Tribute to Ron Sider

I am mourning today my colleague for 15 years, one of my dearest friends, Ron Sider (blogsite). I first learned of Ron when I was an undergraduate, when I heard Gordon Fee declare that Ron’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger was one book that every North American Christian should read. Reading 40 chapters of the Bible a day as a young Christian, I already saw how much it said about caring for the poor. When I read Rich Christians, I was impressed with how it attended to Scripture’s abundance of material about caring for the poor, a theme that seemed to be neglected by so many others. I also appreciated his public commitment against apartheid and history of working for racial justice at times when those issues were controversial.

As for his particular economic solutions beyond the individual level, he adjusted his positions in revised editions as time went on. (His PhD was in Reformation history, not global economics. But honestly, I knew less about economics than he, so I wouldn’t have known the difference had he not told me later why he revised his economic suggestions.)

But critics who complained that his handling of Scripture’s demands for caring the poor were “Marxist” apparently never read him, never read the Bible, or were themselves more committed to economic or political agendas than to the Bible. Never a Marxist, Ron’s commitment was to Scripture, and he was no more radical than John Wesley or Charles Finney (and certainly far less radical than St. Anthony and St. Francis). He was much more conciliatory than Amos, Jeremiah, or John the Baptist (Luke 3:11: whoever has two cloaks should share one with someone who has none) or, most important of all, Jesus, who said we cannot be his disciples unless we surrender all our possessions (Luke 12:33; 14:33).

Ron was committed to seeking for justice especially for those who could not so easily defend themselves. Often associated with the evangelical left, but consistently prolife and ready to embrace what he saw as the best solutions from either side of today’s (tragically polarized) political spectrum, he always remained a consistent evangelical Anabaptist, living simply and working on behalf of the poor.

I met Ron in person when I was a PhD student involved with what was then Evangelicals for Social Action, an organization he founded. Not least through Ron’s support and encouragement, I ended up at what was then Eastern Seminary (now Palmer Seminary of Eastern University). He was always a faithful friend and one of my mentors; although we kept in touch, leaving him was one of the many reasons I found it difficult, after 15 years, to choose to relocate from Palmer. His wife Arbutus, a counselor, also helped me with personal issues. The impact he made on me, on his students and readers, and on North American evangelicalism is hard to underestimate. His conciliatory voice (not too surprising for a good pacifist Anabaptist) and eagerness to dialogue across the line are so important at a divided time like the current one. I miss you, dear Brother.

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