The Preaching Life, by Barbara Brown Taylor
In her preaching autobiography, Barbara Brown Taylor writes of how she came to be a preacher of the gospel as a priest in the Episcopal Church. Taylor weaves together reflections on her vocation with the long-standing struggles of the Church to hear, respond, and remain faithful to its mission of holy love. She moves effortlessly from reflection to homily, concluding the volume with thirteen sermons illustrative of the answered call. This rich meeting of memoir, theology, and sermon stands at the center of Taylor’s work, bringing into one book the origins and the vision of her preaching life.
Reader Recommendation: The Preaching Life, by Barbara Brown Taylor
Recommended by: Amanda Kerr
Why it might be helpful: More than a “how to” guide, this narrative resource follows Barbara Brown Taylor’s journey through childhood, her call to ministry, and her decades of service to the church. This book is a meeting of memoir, theology and sermon, and will be refreshing to many preachers, re-awakening them to the imagination, beauty and art of preaching with humor and relevance.
Reader Recommendations are suggestions submitted by Disciples preachers and are not created or fully reviewed by the Proclamation Project.
For Disciples preachers who want to be re-awakened to the beauty and spiritual weight of the calling, The Preaching Life is a rare book — one that reads like a conversation rather than a manual, and lingers long after the last page.
You might also find helpful:
- The Sound of the Genuine — on finding the authentic preaching voice that comes from genuine spiritual formation
- When I Fell in Love with Preaching — a Disciples minister’s reflection on the spiritual and vocational pull of the pulpit
- Praying with Every Heart — on the prayer and spiritual attunement that grounds faithful preaching
