Dr. Sider is a respected and passionate advocate of holistic biblical faith in the Christian world. Ron grew up in rural southern Ontario, the child of a Canadian Brethren in Christ pastor. He attended the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, and received a BA in European history. It was there that Ron came in contact with the apologetic work of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), and set his sights on a career in academia. Upon graduating in the late '60s with an MDiv and Ph.D. in history from Yale, Ron expected to teach early modern European history on secular university campuses, and continue his work for IVCF. Faced with the glaring needs and blatant injustice of the inner city, Ron began to work toward developing a biblical response to social injustice. In 1973 he organized the Thanksgiving Workshop on Evangelical Social Concern. It was this conference that issued the now historic "Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern."

In 1977, Ron's ground-breaking book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, was published. Hailed by Christianity Today as one of the one hundred most influential books in religion in the twentieth century, Rich Christians has sold over 400,000 copies. 1978 also saw the formation of Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA), a movement that continues to shape and influence North American Christian thinking on issues of biblical justice, holistic mission, and basic Christianity.

Among his many books are Good News and Good Works, (published in 1999 by Baker Book House). This is an invigorating and passionately biblical call to the church to embrace the whole gospel through the combination of evangelism, social engagement and spiritual formation. Its companion book, Cup of Water, Bread of Life, published in 1994 tells stories about effective ministries that bring both evangelism and social transformation together. Living Like Jesus (1999) has been called Sider's Mere Christianity. Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America (1999; 2006) offers a holistic, comprehensive vision for dramatically reducing America's poverty. And Churches That Make a Difference (2002) with Phil Olson and Heidi Rolland Unruh provides concrete help to local congregations seeking to combine evangelism and social ministry. The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience (2005) won Christianity Today's top award in the area of Christian Living. In 2008, he published The Scandal of Evangelical Politics and I Am Not a Social Activist. Sider has published over 30 books and has written over 100 articles in both religious and secular magazines on a variety of topics including the importance of caring for creation as part of our biblical discipleship. He is a founding board member of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

Ron is Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry & Public Policy at Palmer Seminary at Eastern University and Director of the seminary's Sider Center on Ministry & Public Policy.

Ron is the father of three and lives in Philadelphia's Germantown section with his wife Arbutus.