Robin Rex Meyers is an American Christian minister, peace activist, philosopher and author of seven books on Liberal and Progressive Christian theology in Western society and the
Christian left
The Christian left, otherwise referred to as the religious left, is a range of Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel based on their interpreta ...
. He has been a syndicated columnist and a commentator for
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
and was the Senior Minister of the Mayflower Congregational
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...
in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
from 1985 to 2020. He is a Distinguished Professor of Social Justice in the Philosophy Department at
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...
, where he has taught since 1991. Meyers is currently the Teaching Pastor of First Congregational Church of Norman UCC in
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...
, and Distinguished Professor of Social Justice Tenured at Oklahoma City University.
Early life and education
Robin Meyers was born in Oklahoma City, and was raised in Wichita, Kansas. His father, Dr. Robert Meyers, was originally an ordained minister in the
Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to:
Church groups
* Christianity, the Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ
* Christian Church, an ecclesiological term used by denominations to describe the true body of Christia ...
and Professor of English Literature at the church-affiliated
Harding University
Harding University is a Private university, private Christian university with its main campus in Searcy, Arkansas, United States. Established in 1924, the institution offers Undergraduate education, undergraduate, Postgraduate education, gradu ...
; however he lost his job in 1959 for supporting desegregation at the school. His father later left the Church of Christ to become pastor at Plymouth Congregationalist Church in Wichita from 1970-83.
In early 2012, a week after his father died aged 88, Meyers dedicated a sermon to him. He told the Congregation:
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Wichita State University (1975), Meyers received a Masters of Divinity from the Graduate Seminary of Phillips University (1979), a Doctor of Ministry from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey (1981), and a doctorate in Rhetoric (persuasion and preaching) from the University of Oklahoma (1991).
Career
Meyers is a fellow of the
Westar Institute
The Westar Institute, founded by Robert W. Funk in 1985, is a member-supported nonprofit educational institute with a twofold mission:
* To foster collaborative, cumulative research in religious studies
* To communicate the results of the schola ...
(home of the Jesus Seminar), and a frequent preacher and speaker at church conferences and communication workshops across the United States. He travels and lectures monthly in the United States on Progressive Christianity, has lectured in North Wales (
Gladstone's Library
Gladstone's Library, known until 2010 as St Deiniol's Library (), is a residential library in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales, UK.
Gladstone's Library is Britain's only Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Ministerial Library and serves a ...
) and toured Australia and New Zealand as the
Common Dreams
Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, U.S.-based news website with a stated goal of serving the progressive community. Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials, and a newswire of c ...
Lecturer in 2016. He has been a finalist for the pulpit of The Riverside Church on two occasions, the Earl Preacher at the
Earl Lectures
The Earl Lectures are a series of public lectures on religion held at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1901, they are supported by an endowment of Edwin T. Earl. They are open to members of the general public, a ...
Civil Libertarian of the Year Award from the ACLU.
Meyers has appeared on
Dateline NBC
''Dateline NBC'' (also known simply as ''Dateline'') is a weekly American television news magazine reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on ...
, the
PBS NewsHour
''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
with Jim Lehrer, and
ABC World News
''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...
. He has also written for the journal ''
The Christian Century
''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews ...
''. Meyers delivered the
Lyman Beecher
Lyman Beecher (October 12, 1775 – January 10, 1863) was an American Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Presbyterian minister and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. Father of 13 children, many of them became writer ...
Lectures at the
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...
in 2013 with addresses on "Faith as Resistance" to ego, orthodoxy and empire. These lectures form the basis of his second most recent book, ''Spiritual Defiance: Building a Beloved Community of Resistance''.
Meyers credits the late American New Testament scholar, theologian and author
Marcus Borg
Marcus Joel Borg (March 11, 1942 – January 21, 2015) was an American New Testament scholar and theologian. He was among the most widely known and influential voices in Liberal Christianity. Borg was a fellow of the Jesus Seminar and a major fi ...
as a major theological influence, as well as his seminary Preaching Professor and mentor Fred Craddock. He is married to Shawn Meyers, an
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
artist; they are parents to three adult children and have two grandchildren.
Views
Theology and Church Reform
In his writing and preaching Meyers emphasizes the humanness of
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
and the literary (rather than literal) nature of the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, stating that: "I seek to build, not a collection of 'believers', but a beloved community devoted to embodying peace and justice". Meyers contends that Christianity "was once, and must be again, about following Jesus, not about worshiping Christ".
He calls on modern Christianity to return to the core beliefs and practices of the early Church before the Roman Emperor
Constantine the Great
Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
converted to Christianity; by focusing on orthopraxy (faithful practice) rather than orthodoxy (right belief). Meyers describes his approach to Christianity as "non-literal, non-dogmatic, and profoundly subversive". His goal to empower Christians to live subversively according to a different way of being has been compared to that of the Old Testament scholar
Walter Brueggemann
Walter Albert Brueggemann (March 11, 1933 – June 5, 2025) was an American Christian scholar and theologian who is widely considered an influential Old Testament scholar. His work often focused on the Hebrew prophetic tradition and the sociop ...
and endorsed by South African Archbishop Emeritus
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...
. In 2012, Meyers told the Decatur ''
Herald & Review
The ''Herald & Review'' is a daily newspaper based in Decatur, Illinois. It is owned by Lee Enterprises.
The Herald & Review was named one of Editor & Publisher's "10 Newspapers That Do It Right" in 2019 for its use of government documents and ...
'':
Human Rights and Interfaith Dialogue
Meyers opposes the death penalty and attempted to save the life of
Wanda Jean Allen
Wanda Jean Allen (August 17, 1959 – January 11, 2001) was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of Gloria Jean Leathers, 29, her longtime girlfriend, in Oklahoma City. In 2001, Allen was the first black woman to be executed in the United Sta ...
, whom the
State of Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the east, New Mexico to the west, and Colo ...
executed by lethal injection in January, 2001, for the murder of her girlfriend. He spoke on Allen's behalf at an Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board clemency hearing and was one of her nominated witnesses at the execution. He appeared in the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
documentary, ''The Execution of Wanda Jean'', which was screened at the 2002
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
.
Meyers supports gay rights. He cites the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
story of the evangelist Philip baptizing the
Ethiopian eunuch
The Ethiopian eunuch is a figure in the New Testament of the Bible. The story of his conversion to Christianity at the preaching of Philip the Evangelist is recounted in Acts 8. He is a foundational figure of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
...
in
Acts 8
Acts 8 is the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the burial of Stephen, the beginnings of Christian persecution, the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Samaria and ...
: 26-40 as "the most powerful story in the Bible to argue in favor of full inclusion of all people regardless of sexual orientation into the full sacramental hospitality of the Church" because it contradicts the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
law in
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament.
Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...
23:1 that rendered a
eunuch
A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
an outcast. Meyers also contends that the Prophet Isaiah, whom the eunuch was reading while meeting Philip, "is on record as saying even eunuchs will be welcomed into the reign of God because God's love is unconditional ... it is for everyone who is on the outside looking in". In the debate about the place of the
LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
community within the Church he describes this story as "the most important and overlooked story in the New Testament". Mayflower Congregational UCC voted unanimously to become an "open and affirming" congregation in 1999. In October 2014 it celebrated 14 wedding ceremonies between same-sex couples on the same day. Meyers told the congregation that "love is a gender-less thing".
Meyers is also involved in interfaith dialogue and spoke publicly against a Florida church's plans to burn copies of the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Broader Church
Meyers eschews evangelical Christianity's emphasis on salvation and does not think that Christians need to believe in conventional marks of the Church, including Jesus' physical resurrection, ascension into heaven, virgin birth or position as the son of God. Rather, he believes that religious leaders should address social issues such as greed, saying that "money is the last taboo in church". He links this issue to social justice and perceptions of inequality in the judicial system, in that "we'll send an African-American teenager off to the slammer who robs a 7-Eleven, but we won't do anything to a banker who helped cause the collapse of the entire banking system".
With respect to the Church as a whole, Meyers once told a book-signing audience that "to put it in the language of 12-step programs, we need to do an intervention on ourselves". He contends that high divorce rates in the "Bible Belt" states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma are linked to "fairy-tale conceptions of marriage" within fundamentalist Protestant denominations in that "they have that whole dogma of 'This is right, this is wrong' and nothing in between. They don't have the mental dexterity to make the adjustments to a less-than-perfect marriage".
Two of Meyers' former seminary professors responded to the 2009 publication of ''Saving Jesus from the Church''. The first, the former Dean of the Seminary Dr Joe R. Jones, wrote a "decidedly personal and theological" post on his personal blog about Meyers, admitting in the conclusion its "ad hominem" nature and that they must not ever have connected theologically even though he had been invited to preach in Meyers' church in 2002. He lamented Meyers work, speculating that it might be driven subconsciously by reaction against a fundamentalist upbringing, which led him out of theological agreement with Jones' lectures and systematic theology ("There being no real evidence that Robin ever did hear my lectures or read the ''Grammar''") and contrasted their supposed preferred theological sources by name, albeit without noting those referenced in the book's citations. The second former seminary professor, the late Dr. Fred Craddock, Emeritus professor at Emory University, was cited by Meyers as his primary mentor and is quoted and thanked in the book. Craddock endorsed Meyer's writing with the words "The time is right for this book and this book is right for the time." Meyer's book was also endorsed by church scholar Diana Butler Bass and Archbishop Desmond Tutu who wrote the following:
Politics, Peace and the Environment
Shortly after George W. Bush was re-elected as US President in November 2004, Meyers became known via the Internet for an anti-war speech he delivered at an Oklahoma University peace rally at which he told the crowd: "This country is bankrupt. The war is morally bankrupt. The claim of this administration to be Christian is bankrupt".
The Bush re-election has been cited as a defining moment in motivating authors such as Meyers to articulate approaches to faith that differ from those of the Religious Right. In this respect Meyers has been read or reviewed alongside writers including
Jim Wallis
James E. Wallis Jr. (born June 4, 1948) is an American theologian, writer, teacher and political activist. He is best known as the founder and former editor of ''Sojourners'' magazine and as the founder of the Washington, D.C.–based Christi ...
Bill Press
William H. Press (born April 8, 1940) is an American talk radio host, podcaster, liberal pundit and author. He was chairman of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996, and is a senior political contributor on CNN. He hosts ''The Bil ...
,
Linda Seger
Linda Sue Seger (born August 27, 1945) is an American author and former screenwriting consultant. She is best known for her books on screenwriting.
Education and career
Seger grew up in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. She received an undergraduate degree ...
,
Randall Balmer
Randall Herbert Balmer (born October 22, 1954) is an American historian of American religion.
Biography
Balmer taught at Barnard College and Columbia University for twenty-seven years before moving to Dartmouth College in 2012, where he was name ...
,
Brian McLaren
Brian D. McLaren (born 1956) is an American author, speaker, activist, public theologian and was a leading figure in the emerging church movement. McLaren is often associated with postmodern Christianity.
Education and career
Raised in Rockville ...
, Peter Laarman, former U.S. president
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
Joan Chittister
Joan Daugherty Chittister (born April 26, 1936), is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker. She has served as Benedictine prioress and Benedictine federation president, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religi ...
, the Rev. James Forbes Jr.,
Gregory A. Boyd
Gregory A. Boyd (born June 2, 1957) is an American theologian, Anabaptist pastor, and author. Boyd is Senior Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and President of Reknew.org. He is one of the leading spokesmen in the growing N ...
,
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She was the first woman to serve in that role. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran ...
Dan Wakefield
Dan Wakefield (May 21, 1932 – March 13, 2024) was an American novelist, journalist, and screenwriter.
His novels ''Going All the Way (1970) and Starting Over (1973),'' were made into feature films with Wakefield also writing the screenplay f ...
.
Meyers' support of environmental issues has been seen as part of a wider movement within American Christianity that now includes some members of the traditionally-conservative evangelical branch of the church.
Books
* ''With Ears to Hear: Preaching as Self-Persuasion'' (Pilgrim Press, 1993); (Wipf & Stock Pub, 2007); .
* ''Morning Sun on a White Piano: Simple Pleasures and the Sacramental Life'' (Doubleday, 1998); (Galilee Trade; Reprint edition 2000); .
* ''The Virtue in the Vice: Finding Seven Lively Virtues in the Seven Deadly Sins'' (HCI, 2004); .
* ''Why the Christian Right is Wrong: A Minister's Manifesto for Taking Back Your Faith, Your Flag, and Your Future'' (Jossey Bass, 2006); .
* ''Saving Jesus From The Church: How To Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus'' (Harper One, 2009); .
* ''The Underground Church: Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus'' (Jossey Bass, 2012); .
* ''Spiritual Defiance: Building a Beloved Community of Resistance'' (Yale University Press, 2015); I .
* "Saving God from Religion: A Minister's Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age" (Convergent Penguin Random House, 2020); .