Morning Star of the Reformation

Lynn Taccogna captures fourteenth-century English theologian John Wycliffe's youth at Oxford University. The Roman Catholic Church then owned one-third of the nation's wealth and was known more for its greed and pursuit of power than for God's message of salvation. The book focuses on Wycliffe's radical dream of an English-language Bible--to replace the Latin Vulgate version of the time. Taccogna's depiction of Wycliffe and his contemporaries' spirited political and religious debates at the Kicking Pony Inn are delivered with authenticity. Her compelling portrayal of Wycliffe's encounter with the terrible pestilence known as the "Black Death" is terrifying and realistic. Wycliffe's pursuit of truth led to modern-day "Wycliffe Bible Translators," which is why he is known as "God's morningstar in a time of medieval gloom." G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine