September 2026
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Holy Envy “This is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of danger and risk , When it comes to learning about the diverse religious traditions of the world, I have had two very different experiences. One was a high school Sunday School class where the teacher tried to convince us of the superiority of Christianity over all other faith traditions by focusing on the negative aspects of Christianity’s competitors. The other was a class I took in college titled “An Introduction to Contemporary Religious Movements,’ where we heard from practitioners of various faiths the reasons they were drawn to that faith and even went on field trips to experience what worship or religious life was like for people who belonged to that faith group. I have to say that the second approach seemed much more helpful to my growth and development as a human being. While the first sought to build a wall between Christianity and the other great faiths that exist in the world, the second enlarged my understanding of the diversity of faith expression that is all around us. It also helped me to better understand those whose faith tradition was different than my own. In her recent book, Holy Envy, Barbara Brown Taylor describes her experience of leaving pastoral ministry to go and teach a class on “World Religions” at Piedmont College in the foothills of Appalachia. The experience of teaching that class turned out to be one of the great joys of her life, not because it reinforced the superiority of her own faith tradition, but because it helped her to reimagine the world by looking at life from the perspective of other faith traditions. She shares, “As soon as I recovered from the shock of meeting God in so many new hats, I fell for every religion I taught. When I taught Judaism I wanted to be a Rabbi. When I taught Buddhism I wanted to be a monk. It was only when I taught Christianity that the fire sputtered, because my religion looked so different once it was lined up with the others.” What happened next was a revelation and a new way of understanding the faith of others. During the fall we will be exploring Barbara’s book Holy Envy and the various faith traditions it highlights. The schedule for our discussions is as follows: Sunday, September 20, 2026 Sunday, September 27, 2026 Sunday, October 4, 2026 Sunday, October 11, 2026 Sunday, October 18, 2026 Sunday, November 1, 2026 Sunday, November 8, 2026 Sunday, November 15, 2026 Sunday, November 22, 2026 Sunday, November 29, 2026 Sunday, December 6, 2026 Sunday, December 13, 2026 As Barbara Brown Taylor shares in the last chapter of her book, “Engaging the faith of others will almost certainly cause you to lose faith in the old box you kept God in. The truths you glimpse in other religions are going to crowd up against some of your own. Holy envy may lead you to borrow some things, and you will need a place to put them. You may find spiritual guides outside your box whom you want to make room for, or some neighbors from other faiths who have stopped by for a visit. However it happens, your old box will turn out to be too small for who you have become. You will need a bigger one with more windows in it—something more like a home than a box, perhaps—where you can open the door to all kinds of people without fearing their faith will cancel yours out if you let them in. If things go well, they may invite you to visit them in their homes as well, so that your children can make friends.” I am looking forward to the conversation and the new insights it will bring.
Your Fellow Pilgrim on the Journey,
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