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Gospel Medicine
In this new collection of sermons she summons with piercing clarity and wit the Old and New Testament stories that have the power to mend our spirits, strengthen our weaknesses, and restore us to wholeness.
189 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 1995
46 people are currently reading
344 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Brown Taylor
64 books1,244 followersBarbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church (2006), won an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. Her last book, Learning to Walk in the Dark (2014), was featured on the cover of TIME magazine. She has served on the faculties of Piedmont College, Columbia Theological Seminary, Candler School of Theology at Emory University, McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, and the Certificate in Theological Studies program at Arrendale State Prison for Women in Alto, Georgia. In 2014 TIME included her on its annual list of Most Influential People; in 2015 she was named Georgia Woman of the Year; in 2016 she received The President’s Medal at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Mercer University and is working on her fourteenth book, Holy Envy, forthcoming from HarperOne in August 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 8, 2019
BBT is my girl. I met her in real life last year and it’s still one of the coolest things I’ve ever done! She is BRILLIANT and wise and these words are straight up power— soaked them up, savored them, already want to read them again. (but I have new books by her to read so I can share a post of where to start reading her books!)
August 14, 2019
Brown Taylor treats our spiritual ills to a dose of Gospel Medicine. Like her other books, she engages the reader with compassion and practicality through her personal observations and life experiences.
October 4, 2018
How is it I had never heard of Barbara Brown Taylor until “Learning to Walk in the Dark”? This book is 23 years old and just as beautiful as her more famous one.
August 29, 2021
BBT's theology and her way with words are enlightening and refreshing.
December 25, 2025
Barbara Brown's books never disappoint!
October 23, 2024
I find Barbara Brown Taylor to be so accessible and inspiring. I plan to read more of her work. She helps make scripture relevant to our lives.
Her perspective in this book is to show us God’s healing power.
Here are some of the sections that stood out to me.
“I like to think that Luke never resigned his job as a healer. He just changed medicines. Instead of prescribing herbs and spices, hot compresses and bed rest, he told sto. ries with power to mend broken lives and revive faint hearts. Instead of pills and potions, he carried words in his black bag, words like ‘Weep no more,’ ‘Do not be afraid,’ ‘Your sins are forgiven’ ‘Stand up and walk.’ His medicine was gospel medicine, which was Jesus' medicine--medicine that works, strangely enough, through words.”
“You may not be up to admitting it yet, but one of the great benefits of having an enemy is that you get to look good by comparison. It also helps to have someone to blame for why your life is not turning out the way it was supposed to.”
“For Luke, the answer is: somewhere on the road between here and Emmaus. Luke is the only gospel writer who tells is the story of what happened on that road, but everyone Las walked it at one time or another. It is the road you walk vhen your team has lost, your candidate has been defeated, our loved one has died--the long road back to the empty house, the piles of unopened mail, to life as usual, if life can ver be usual again.
“It is the road of deep disappointment, and walking it is he living definition of sad, just like the two disciples in today's story. It takes two hours to walk seven miles, and that how long they have to talk over the roller coaster events the past three days. The trial, the crucifixion, the silent Fession to the tomb.”
"’Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ (John 14:23). ... Not pass through from time to time. Not send a card. ‘We will come to them and make our home them.’ John only uses the word ‘home’ twice in his go both times around the last supper table.”
“What each of them discovered was what Jacob discovered that night sleeping among the stones: that there is a busy path between heaven and earth, with the messengers of God scurrying back and forth upon it.”
“The good news they bear is the news on Jacob's lips when he woke up:
‘Surely God is in this place—and I did not know it!’ What had looked to him like no place turned out to be God's place. What had looked to him like an ordinary pile of rocks turned out to be the gate of heaven, and he set his stone pillow up as a pillar to mark the spot. Bethel, he called it, pouring oil on the rock: House of God.
“Do you know where your Bethel is? The place where the dream of God was so real to you that you can still remember how the air smelled, how the light fell, how your heart beat so hard you thought it might break? If you do know, then treasure that knowledge always and go back there as often as you can. But if you do not know—because you have not found it yet or you cannot find your way back—well, do not be too hard on yourself …”
“When Joseph wanted to hear the voice of God, he listened to his life—to his dreams, to the people he met along the way, to the things that happened to him each day.
“These were how God spoke to him and he learned to be a good interpreter of them, paying close attention to all the events of his life, even the ones that hurt and frightened him, the ones that seemed to go against the will of God.
“They may not have made sense to him one by one, but by the time his brothers showed up he could see the pattern.”
Her perspective in this book is to show us God’s healing power.
Here are some of the sections that stood out to me.
“I like to think that Luke never resigned his job as a healer. He just changed medicines. Instead of prescribing herbs and spices, hot compresses and bed rest, he told sto. ries with power to mend broken lives and revive faint hearts. Instead of pills and potions, he carried words in his black bag, words like ‘Weep no more,’ ‘Do not be afraid,’ ‘Your sins are forgiven’ ‘Stand up and walk.’ His medicine was gospel medicine, which was Jesus' medicine--medicine that works, strangely enough, through words.”
“You may not be up to admitting it yet, but one of the great benefits of having an enemy is that you get to look good by comparison. It also helps to have someone to blame for why your life is not turning out the way it was supposed to.”
“For Luke, the answer is: somewhere on the road between here and Emmaus. Luke is the only gospel writer who tells is the story of what happened on that road, but everyone Las walked it at one time or another. It is the road you walk vhen your team has lost, your candidate has been defeated, our loved one has died--the long road back to the empty house, the piles of unopened mail, to life as usual, if life can ver be usual again.
“It is the road of deep disappointment, and walking it is he living definition of sad, just like the two disciples in today's story. It takes two hours to walk seven miles, and that how long they have to talk over the roller coaster events the past three days. The trial, the crucifixion, the silent Fession to the tomb.”
"’Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ (John 14:23). ... Not pass through from time to time. Not send a card. ‘We will come to them and make our home them.’ John only uses the word ‘home’ twice in his go both times around the last supper table.”
“What each of them discovered was what Jacob discovered that night sleeping among the stones: that there is a busy path between heaven and earth, with the messengers of God scurrying back and forth upon it.”
“The good news they bear is the news on Jacob's lips when he woke up:
‘Surely God is in this place—and I did not know it!’ What had looked to him like no place turned out to be God's place. What had looked to him like an ordinary pile of rocks turned out to be the gate of heaven, and he set his stone pillow up as a pillar to mark the spot. Bethel, he called it, pouring oil on the rock: House of God.
“Do you know where your Bethel is? The place where the dream of God was so real to you that you can still remember how the air smelled, how the light fell, how your heart beat so hard you thought it might break? If you do know, then treasure that knowledge always and go back there as often as you can. But if you do not know—because you have not found it yet or you cannot find your way back—well, do not be too hard on yourself …”
“When Joseph wanted to hear the voice of God, he listened to his life—to his dreams, to the people he met along the way, to the things that happened to him each day.
“These were how God spoke to him and he learned to be a good interpreter of them, paying close attention to all the events of his life, even the ones that hurt and frightened him, the ones that seemed to go against the will of God.
“They may not have made sense to him one by one, but by the time his brothers showed up he could see the pattern.”
July 14, 2017
I'm only giving BBT a 3 on this one. I know, it hurts me a little bit too.
Then problem may be that I'm just reading too much of her stuff. This is the 7th book from her that I've read and the first time I've been a little underwhelmed.
Let me give her a backhanded compliment. This book full of sermons, was the first one in which I read a few and thought, huh, I think i might have been able to do that good. She's the best and this book is worth reading.
I especially appreciate that GM has handful of her old testament sermons.
Then problem may be that I'm just reading too much of her stuff. This is the 7th book from her that I've read and the first time I've been a little underwhelmed.
Let me give her a backhanded compliment. This book full of sermons, was the first one in which I read a few and thought, huh, I think i might have been able to do that good. She's the best and this book is worth reading.
I especially appreciate that GM has handful of her old testament sermons.
February 12, 2017
This is the first book I've read by BBT and I picked this up at a book sale after Rachel Held Evans referenced her so much in Searching for Sunday. I thought BBT's insights were fresh and thought-provoking and her writing poetic. In one chapter she mentioned that if everyone is looking at a story in a particular way she was taught to look at what isn't being examined to find that nugget of truth that's being overlooked and that's what she does in this book.
The chapters are short enough to read as a devotional, so that's how I read it. And now that I've finished I'm going to start over and read it again because this is a book to be savored.
The chapters are short enough to read as a devotional, so that's how I read it. And now that I've finished I'm going to start over and read it again because this is a book to be savored.
March 27, 2023
Wonderful sermons by Barbara Brown Taylor. In this book she preaches through the Christian year. I am amazed at how she brings so much new insight and fresh thinking into scripture that we have known and read for years. She is one of my favorite preachers. I can read her sermons again and again and still find something new and different on which to reflect. In fact I read parts of this book many times before moving on to other sections.
February 14, 2016
First book every by B.B.T., and I enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I figure as a budding Episcopalian, I'd check out all the hype. I enjoyed her thoughts and kind and empathetic nature sprinkled throughout truthful tellings. I'll read more. The parts about "waiting in the dark" were particularly apropos for my life at the moment.
June 11, 2013
Barbara Brown Taylor always writes in a way that brings the biblical narrative alive. She is warm, humorous, and humble. I enjoyed the short story format of this book. Food for thought and a dash of grace.
March 19, 2008
Blown away by this fresh look at Luke. Really thought provoking and powerful. This one will go in a permanent spot in my headboard shelf. Extremely encouraging.
January 5, 2013
It was given to me by my Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor as a gift. I LOVED this book!!!!!!
April 17, 2014
very interesting easy read........
June 8, 2018
Inspirational sermons with a refreshing outlook on faith, messengers, and living as a disciple.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews