Ched Myers’ Life & Activism
A fifth generation Californian, Ched is an activist theologian who has worked in social change and radical discipleship movements for more than 45 years. With a degree in New Testament Studies, he is a popular educator who animates scripture and its relationship to issues of faith-based peace and justice. He has authored over 100 articles and more than a half-dozen books, including Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus; Ambassadors of Reconciliation: A N.T. Theology and Diverse Christian Practices of Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (with Elaine Enns); Our God is Undocumented: Biblical Faith and Immigrant Justice (with Matthew Colwell); Watershed Discipleship: Reinhabiting Bioregional Faith and Practice; Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization (with Elaine Enns, Cascade, 2021); and most recently Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy: Luke’s Jesus and Sabbath Economics (Fortress, 2024). Ched’s articles and books can be found on this site.
Ched has worked with a variety of social justice organizations, including the Pacific Issues Network (solidarity with Indigenous peoples throughout the Pacific Basin) and the American Friends Service Committee (working across a spectrum of social justice issues in the American Southwest). He is a co-founder of the Word and World School, the Sabbath Economics Collaborative, and the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice. He co-founded BCM in 1998, and codirects it with his partner Elaine Enns today.
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Ched holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley (1978) and an M.A. in New Testament Studies from the Graduate Theological Union (1984). He served on the faculty of the Proctor Institute Dale Andrews Freedom Seminary, and has taught at the Saskatoon Theological Union, Memphis Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Claremont School of Theology (where he was 1998-99 Fellow in Urban Theology), Canadian Mennonite University, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, United Theological Seminary, the Seminary Consortium on Urban and Pastoral Education, Maryknoll School of Theology, Virginia Theological Seminary, Phillips Theological Seminary, Pacific School of Religion, Toronto School of Theology, Vancouver School of Theology, Churches of Christ Theological College (Australia) and Tamilnadu Theological Seminary (India).
Besides his own writing, Ched works with other authors and publishers as an editor and manuscript evaluator and endorser. He has traveled throughout North America and abroad giving seminars and retreats, teaching, preaching and facilitating gatherings. He works with Catholic, Protestant and Anabaptist parishes and diocesan or denominational offices, as well as with ecumenical and interfaith organizations. Note: Ched has retired from traveling out of California to speak or teach, but continues to resource gatherings through online videoconferencing. To invite Ched to work with your community please email us.