Estranged Relatives: Mediation and Nonviolent Direct Action (A Conversation between Ched Myers and Elaine Enns)

By Ched Myers Mennonite Conciliation Quarterly, Winter. 4 pp. Elaine: Ched and I met at a peacemaking conference in 1997 where both of us were speaking. We sat in on each other’s sessions, appreciated each other’s work and began an interesting dialogue concerning how best to mitigate violence in our society. What we discovered was…

Proclaiming Good News in Hard Times: Reflections on Evangelism and the Bible

By Ched Myers Chapter in: Prophecy and Passion: Essays in Honour of Athol Gill, edited by David Neville. Adelaide: Australian Theological Forum, pp. 273-299. 18 pp. I am among the many who are indebted to Athol Gill’s faithful advocacy for the fullness of the biblical good news. I remain deeply grateful for his theological mentoring…

Seek First the Kingdom: The Life and Death of Ladon Sheats

By Ched Myers Catholic Agitator. 7 pp. On Good Friday 2002, while in Lubbock, TX caretaking his 93 year old father, our dear friend Ladon Sheats discovered that he had become strangely jaundiced. On April 15th, after exploratory surgery, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I immediately left the Word and World School that was…

Divine Centrifugality vs. Imperial Centripetality, I: Cultural/Linguistic Diversity & Deep Social Ecology (Gen 11:1-9)

By Ched Myers Talk given to the Episcopal Urban Caucus, spring 2002. Published by The Witness online. 12 pp. Not too far from where we sit today, hidden at the heart of post-modern Los Angeles, surrounded by gleaming skyscrapers built by and for Big Capital, lies the placita, once the center of the old Mexican…

Tearing Down the Walls of Our Own House: Theological Reflections on Racism

By Ched Myers Priests & People (UK). 8 pp. “LOOK, WHAT MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURES!” (Mk 13:1). Jesus’ disciples cower fascinated, before the Jerusalem Temple edifice. It is indeed a magnificent structurebigger than life, architectural symbol of their social project. But Mark’s Jesus refuses to be impressed, for he understands what they do not. This House must…

Led by the Spirit into the Wilderness: Reflections on Lent, Jesus’ Temptations & Indigeneity

By Ched Myers Reflections on and study material prepared for a mission program on Aboriginal justice hosted by The Uniting Church of Australia, 2002. 14 pp. Sunrise in a caravan park in Deniliquin in northeast Victoria, Australia. I awaken to a cacophony of screaming cockatoos and galahs, a manic morning-song chant of praise. Outside the…

The Gift Must Always Move: An Interview with Ched Myers on Sabbath Economics

Inward/Outward, Winter, pp 1ff. 5 pp. KM: Ched, what do you mean when you say “Sabbath Economics?” Aren’t those two words contradictory? Isn’t “Sabbath” about letting go and receiving and “economics” about attaining and possessing? How do they fit together? CM: You are certainly correct in your impression that these two terms, when viewed from…

Unleashing the Vulnerable Word: Reflections on Ched Myers as a Provocateur for a Healing Church

By Simon Barrow. British Journal of Theological Education (12:2) pp 95ff. 13 pp. Ched Myers is not a well-known figure in European church or academic circles. He is a forty-something fifth-generation Californian white male. Los Angeles, a city ‘oppressed by the hucksters of over-development and quick profit’ (his words) is the place he calls home….

Christmas and Consumerism: Four Biblical Reflections and Practical Responses

By Ched Myers With Matthew Colwell. Studies produced for the Center for a New American Dream. 11 pp. Few of us would argue with the complaint that Christmas has become too “commercialized.” It has deteriorated into an overheated festival of manic consumption in which the majority of the gifts are purchased by people who cannot…