Richard Beck // Biography and Books

Richard Beck (PhD) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Abilene Christian University. Richard also teaches classes in the Fuller Theological and ACU Doctor of Ministry programs.
During his teaching career, Richard has been honored twice as ACU Teacher of the Year. Richard has also been recognized as Honors Teacher of the Year and has won the College of Arts and Sciences Classroom Teaching award and Faith Integration award.

Outside of the classroom, Richard travels the world as a sought after speaker and an award-winning blogger and author. 

To explore speaking engagements for your church or organization email beckr@acu.edu.

Richard's most recent books are Trains, Jesus and Murder: The Gospel According to Johnny Cash (Fortress Press, 2019) and Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise (Fortress Press, 2017). 

And now available (March 2021) is Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age (Broadleaf Books, 2021).  

Richard's other books are Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality and Mortality (Cascade, 2011), The Slavery of Death (Cascade, 2013), The Authenticity of Faith: The Varieties and Illusions of Religious Experience (ACU Press, 2012), and Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for Doubters and the Disenchanted (Fortress Press, 2016).

Richard is married to Jana, who is a High School theater teacher, and they have two sons, Brenden and Aidan. The Becks attend the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX, where Richard serves as an elder and adult faith Bible class teacher. Richard also serves and leads at Freedom Fellowship, a mission church plant of Highland that reaches out to the poor and homeless of the city.

Lastly, every Monday evening Richard leads a Bible class for fifty inmates at the maximum security French Robertson unit, and has written and spoken extensively about his experiences working in a prison.




Publishers Weekly "beautiful" 
Booklist "haunting" 
The New Yorker "a must read for Cash's legion of fans" 


Now Available!



Order Hunting Magic Eels at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indiebound.

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