25 August 2014

Tables in the Wilderness: A Memoir of God Found, Lost, and Found Again by Preston Yancey


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In Tables in the Wilderness, Preston Yancey arrived at Baylor University in the autumn of 2008 with his life figured out: he was Southern Baptist, conservative, had a beautiful girlfriend he would soon propose to, and planned to study political science. Then God slowly allowed Preston's secure world to fall apart until every piece of what he thought was true was lost: his church, his life of study, his political leanings, his girlfriend, his best friend... and his God.

Tables in the Wilderness is the story of one man's slow return to the God he thought he knew. Now, Preston is a patchwork of Anglican spirituality and Baptist sensibility. He shares his story of coming to terms with a God who is bigger than the one he thought he was worshiping – the God of a common faith, the God who makes tables in the wilderness, the God who is found in cathedrals and in forests and in the Eucharist, the God who is so big, that everything must be his.

In Tables in the Wilderness, Preston Yancey chronicles his spiritual wanderings as a college student at Baylor University. He enters as a Southern Baptist, but soon begins to question his denominational identity and how he best connects with God. As he asks hard questions and desperately searches for answers, it becomes quite clear that Yancey is a talented storyteller. He writes poetically with honesty and passion, while not adhering to a strictly linear train of thought. I enjoyed following along as he ably incorporated and intertwined interactions with friends, parents, professors, the Bible and other various literatures into the telling of this beautifully relatable narrative. Tables in the Wilderness will surely resonate with individuals who have wrestled with aspects of their faith or felt God a bit too far away. Readers of spirituals memoirs, do not miss this one. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to BookLook Bloggers, I received a copy of Tables in the Wilderness and the opportunity to honestly review it. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own. (I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”)

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