Mary Slessor

by Basil Miller

The remarkable story of the courage and compassion of a woman who dared to challenge a mission field that had come to be known as "the white man's grave." From earliest childhood in Dundee, Scotland, Mary Slessor desired to carry the gospel to the unreached people groups of West Africa. From the moment of her arrival in 1876, she encountered and overcame both the primitive hazards of pioneer missionary work and the barbarous social practices of the tribes to whom she had been sent. In time churches were planted, schools were built and medical help was made available. So thorough was Mary's knowledge and understanding of the language and customs that she was appointed vice-consul for the British government in the region. Government authorities were continually amazed at her godly influence in the lives of the people she served. The personal story of one of the greatest missionaries of the past century.

Genres: Biography, Christian, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1985

About the author

Basil William Miller was born in Laconia, Indiana, February 26, 1897. He moved with his family to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1905, and nine years later entered a small Christian college in Greenville, Texas, to earn A.B. and B.D. degrees.

After pastoring churches in Oklahoma, he was called to teach at Pasadena College in California. He married Esther Kirk and they had four children. He earned a master’s degree at the University of Southern California and five more graduate degrees—the M.A., S.T.M., Th.M., S.T.D., and Ph.D.—were earned while he was holding pastorates in San Diego, Pittsburgh, New York City, San Antonio, and Pasadena.

In 1939, Dr. Miller was involved in a serious car accident and suffered a severe concussion which kept him bedridden for a year and partially incapacitated for the next four. Then, in 1947, he suffered a heart attack. During his convalescence he began his writing career and, over a period of 35 years, produced 200 books and thousands of articles for Christian publications.

Two wartime biographies caused a publishing sensation. Martin Niemoeller: Hero of the Concentration Camp appeared in 1942 while the German pastor was still confined in Dachau. The other bookk was Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese leaders were at the height of their popularity and the book generated more prepublication orders than any previous Zondervan title. Some 950,000 Basil Miller books were in print by mid-1951. He had published 136 titles by 1955 and his final count probably tops 150.

Until his death on May 7, 1978, at the age of 81, he was “driven almost beyond endurance with the knowledge that there is so much to do, and so little that I can accomplish.”

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary Slessor was a remarkable woman whose grit and determination is almost unfathomable to modern minds. While this book furthered my admiration of her, I am sure that there are better, more thorough books on her life and work. The author leaves too many loose ends, such as when Mary had to rush back to Africa from furlough to confront her adopted daughter who was drifting away from the faith. He mentioned the reason for Mary's trip, and then never revealed the confrontation or the outcome. The first chapter was an excellent opportunity to portray the hardships that Mary overcame as a poor child of a drunken father, but it is full of so much foreshadowing that the story gets lost. Poor writing usually garners a 3 from me, but I had to drop one more star for the racist phraseology of the author. Originally published in 1946, I realize that the book is a product of its time, but having the author constantly remind you of the blackness of the people is jarring and distracting to modern readers.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one in grade school and still remember how impressed I was with her faith and her spunk!

[Teddy G · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all you have to understand this book was written in 1946 about a woman that lived from 1848-1915.
Yes, there are missing pieces, words used that don’t mean the same today as they do then and things said not as we would say or write them today.
All that considered this is a good book about an incredible woman.

Mary Slessor devoted almost 40 years of her life to serving a part of Africa when no one else at the time would. All alone in the jungle ministering to violent, wild, some cannibals chained by witchcraft, evil and the lack of what we would consider basics.
Mary acclimated by learning their language, eating their food, running barefoot through the jungle so that she could provide medical supplies, build churches, schools and often served as pastor, teacher, mother, and even judge or councilman to settle disputes.
In a time and culture now where people won’t even go visit the sick by car in a home with AC we need a reminder of Saints like Mary that gave EVERYTHING to love on others.

“The cry of her soul rang through the world:
We have really no workers to meet all this opened country.
Where are the men?
Are there no heroes in the making amongst us? No hearts beating high with the enthusiasm of the Gospel? If we cannot meet this new opportunity, our church, to be honest, should stand back and give it to someone else. But, oh how can our church look at Christ who has given us the privilege of making Calabar history, and say to Him, take it back. Give it to another?”

Readability might be middle or high school but this is a tough read because of the heavy topics like the practice of killing twins, witch craft, alcohol, orgies….etc.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is good, but the writing style is affected and old-fashioned. I wanted to learn about her, so I kept reading, but sometimes it was hard to keep reading.

[Lacey Addis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is great, but the writing was not, which is why I gave it 3 stars.

[Cheyenne Brunet · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was tough to think through a rating of this book because the life of Mary Slessor was incredible and far more worthy of more than 5 stars. Her life has encouraged and convicted me through the reading of this book. With that, though, the writing itself was a bit hard to follow at times. It wasn’t smoothly written nor did it follow a linear path. Therefore, I would highly recommend reading her biography but possibly by a different author.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hers is one of the more interesting stories in Christian history. It is amazing what God enabled her to do. She was not perfect, and I would have preferred if the author had taken time to address her faults, but she helped open the interior of Africa up to missionary work and to make amazing strides against such practices as killing twins. Proverbs says that the heart of kings is in God's hands and so are the hearts of cannibalistic tribal chiefs steeped in witchcraft as this story makes clear. Mary often had conflicts with missionary boards and it is hard to know who was right and who was wrong, but either way God's kingdom advanced through it all in ways that would have seemed impossible just a few years earlier. There is much to admire and emulate about her. I think this book may have been written for young adults, but I think it is equally good for "bona fide" adults as well.

[Kristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't get into this one

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christian Classic