Pastor Ron Rude (M.Div) lives in Tucson, Arizona with his wife, Nancy. He has taught courses on the life-giving interplay between science and theology at Holden Village, Chicago Theological Seminary, Glacier National Park, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Diakonia, and various conferences and congregations. He is an avid hiker exploring God’s teaching wilderness, and an amateur church musician (piano, drums).
After 17 years as Lutheran campus pastor (ELCA) at the University of Arizona-Tucson, his ministry passion for an ecology-theology-grounded-Christian faith continues to ripen through interactive retreat experiences, and through teaching, writing, and service.
Ron’s most recent book is Amending the Christian Story: The Natural Sciences as a Window into Grounded Faith and Sustainable Living (Wipf and Stock Publishers, October 2021).
Reviews for Amending the Christian Story
- “As our world desperately seeks a more inclusive story, Rude invites us to reimagine the sacred text of nature and divine wonder as a map for the human journey. This book is for anyone looking to make sense of the biblical narrative in light of the natural sciences and their own experiences.”–Peg Carlson-Hoffman and Chuck Hoffman, former Executive Directors, Holden Village
- “Pastor Ron Rude challenges us to amend theology through consequential integration of cosmic and evolutionary science… . Reimagining the Christian narrative through the lens of Abel and Cain, we must abandon broken symbols of original sin and atonement to recenter God’s mission on the sustainability of creation.” —Craig L. Nessan, Academic Dean and Professor of Contextual Theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary
Additional books by Ron Rude include:
- (Re)considering Christianity: An Expedition of Faith Joining Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Sustainability. For the person considering the Christian faith for the first time, especially one with a scientific background, (Re)considering Christianity portrays a version of God’s story of life and God’s story of Jesus that takes modern understandings of astronomy, geology, and biology seriously. And for the person who may have been practicing the Christian faith for years, but today no long finds the old, foundational understandings believable or sufficient, this work will aid the tough process of uncovering, reconsidering, and beginning to live Christianity’s deeper and wider story/message/claim. (2012)
- Abel Emerging: A Reconsideration of the Christian Story for a Sustainable World, a passionate, even lyrical, invitation for thoughtful people to re-frame the dominant narrative of the Christian story as a resource for engaging an increasingly challenging future. Sober in its analysis, modest in its hopefulness, but bold in its vision, the book is a provocative, yet realistic, call to new thought and new action on behalf of a beleaguered creation. (2009)
Together with Sharon Reinbott, Ron Rude co-facilitates Living into a New Story: A Spirited Assessment of the Christian Story in the Light of Earth-based Wisdom and Today’s Sciences, a retreat in January, 2025.