Robin Meyers
Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers is an ordained minister who served in the United Church of Christ for 40 years, a Tenured Professor of Rhetoric at Oklahoma City University, and a Distinguished Professor of Social Justice in the Philosophy Department at OCU. He is the author of eight books (including the national bestseller, Saving Jesus from the Church), an award-winning columnist for the Oklahoma Gazette, a commentator for National Public Radio, and a widely traveled lecturer and preacher on behalf of Progressive Christianity. He recently retired as Senior Minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC church of Oklahoma City after leading it for 35 years—where it became the fastest-growing UCC church in the Kansas Oklahoma conference. Bishop John Shelby Spong said of Robin Meyers, “He is a national treasure.” The late Marcus Borg said, “Keep your eye on the work of Robin Meyers.” Bill Moyers wrote, “Robin Meyers is the new generation’s Harry Emerson Fosdick, George Buttrick, and Martin Luther King Jr.”
Born in Oklahoma City and raised in Wichita, Kansas, Dr. Meyers graduated from Wichita State University (‘75). He received his M. Div. from the Graduate Seminary of Phillips University (‘79), his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Theological School of Drew University (‘81), and his Ph.D. from the Communication Department at the University of Oklahoma (‘91). His dissertation was on the merits of “self-persuasion” in preaching and was published as a textbook for preachers. He continues to teach full-time at Oklahoma City University and currently serves as Visiting Professor of Homiletics at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK.
Here’s what people are saying about Robin Meyers!
““Riveting and incisive . . . The Virtue in the Vice is a frequently witty and thoughtful, persuasively argued exploration of the relationship between virtue and vice. They are near neighbors, as Robin Meyers argues incisively. Read it and you will be richly rewarded.” ”
““With crisply prophetic joy, Meyers call seekers and believers alike to leave belief about Christ behind in favor of becoming imitators of Jesus. We can save Jesus from the church, and in doing so, re-create faith communities freed from hypocrisy and filled with hope.” ”
““DANGER: The contents of The Underground Church are explosive and could turn the world upside down. About time!” ”
““This beautifully written manifesto, grounded in the author’s deep faith and faithful ministry, is manna for those of us who love what the church is called to be—but who have a lover’s quarrel with the way it too often distorts the good new about love, justice, mercy, and care for ‘the least of these.’ May The Underground Church rise up and flower everywhere!” ”
Video’s of Robin Meyers speaking:
Popular topics for Robin:
These are suggested topics that can be offered separately for a single lecture or combined to form a topical series or weekend conference. Robin is always willing to work with his hosts to craft series will be meaningful for the local audience.
Book-related Lectures (45-50 minutes each)
1) FROM GALILEAN SAGE TO SUPERNATURAL SAVIOR: Or How I Became a Heretic With Help From Jesus
In this signature lecture, usually given as an opening, or keynote address in progressive religious gatherings, Dr. Meyers makes the case that Christianity began as a radical way of being in the world and then quickly devolved into an ecclesiastical empire of creeds and doctrines that altar (and in some cases reverse) the teachings of the historical Jesus. Drawn from his national best-seller, Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus, this lecture makes the case that progressive Christianity is not something modern, but is an ever-evolving and deeply countercultural manifestation of something very ancient and very dangerous.
2) THE UNDERGROUND CHURCH: Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus
Based on his 2012 book, The Underground Church, this lecture looks at the subversive nature of the gospel through the Parable of the Leaven. Much of the decline in the Western church can be understood as an effort to market Christianity as an individual strategy for prosperity in this life and eternal bliss in the next. What was once an attack on the religious status quo has become a defender of that status quo, and now a whole generation ignores the prophetic tradition and transformative power of being a follower of Jesus. In this lecture, Dr. Meyers imagines how we might all get ourselves into “good trouble” again for the right reasons, and urges those inside and outside the church to work for social justice, instead of giving up or giving in.
3) SPIRITUAL DEFIANCE: Faith as Resistance to Ego, Orthodoxy, and Empire
Based on his Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School, and drawn from the book published by Yale University Press, Spiritual Defiance: Building a Beloved Community of Resistance, this lecture combines all three Beecher Lectures into a single, one-hour presentation. Framed around three poems by the remarkable poet, Anna Kamienska, Dr. Meyers explores the notion that faith is not primarily about believing, but about resistance--allowing oneself to be “undone” as Kierkegaard put it. The three primary subjects of such resistance are ego, orthodoxy, and Empire.
4) QUANTUM PHYSICS AND THE FUTURE OF GOD
In this lecture, especially geared toward those who long for the reunion of science and religion, Dr. Meyers explores the impact of recent scientific discoveries about the nature of the universe on our understanding of God. Instead of our traditional Newtonian view of a “clockwork” universe, where the whole is merely the sum of the parts, quantum physics, chaos theory, and complexity theory (especially something called quantum entanglement) have challenged long-held views on the indivisible nature of reality itself—even as they have validated the essential and timeless message of religious mystics. What Einstein called “spooky action at a distance” may hold intriguing new models for understanding the ultimate mystery we call God.
5) HOUSTON, WE HAVE A GOD PROBLEM
Based on his most current work, Dr. Meyers discusses the “God crisis” in the church. Why do so many people struggle with conventional images and language about God (as an Old Man in the sky), and why do we assume that there are no options other than theism, atheism, or agnosticism? Based on Paul Tillich’s idea that God is not to be found in the heights, but in the depths (the Ground of Being), and supported by the hidden theology of The Wizard of Oz, this lecture helps to provides options for those who find it difficult to pray and worship in conventional ways, but who want to access the Mystery of that which animates and connects everything in the universe.
6) SAVING GOD FROM RELIGION
Based on the title of his latest book, described as a "revelatory manifesto on how we can reclaim faith from abstract doctrines and rigid morals to find God in the joys and ambiguities of everyday life," Dr. Meyers reflects on a lifetime spent in parish ministry and the struggles that people across the theological and political spectrum experience when someone says the word "God." Is he an Old Man in the Sky, "up there" as famously depicted by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Or is God a transcendent mystery at the heart of creation itself, connecting everything to everything else in a Luminous Web of moral consequences? Perhaps God is not pulling strings, but God is the String. Perhaps God doesn't do anything, but without God, nothing gets done? Richard Rohr calls this work, "powerful." Marianne Borg calls it "elegant." Brian McLaren calls it a "baptism into a deeper, freer, wider faith." John Dominic Crossan calls it a "transcendent vision."
Special Topics (45-50 minutes each)
7) THE RISKS AND REWARDS OF FEARLESS PREACHING
Every renewal of the church has been accompanied by a renewal of preaching. Dr. Meyers’ was a student of Fred Craddock, and his doctoral dissertation explored the relationship between persuasion theory and preaching, and was published as a textbook for preachers. He is a life-long member of The Academy of Homiletics and draws on 40 years of experience in the pulpit. In this lecture (which is ideal for clergy who face the weekly task of preaching and the parishioners who show up to listen) Dr. Meyers shares what it might mean for pastors to preach sermons that are biblically responsible, intellectually honest, emotionally satisfying, and socially significant—and why those sitting in the pews deserve to learn what the pastor learned in seminary.
8) THINKING RELIGIOUSLY: Are Human Beings Irrational or Trans-rational?
In this lecture with PowerPoint (which was originally presented as a Dream Course at the University of Oklahoma), Dr. Meyers explores the tension between faith as an irrational pursuit (believing things that can be proven to be false), and faith as a “trans-rational” way of being in the world (believing in more than can be known through reason alone). Drawing on the work of William James, Rudolph Otto, Abraham Heschel, and others, Dr. Meyers leads a discussion of the relationship between the finite and the infinite, the visible and the invisible, the head and the heart.
9) PREACHING THE POLITICS OF THE GOSPEL
What preacher has not heard the warning, directly or indirectly: No Politics from the Pulpit! It is one of the most contentious issues in parish ministry, and yet we seldom talk about what it means to preach relevant, powerful sermons that are faithful to the gospel in ways that avoid turning God into a Democrat or a Republican. To protect the separation of church and state, and to avoid offending members whose views may be very different from our own, preachers often drain the pulpit of its power and relevance by forgetting that there is a politics of the gospel that cannot be compromised. A free pulpit and a free preacher depend on speaking nonpartisan truth to power.
10) Workshop/Conversation: A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH
Robin Meyers served as a local church pastor for 40 years, 35 of them at Mayflower UCC in Oklahoma City, where he led a thriving, and unapologetically liberal church in one of America’s most conservative states. In lieu of a formal lecture, this “conversation” provides an opportunity to have an open-ended, wide-ranging conversation with the audience about the future of organized religion. Audience members submit their questions in writing, and everyone can share in open dialogue about what frustrates us about the church, and what gives us hope.
11) WHAT EXACTLY IS A PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH?
Often churches want to maintain traditional worship and music styles, but also move in a more progressive direction theologically? Is this possible, or must the message and the service both be changed? In this lecture, Dr. Meyers explains, using his own church as an example, how churches can maintain many elements of church tradition while also preaching a message that is biblically responsible, intellectually honest, emotionally satisfying, and socially significant.
12) GRETA THUNBERG AND THE MORAL IMPERATIVE TO FIGHT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
This generation is the first to fully understand the risk of global climate change, and the last to be able to do anything about it. Often mired in hyper-polemical rhetoric, the self-inflicted destruction of the only home we have is the ultimate ethical issue. It should be the ultimate bipartisan issue as well. We should listen to what science is telling us, not what our lifestyles compel us to ignore. In this lecture, Dr. Meyers discusses the remarkable vision of a young prophet, Greta Thunberg, and why changing course is not optional for a planet and its inhabitants who are perishing before our eyes.
