Today those vestments are hanging in the sacristy of an Anglican church in Kenya, my church pension is frozen, and I am as likely to spend Sunday mornings with friendly Quakers, Presbyterians, or Congregationalists as I am with the Episcopalians who remain my closest kin. Some-times I even keep the Sabbath with a cup of steaming Assam tea on my front porch, watching towhees vie for the highest perch in the poplar tree while God watches me. These days I earn my living teaching school, not leading worship, and while I still dream of opening a small restaurant in Clarkesville or volunteering at an eye clinic in Nepal, there is no guarantee that I will not run off with the circus before I am through. This is not the life I planned, or the life I recommend to others. But it is the life that has turned out to be mine, and the central revelation in it for me — that the call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human — seems important enough to witness to on paper. This book is my attempt to do that.

After nine years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Barbara Brown Taylor arrives in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500), following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock — Taylor is one of the only professional women in the community — but small-town life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves, but ultimately she finds herself experiencing "compassion fatigue" and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith she may have to leave.

Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor's realization that this may in fact be God's surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope — and ultimately, renewal.

Through the struggles starting and sustaining a small church in rural north Georgia, Barbara Brown Taylor's journey from city to country, from fullandndash;time ministry to university professor is insightful, humorous, and wonderfully human. After ten years in a big urban church, Taylor arrives in Clarkesville (population 1500) to discover that she is one of the few professional women in town as well as the only woman in charge of a congregation. After five and a half years, and significant church growth, she finds herself with "compassion fatigue," and when an offer comes to leave the church for an opening in the department of religion and philosophy at a local college, Taylor jumps at the chance, despite her feelings that she is betraying the church and losing a part of her identity. Academic life challenges her faith in new ways as Taylor is reminded of the deep, nagging questions in the Christian story.

Even though she has "left the church," Taylor realizes it is possible to "keep the faith," although not in a way that will fit back inside the orthodox Christian box. Anyone who has experienced doubts about his or her chosen vocation, or those who are drawn to worship God in community but who have a hard time finding a church that speaks to their real questions about faith in the twentyandndash;first century, will find a kindred spirit in Taylor.