7 of 7

The years seem to have given Sider more humility about simple answers. At a World Council of Churches meeting in Seoul, Korea, he was dismayed that delegates seemed so much more interested in blaming the West for Third World poverty than in understanding how their Korean hosts had managed to lift their country out of poverty. In the third edition of Rich Christians, he notes, "In the first edition of this book, I said that social evil hurts more people than personal evil. That may be true in the Third World, but I no longer believe that it is true in North America and Western Europe." The tide of promiscuity and divorce now seems to him far more significant. He says that "Tim LaHaye exaggerates in simplistic ways, but he's right about secular humanism pushing religion out of the public concern." Sider may not have grown more conservative, but he certainly has found points of agreement with his conservative critics.

That leaves him somewhat lonely. He is too cautious for the radical fringe of evangelicalism, represented by magazines like Sojourners and The Other Side. Yet he remains anathema to conservative activists, who dominate evangelical politics.

The key to understanding Ron Sider, though, is not his politics. It is his theology. Unlike the Religious Right, which has been mostly reactive, Sider's political involvement has always been proactive. In reading the Bible, he saw that God cares about social and political life as well as personal piety. And so Sider sees his activities in terms of applying the Bible to life.

Sider's holiness upbringing is embedded in his soul, which means he is at root an activist, someone who can never shrug and say, "That's just the way life is." Where he finds evil in his soul, he is going to struggle against it; where he sees evil in the world, he is going to call down heaven to fight it. The evil he sees did not originate with secular humanism. It is part of the ancient human battle between good and evil, selfishness and generosity—it is not particularly a fight between Republicans and Democrats. For Sider, political involvement is part of discipleship, and he is never going to quit.

It is helpful to remember, too, that Sider is a hockey player. He is a pacifist, but one who feels comfortable wielding an ax and a chain saw. He loves to fish, but friends who have been on his fishing expeditions say the purpose is not to commune with nature; Sider goes to catch fish.

Persistence is in Sider's blood; his secretary reports that two hernia operations last year brought a remarkable change: it was the first time she had seen him walk slowly. Through 20 years of perpetual motion, he has helped to keep world poverty on evangelicals' consciences. In another 20 years, if he stays in good health, we will still see him swinging his ax.

This article originally appeared as the cover story of the April 27, 1992 issue of Christianity Today. At the time, as now, Tim Stafford was senior writer for the magazine.

Copyright © 2000 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Today's Books & Culture Corner, "Putting the Poor on the National Agenda | Ron Sider's timely proposals" takes a look at Sider's latest book, Just Generosity.Other Christianity Today and Books & Culture articles on Sider have included " The Rich Christian | How Ron Sider has changed in the 20 years since his first book" (CT, Apr. 28, 1997) and "Investment Strategies" (B&C, May/June 1997, print only) See also Ron Sider's Evangelicals for Social Action and Eastern Seminary pages.

first page |  7 of 7

share this page

March (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44