The Practice of Saying No: A HarperOne Select

In Leaving Church, we followed Barbara Brown Taylor as she left full-time ministry to become a university professor, a decision that allowed her to discover new ways to “keep the faith” outside of traditional Christianity. Now, in An Altar in the World, Taylor shares her techniques for encountering God far beyond the walls of the church. From deep meditations to simple practices like walking, working or even getting lost, each chapter of An Altar in the World reveals meaningful ways to find the sacred in the small things we do and see. Through Taylor’s expert guidance, we learn to live with purpose, pay attention, slow down, and revere the world in which we live. Barbara Brown Taylor was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1983. A frequent guest preacher and teacher at churches and universities across the country, she was named one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world by Baylor University in 1996 and resigned from her parish soon thereafter to accept an endowed chair in religion at Piedmont College. She lives on a working farm in rural Habersham County, Georgia with her husband, Ed. “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