With the publication of Joseph Tuckerman and the Outdoor Church by Jedediah Mannis, Tuckermans story has changed yet again. While he and the privatecharity system had most recently been portrayed as the problematic precursors of the welfare state, we are now told that he prefigured liberal Protestants of today who minister to the homeless poor without judgment. This essay reexamines Tuckermans ministry in view of this recent publication. It begins with a cursory review of the book and then proceeds to examine the intellectual nexus of Tuckermans time with respect to poverty, his own views on the causes and relief of poverty, and the evolution of the assessment of his work and the nineteenthcentury private-charity system in general.
Clifford F. Thies, "Review Essay: Joseph Tuckerman, Model of Charity," Journal of Markets & Morality 15, no. 2 (Fall 2012): 431-441