The Preaching Life

Barbara Brown Taylor wrote this book back in 1993 and it was re-released in 2013. In spite of the 20 years that have passed since this book was first written, it is timeless; timeless in its content and in its reality of learning to deal with—and in fact live out—a vocation, in her case one of preaching.

This book is lyrical in it's prose, with some wonderful moments that all on their own can be taken out and used as meditations and contemplations—both for the individual considering their call to a vocation, or within a group setting of people who all have a vocation to live.

Indeed each chapter of this book is a small sermon preached. But this is done in the most gentle and insightful way, that echoes with the reader long past the page turned or book laid down.

Without a doubt I really think this book deserved this reprint and the only sadness I have is that the quality of the print in this book. This lets it down due to, I assume, being a facsimile reprint, thus leaving it slightly faint and fractured in places, and making it a little harder to read than could be wished for when the content and words are so bold and beautiful.

Despite this though I still consider this a book well worth reading.