The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey
Bestselling author Brian D. McLaren followed his love of nature (specifically, tortoises) all the way to the Galapagos Islands. There, he paid close attention to the flora and fauna around him but also to what was happening within him, how the natural world awakened his soul in a way that organized religion could not. McLaren's descriptions of birds and reptiles, fish and flowers sing; he walks in the footsteps of Charles Darwin and grieves that Darwin has been demonized by his fellow Christians; and he reflects on how his own faith has evolved in the years since he left the pastorate.
McLaren writes in the spirit of Aldo Leopold and Wendell Berry, weaving together the spiritual and the material. Even though most readers will never visit the Galapagos Islands, they can travel with McLaren and experience the beauty and fragility of this extraordinary place.
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Brian D. McLaren (MA, University of Maryland) is an author, speaker, activist and public theologian. After teaching college English, Brian pastored Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area. Brain has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors for over 20 years. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings in the US and internationally.
"Brian McLaren has written a great many life-changing books, but this may be the most significant. He uses a new voice here to describe his own life-changing voyage. I found myself reading him in a whisper, if such a thing is possible, for fear of interrupting the flow of his gorgeous, intimate, and brilliant prose. My only caveat is this: do not read this book unless you are ready for your life to change too, for you will never see your place in the universe the same way again." --Barbara Brown Taylor, author of An Altar in the World
"This wonderfully candid travelogue will appeal to spiritual readers interested in environmental concerns." --Publishers Weekly
"Set among the birthplace of Darwin's world-shaping theory, McLaren lays out a possible evolution of the Christian faith that is simultaneously personal and socially responsible." --Mike McHargue, co-founder of The Liturgists
"This is a genial but sharp-eyed book that gets at some essential and difficult truths about our species at this late date in human history." --Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
"McLaren takes a very personal journey as he traces the steps of Darwin. In doing so, he reveals that there is indeed 'grandeur in this view of life, ' as first articulated by Darwin, and, more than that, there's reason to hope we can evolve as a species in this time of ecological collapse." --Tripp Fuller, founder and cohost of Homebrewed Christianity podcast
