I have heard of women walking away from faith---and from a marriage---due to domineering husbands (or fathers) and the often-hidden crime of domestic violence. Check out my latest book on ruthtucker.com
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Since the publication of my book by this title, I have learned of many other stories of people walking away from the evangelical faith of their youth and young adult life. This site is an extension of that book.
Ruth A. Tucker, Ph.D.
Looking for a speaker? For academic and church conferences or for the Perspectives course, email me at tuckerworst@comcast [dot] net.
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About Me
- Ruth A. Tucker
- I'm a retired teacher, writer, conference speaker, current gardener and creator of folk art that I sell and show people how to make at our shop, Carlton Gardens. Husband John Worst is Professor of Music emeritus at Calvin College turned carpenter. We love the outdoors and living on the Grand River, and we delight in our grandkids, Kayla (and husband Ariel), Mitchell, Ashley, and Zachary.
My Calvin Seminary Story
I began teaching at Calvin Theological Seminary in 2000--the first full-time woman professor in the school's 125-year history. In 2003, less than 3 months after Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. was installed as the new president, I was, without warning, removed from tenure track and given a terminal appointment. I have repeatedly asked that all the evidence be opened only to be blocked by a dishonest cover-up. When independent mediators were retained by the seminary board in 2005, they called for "retroactive pay to 2003," among other things. That report was buried. I finished my second terminal appointment on August 31, 2006, and shortly thereafter published my story at www.ruthtucker.net.
MOODY MAGAZINE review (2002)
Until I read Walking Away From Faith, I never felt free to discuss my own doubts, fearful that others would be frightened by my honest struggle. Thanks to Ruth A. Tucker, there is new freedom for all of us who relate to the words in Mark 9:24 of the man who brought his son to Jesus for healing: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” . . . Walking Away From Faith was a disturbing but important read for me, because it has forced me to grapple with how I, as a church leader, can help people face their doubts and overcome them. I’m not sure I have it all worked out, and if Tucker writes a book on that subject, I’ll be first in line to buy it.
Reviewed by Ed Rowell
The People’s Church in Franklin, Tenn.
MOTHER TERESA
MOTHER TERESA'S FINAL GIFT (see PARCHMENT AND PEN)
As soon as I heard about the TIME (8-23-07) article, “Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith,” I commented to my husband that the publication of her personal letters telling of this decades-long “crisis” might very well become her greatest legacy. Then I read the article, which I discovered included a similar statement from Rev. James Martin, an editor of America, a Jesuit magazine. Speaking of her crisis, he comments: "It may be remembered as just as important as her ministry to the poor. It would be a ministry to people who had experienced some doubt, some absence of God in their lives.”
The TIME article is taken from Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (Doubleday, due out next month).
In her private letters (that she asked not be published), Mother Teresa bares her soul, as the following quotes (spread over decades) attest: I call, I cling, I want — and there is no One to answer — no One on Whom I can cling . . . there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness. . . . What do I labour for? If there be no God — there can be no soul — if there is no Soul then Jesus — You also are not true. . . .I utter words of Community prayers — and try my utmost to get out of every word the sweetness it has to give — But my prayer of union is not there any longer — I no longer pray. . . . Jesus: the Absent One. . . . I have come to love the darkness — for I believe now that it is part of a very, very small part of Jesus' darkness & pain on earth.
I wish this TIME article would have been published two weeks ago when I flew to Denver to be the speaker at a one-day in-service for most of fifty staff members under the Vice-President of Student Affairs at Colorado Christian University. I was asked to address issues relating to my book, Walking Away from Faith and the very real faith struggle many college students endure.
I’ve had some great reviews of that book, but its influence pales in comparison to the influence I expect this new book will have. Indeed, I predict it will become a classic in Christian literature. No one, dead or alive, has a platform like Mother Teresa does when it comes to sacrifice and service and spirituality. People around the world will read her words and will come away with a new understanding of doubt and unbelief.
Atheists, of course, have pounced on these letters as proof that even the most spiritual saint can’t really believe in God. But that is not the message we should take away. This book will reveal that there is a deep Christian spirituality that includes doubt and darkness and unbelief. There were times when Mother Teresa was tormented. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can come to terms with the belief and unbelief that coexists in our lives and know that we are not alone. Our prayer is simple: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
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