Customer Reviews

Bread of Angels

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Barbara Brown Taylor has an amazing gift which she share freely in this book and her others. I like to think of her as a preachers preacher. Being a preacher myself, I learned to read and listen to sermons with a critical and often unfair ear. So, a sermon must be really, really good to escape criticism. The sermons in this book are that good. What makes them so wonderful. Barbara Brown Taylor has a unique way of looking at the text. She compares the fierey furnace story to a Tom Clancy movie, She compares mana in the wilderness to gritts, and she retells the Christmas story is a beautiful and touching way without being sappy. This book is great for preachers looking for uniques stories and angles. It is also good devotional type reading for those who's preaching is done through living life.

You won't believe this, but this collection of sermons is a real page turner. I started it with a plan to read one essay a day for my devotional. Instead, I quit reading the fine fiction book I was halfway through and devoured Bread of Angels, reading long past my bedtime every night. The sermons are funny and touching, challenging yet encouraging. I'm now looking at old Bible stories in a new way, finding deeper meaning and real help for life. I'm going to buy copies to give to family and friends. Pick up a copy of Bread of Angels. It will feed your soul in ways you never expected.

It used to be, not so very long ago, that ordinary people read sermons the way they now read novels-in their spare time, for both edification and enjoyment. If this idea seems strange to you, then chances are you have not read anything written by Barbara Brown Taylor.

Taylor is an Episcopal Priest and the rector of Grace-Calvary Church in Clarksville, Georgia. Taylor University has also named her one of the ten top preachers in the English language. That having been said, you will also want to know that she is in great demand as a speaker.

Dr. Taylor is a preacher of uncommon skill, but we must not stop there. Her fresh images and stimulating ideas are so engaging that this book really can work as a personal devotional tool. It would serve equally well as a neighborhood or small group study, or something to read with one dear friend or family member and then talk about in detail over a pot of tea or by a crackling fire. For, just as you "think between the lines" during the course of a sermon, so too, in Taylor's book, you have the perfect chance to allow your own Christian experience to engage with the truths Taylor presents.

If the names of each chapter, such as, "The Trickle Up Effect," "How Not to Hinder God" and "Why the Boss Said No" begin to peak your interest, they should! Taylor has a style that is accessible; she speaks to the modern mind and heart.

Consider this passage, from the book's title sermon: "Jesus is God's manna in the wilderness, the one who reminds us day by day that we life because God provides not what we want, necessarily, but exactly what we need: some bread, some love, some breath, some wine, a relationship with this ordinary looking man, who comes from heaven to bring life to the world." (Page 11).

I suggest reading one chapter a week, reading that chapter several times in the week, and living with the insights presented there, as a spiritual discipline. Taylor's bread of angels will prove to be an excellent guide in your devotional life.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Barbara Brown Taylor is a captivating preacher! This book of sermons gives the reader a new way to think about age-old topics (as with her other books). This is the perfect way to start the day!

This is, without a doubt, the best sermons by the best preacher I have ever heard. Having had the pleasure of attending classes given by Barbara, and having heard her preach several times, this book has become a classic in my gift giving arsenal. Read it, and you will never think of grits the same way again, you'll have a new outlook on 'family values', and new understanding of 'we don't dance' and a new readinng for Christmas Eve (have handkerchief handy...if the tears don't come, there's something the matter with the reader.

Great collection of sermons by an unusually gifted writer. Liked it so well trhat I have purchased from Amazon six additional copies for gifts.

Barbra Brown Taylor is my favorite Christian author. Her sermons are power-packed--brilliant treasures from Scripture. I read her all the time to keep my mind alive and imaginative. A must-have for any lover of literature, Christ, or just plain good writing. Any of her books are an excellent choice for pastors. We love to read!

Barbara Brown Taylor has a unique way of providing insight into Bible versus and Bible stories we've known since childhood, sitting on the 2nd pew by the organ. She will take difficult versus, like when Jesus says you must deny your family to follow, and share insight about them in a very humble and honest way. One of my favorites is her sharing her experience of spending time in the desert - and just how hard it is to be focused on God. I just finished reading this book of sermons, and have started again at the beginning - there is so much to learn and so much to listen to in her sermons.

After my first eight books of reviews I figured MIXED BLESSINGS was her best book of sermons! Then coming to the recent one of LEAVING CHURCH, I thought there may be more... like The Bread of Angels. Here is a short version of her early book of sermons.

Over 25 sermons of the Lectionary Texts of OT and NT! Sections of three sub-titles are "Deep In Christ's Bones, "Chickens and Foxes, "Apocalyptic Figs." Question often comes to mind, "How come Sister Taylor chose her topics of Christ's Bones and soon afterward the Apocalyptic Figs?

"I'm Sorry I Don't Dance, The Hidden I Am, Silence of Angels & Shock Therapy!" are longer titles of my choices...I prefer to rate one more highly! Although "Shock Therapy" is a good choice, since I had my similiar experience from CPE as Taylor, yet "The Silence of Angels" is concluded with her thought from Rabbi Kushner's "GOD Was in this PLACE & I, i did know know..." She dramatically describes the Rabbi being in the Holy PLACE of the Jerusalem Temple, being unable to Pronounce the Name of JAHWEH! It is the most dramatic, articulate, awesome sermon in this collection! With gratitude to Barbara Brown Taylor...Fondly, Chaplain Fred W Hood