The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey

by Brian D. McLaren

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506448251
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Series:	On Location , #1
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Brian D. McLaren is a speaker, author, activist, and networker exploring the intersection of Christian faith and contemporary life. He has written over a dozen books, including A Generous Orthodoxy, Everything Must Change, and We Make the Road by Walking. For twenty-four years, he served as the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Washington-Baltimore area.

Editorial Reviews

09/16/2019

In this enjoyable first entry in a new series that brings together travel, spirituality, and ethical reflections based on a single locale, former pastor McLaren (A New Kind of Christian) explores how he found a personal “wild theology” while visiting the Galápagos Islands. The first half of the book narrates his trip to “one of the most unique, beautiful, and important ecological situations in the world,” lacing together rich entries plucked from his travel journal (“Below the surface, our familiar reef fish defend their little sacred home territories. King angelfish truly are regal”) with regional history and mundane specifics of his tour group’s itinerary. The second half of the book, with its defense of Darwin and evolution, dives into a soulful examination of McLaren’s personal theology as he reckons with the relationship between science and spirituality, but also with the destructive human impulses that have wreaked havoc on the environment. Confessing, “My inherited religion does not seem well adapted to its deteriorating environment. And... seems to be accelerating the deterioration,” McLaren observes that “the ability to see, to notice, to love—surely that is our most God-like quality.” This wonderfully candid travelogue will appeal to spiritual readers interested in environmental concerns. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"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

From the Publisher