cover image Katie Luther, First Lady of the Reformation: The Unconventional Life of Katharina von Bora

Katie Luther, First Lady of the Reformation: The Unconventional Life of Katharina von Bora

Ruth A. Tucker. Zondervan, $16.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-310-53215-6

On the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Tucker (From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya) brings readers this biography of Katharina von Bora (or “Katie” Luther), whose life—while not as well documented as her husband’s—was just as unpredictable as his. Katie was sent to a convent at the age of five, escaped when she was 24, was jilted in love, and then eventually chose her own husband, but not out of passion—the former nun needed somewhere to go, and Luther needed to silence his critics and show support for clerical marriage. Despite this, it appears that the match proved mutually beneficial as well as convenient. Tucker uses letters by Luther and his contemporaries along with research about life in 16th-century Wittenberg to create a picture of Katie as a strong-minded woman who defied convention, ran a business, raised children, and served as wife to a husband creating scandal with his writings and teachings against the Catholic Church. The portrait that emerges is mostly speculative, and Tucker peppers the book with qualifying statements. Readers interested in the marriage of Luther and Katie and willing to use their imaginations will find much here. (June)