Ruth Tucker

Katie Luther: First Lady of the Reformation, written by Ruth A Tucker, paints a different picture of Katherina Von Bora. The author is not a Lutheran and at first it looks like she is painting a negative picture of Luther’s wife. She is, she is just using a different approach. Like Katie, the author was raised in a poor home without any luxuries and experienced some of the frustrations that Katie herself felt. Much of what was written about Katie was written by Martin Luther. She was not well liked by many of his friends, but he cared for her, listened to her and respected her. Without her influence, the reformation may have been very different. This book is found on the library shelves under the number B/Lut.… (mere)

From the the apostle Paul's missionary work in the Roman Empire to Don Richardson's missionary journey to Irian Jaya (now Western New Guinea), Tucker provides an all too honest and wide-ranging history of missions, including the failings as well as the successes of the missionaries. It's a challenging and encouraging read showing that the Gospel, as imperfectly as it may have been messaged and acted upon, is probably the most powerful spiritual force to change individuals and whole societies, even nations from a condition of darkness and unimagined evil, to the light of Christ that brings men righteousness to their lives and peace in their hearts.

Tucker covers all aspect of missionary work from translation to organization of missionary societies, the use of airplanes, radio, and T.V. She covers virtually every country missionaries have set foot on and both well-known, like David Brainard, Willim Carey, Yonggi Cho, and Amy Carmichal (with a chapter on woman missionaries) and unknown missionaries.

This should be required reading for all Christians who seek the mission field.

My only suggestion is that another book should be written where this one ends as it was written in 1983.… (mere)