That included trying to counter white evangelical support for Donald J. Trump. In 2020, he edited “Donald His Trump’s Mental Dangers: His 30 Evangelical Christians on Justice, Truth, and Moral Integrity.” told the site magazine“Arose out of a clear concern that white evangelicals are not thinking in a sufficiently biblical way in their consideration of Donald Trump, his character, and his policies.”
Dr. Seider was not without his conservative side, especially when it came to same-sex marriage and abortion.And he warned against focusing too much on the cause — one of his books was called ‘I Am’ No Social Activist: Putting Jesus on the Agenda” (2008). However, he had hope that the faith of personal salvation and the faith of advocacy for social problems could coexist.
“I look forward to the day when there will be a Christian congregation in every village, town and city, who will love Jesus Christ so much that they will lead millions each year to accept him as their personal Savior and Lord.” he writes : A Theology for the Whole Gospel” (1999), “So sensitive to the cries of the poor and the oppressed that they work tirelessly for justice, peace and freedom.”
Ronald James Sider was born on September 17, 1939 in Stevensville, Ontario. His father, James, was a farmer and later minister, and his mother, Ida (Klein) Sider, was a homemaker.
He grew up attending the Brotherhood of Christ Church. His interest in social activism started there.
“It was thoroughly evangelical, but it experienced the disastrous division of the social evangelical-fundamentalist struggle of the early 20th century that helped create a huge chasm between evangelism and social action. I didn’t,” he wrote in Good News and Good Work. “When I first started out in the faith, I saw devout Christians sharing the gospel as my missionary uncle did in Africa and caring for the poor as my church relief agency did. I was thinking.”
He received his bachelor’s degree from Waterloo Lutheran University in 1962, followed by his master’s and doctoral degrees in the next ten years. He holds a BA in History from Yale University and a BA in Theology from Yale Theological Seminary. Although he was an ordained pastor in both Mennonite and Brotherhood of Christ denominations, his primary career was teaching.
