Seeds of Hope, Hate, and Change: Missionary Witnesses to the Middle East in Transition 1949-1957

ISBN-10
1732085471
ISBN-13
9781732085473
Language
English
Published
2020-12
Author
Donald A. Luidens

Description

Edwin and Ruth Stegenga Luidens, still in their early twenties, set sail in October 1944 from Philadelphia for mission work in the Middle East. While WW II raged in Europe, they hopscotched from Lisbon to Gibraltar, Cairo, Haifa, Baghdad, and Basrah, contending with fickle occupation authorities and uncertain travel plans. Over the next dozen years, they lived through the end of the British Empire; the dawn of the atomic age; the rise of Arab nationalism; the establishment of Indian, Pakistani, Egyptian, and Iraqi independence; the carving of Israel out of Palestine; and the Suez Canal crisis. Through it all, they faithfully shared their Christian message of hope and love, finding new modes of evangelical outreach as technology and the exploitation of oil transformed the world around them. And they raised a family. Seeds of Hope, Hate, and Change brings their world to full flower.