Barbara Brown Taylor's last book, An Altar in the World , was a New York Times bestseller that received the Silver Nautilus Award in 2012. Her first memoir, Leaving Church , received an Author of the Year Award from the Georgia Writers Association and won the Theologos Award for Best General Interest Book of 2006. Taylor spent fifteen years in parish ministry before becoming the Butman Professor of Religion at Piedmont College, where she has taught world religions since 1998. She lives on a working farm in rural north Georgia with her husband, Ed.