-Rast, an Austrian Benedictine, "recognizes the sacramental value of a homegrown tomato sandwich." For that statement alone, they both can be my spiritual advisors.

Whether you worship within a community or, in the words of Emily Dickinson, "keep the Sabbath staying at home"-- or keep the Sabbath not at all-- you will find much truth here, that if followed, should make you come closer to being a human being, or as Taylor says, "should "give you more meaning, more feeling, more connection, more life."

AN ALTAR IN THE WORLD cries out to be mulled over again and again. Of course reading this writer is always a joy.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Practices for Everyone, February 24, 2009

By	Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D. "Author" (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

In recent years, Christians have become more aware that theirs is a faith based in practices--the things we do in the world for the sake of God's beauty, justice and love. In this book, Barbara Brown Taylor opens the language of practice to extend far beyond the walls of the church and directs us to the practices that frame everyday human experience. She finds the divine in all things and invites her readers to intentionally participate in the interplay of the sacred in daily life. In many ways, it is a contemporary version of Brother Lawrence's classic book, "Practicing the Presence of God." As such, Barbara Brown Taylor models how theological reflection is not an arcane or ivory tower exercise. Rather, thinking theologically about our bodies, the ground on which we walk, the laundry that we do, is a holy calling for all people. This is a lovely book, one well-suited for personal growth and for reading groups.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spiritual Classic to Be Read Again and Again, March 10, 2009

By	O. Brown "Ms. O. Khannah-Brown" (Twopeas, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This is probably the most beautiful book about spirituality I have ever read. The experience of moving through the gorgeous, delicious writing was pure joy. I cried at the end. I was profoundly moved.

The book discusses and the spiritual practices of living, of being alive, in a way that will speak to people of any and every faith, and most especially to people who are more spiritual than religious. Each chapter is a separate essay that can stand alone---written on such things as the Practice of Wearing Skin, the Practice of Getting Lost, the Practice of Pronouncing Blessings, and so much more.

This book will woo you away from being dry and dead and and stuck and bored and open you to being more alive. I seldom say this with such certainty, but I know that it will do the same for you.

Highest recommendation.
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