Book 2 Post 2: Holy Envy

 I chose to read Holy Envy by Barbara Taylor because of my curiosity revolving religion and it turned out to be a truly insightful book. Taylor starts out by reviewing her past history with religion, leading up to when she becomes a university religion 101 professor. I really respect the way that Taylor chooses her words to describe religion and how she chooses to relay information to others. She has a very respectful way of informing students and taking part in discourse without being too closed minded. I also found that Barbara is the perfect person to discuss modern day religions because she has had so many interactions with young college students.

Many of the questions that she addresses in the book are questions that I have often found myself thinking about as well. For example, Taylor delves into the many different religions and something she calls the "holy envy". Taylor describes the holy envy as the feeling she felt when comparing aspects of different religions and how she felt jealousy for certain disciplines. A quote that really spoke to me about holy envy was when Taylor said, "what I see in the neighbor's yard does not belong to me, but it shows me things in my own yard that I might otherwise have overlooked." 

Although I am not religious, this book taught me so much about the many different religions. It was cool to read through the book and go through a similar experience as if I was one of Taylor's students. I think the structure of the book was very well thought out. I liked how the last chapter was titled "Final Exam" where Barbara talks about some of the experiences the students had in the class as well as her thoughts on teaching the course after many years.