Holy Envy: Post 2

Even though it has been a few weeks since my previous post, I have not finished this book yet. In the beginning it was a rather easy read as I was able to draw parallels from my own experiences. Funnily enough, before transferring to USC, I took a couple of introductory level religion classes, funnily enough in Atlanta, GA. To me it was interesting to hear the flip side of teaching world religion to undergraduate students in a liberal arts college. However, the classes I took were online and nowhere as interactive as Barbara Brown Taylor's. I appreciate the lengths she went through to let her students immerse in the content, especially for a lower level course. This level of passion is usually seen in upper electives where professors tend to have more autonomy on what they want to teach and don't have as much structure to follow like they would in an intro level course. 

Aside from that, I think it is interesting read so far and unlike other books I have read. I think having some level of knowledge of the world religions from my religion classes definitely helped me get a deeper understanding because it provided me with more context. As the book progresses, there are some parts which I think are perhaps too "deep" and I wasn't able to fully "get". This might also be because I tend to gravitate towards more casual and easy going reads rather than thought provoking non-fiction reads.

Nonetheless, I liked the different perspectives Barbara Brown Taylor considers and examines in the book. I feel that religion is almost a taboo topic since it is something personal and a topic that people often have strong and conflicting opinions about. Reading this book felt like I was able to expand my vision and discussion on religion that I have not been able to do before. I am interested to see how she would wrap up this conversation at the end of the book and what kind of stance she assumes in the end.