Podcast
The Nonviolent Jesus
Hosted by Fr. John Dear · EN
Was Jesus nonviolent?
🎙️ This Monday weekly podcast features thought-provoking, inspiring conversations with some of the greatest visionary leaders in peace and nonviolence in modern history like Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, Gandhi), Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy) , Cornel West (Race Matters), Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking) , Sr. Joan Chittister, John Fugelsang (Separation of Church and Hate), Rev. Richard Rohr (The Universal Christ), Shane Claiborne (Red Letter Christians), and many, many more!
Join Fr. John Dear—priest, author, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee—on The Nonviolent Jesus, a weekly 30-minute podcast that dares to reclaim the radical, active nonviolence of Jesus. Rooted in the wisdom of Gandhi and Dr. King, Fr. John Dear has been arrested and jailed over 80 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war and nuclear weapons in the tradition of Gandhi and Dr. King.
This journey isn’t just about changing the world—it’s about being creative, nonviolent activists and transforming ourselves. We’ll explore how we can:
💠 Embody nonviolence—toward ourselves, others, and our communities
💠 Heal from the culture of violence—from war and racism, authoritarianism and genocide, to poverty and environmental destruction
💠 Live with courage, compassion, and universal love
Together, we’ll uncover how Jesus' Way of Nonviolence can reshape our lives and awaken a more just, peaceful world.
👉Subscribe now to The Nonviolent Jesus - change yourself, change the world.
28episodes
Episodes
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#71 John Dear with professor and theologian Kate Common on the two of the Great Heresies, the nonviolent origins of the Hebrew community and her book "Undoing Conquest".
1w ago00:44:20Tap to summarizeOn today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Kate Common on the nonviolent origins of the Hebrew community as she describes in her new book, Undoing Conquest: Ancient Israel, the Bible, and the Future of Christianity (Orbis).Dr. Kate Common is the Assistant Professor of Public and Practical Theology at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and the Theologian-in-Residence at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton, MA. (katecommon.com)“In the battle of Jericho, in the book of Joshua, Israel’s army kills everyone-- men, women, children and livestock. Suddenly, human violence—genocide--is condoned by God,” she explains. But decades of archeological evidence from the “highland settlements,” she reports, now prove there was no genocide as Israel entered the promised land.Instead of conquest and genocide, the Hebrews originated from a peaceful, nonmilitaristic movement of indigenous people who formed egalitarian communities living outside the reach of the Egyptian empire.“These people never had a conquest story until 500 years later in 722 BCE when Israel was terrorized and conquered by the Assyrian empire. Later, they wrote their origins story as a conquest of the promised land, portraying themselves like the brutal, genocidal Assyrians!”That false narrative has been used ever since to justify violence and has led us to two of the great heresies of our time. White European colonists who killed millions of indigenous people and enslaved millions of Africans invoked this image, as did the white racists who created South Africa’s apartheid, and the Israeli warmakers and Christian Zionists who justify the recent genocide in Gaza.Secretary of War Hegseth recently invoked the genocide described in Joshua to defend the US and Israeli war on Iran.Jesus, Kate Common concludes, was calling us back to the Hebrew ideals that renounced empire and created egalitarian communities of peace and Listen in and discover new insights in the biblical origins of Hebrew and Christian peacemaking.beatitudescenter.orgWelcome to my Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com...
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#70 With Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral on returning to Minneapolis this January: “There was a sense of resolve, horror, exhaustion, fear and defiance. I've never been part of anything like it.”
2w ago00:37:17Tap to summarizeThis week I speak with my friend Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral. She received global attention last year during the interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral when she called upon Trump to show “mercy” to people.Here is that excerpt of her sermon:"Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now(...).""I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. The good of all people in this nation and the world."Mariann Budde is the first woman elected to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC and the National Cathedral. Before that, she served for 18 years as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. She is the author of three books, most recently, How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith.“I knew for months that I would be preaching at an interfaith service,” she tells me. “We didn't know if Trump would come. I felt two things. I had to speak the truth about the dangers of praying for unity as a country when we were as a people and our elected officials had no intention of working toward that unity. I knew, too, there were many people who were terrified and wondered if there was a place for them with his return, so I took the opportunity to remind the most powerful person in the country that he could afford to be generous and merciful.”One year later, this past January, she returned to Minneapolis and spoke at rallies denouncing the ICE raids and killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. “There was a sense of resolve, horror, exhaustion, fear and defiance. I've never been part of anything like it.”She tells me why speaking with dignity is so important, and what it does to expand our options when meeting hatred. She reminds us of what Jesus did when confronted with resistance while moving deliberately into Jerusalem, and what he never did, not even once when confronted with violence.We are called to live out the grace and love of God revealed in Jesus. Be encouraged. Hold fast. Trust that there is more at work in the world than the evil we are witnessing. It's not all up to us, but we are needed.”beatitudescenter.orgmariannbudde.comListen in to this wise and brave Christian leader and take heart!🌻, John
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#69: On the 10th anniversary of the death of my friend and mentor Daniel Berrigan: May 9, 1921-April 30, 2016: "War has become the ultimate antiChrist."
3w ago00:47:32Tap to summarizeIn this episode I offer reflections on the life, witness and teachings of my friend and mentor, the legendary peacemaker and war resister Rev. Daniel Berrigan who died ten years ago this week on April 30, 2016, just before his 95th birthday. www.danielberrigan.orgThis special episode begins and ends with my friend Dar Williams singing her great song “I Had No Right” about Dan, and features recordings of Dan reading three of his poems.Dan was born in 1921, was a Jesuit priest, poet, author of 50 books, lecturer, and antiwar activist who was arrested over 200 times in protests.I share about his two great actions, the Catonsville 9 and the Plowshares 8, and talk about his teachings on resistance, peacemaking, nonviolence, hope, detachment from the results of our action, and Jesus.Here’s a quintessential Dan Berrigan statement: “The Bible teaches in many places and warns, denounces and illumines this one bitter truth: the violence of humans is, in essence, genocidal, mass suicidal. War is not itself until it is total war, claiming the total person, the human family in its entirety, universal life."Here’s also a great statement that Dan wrote for the Catonsville 9 action::"Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, for the burning of paper instead of children, the angering of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house.We could not, so help us God, do otherwise...."Listen to the podcast for the entire statement!That October 1968, they were put on trial in Baltimore, and found guilty, and while awaiting prison, Dan wrote his popular play, “The Trial of the Catonsville 9.” The war worsened, so instead of reporting to prison, in April 1970, he went “underground.”For months, Dan traveled around the country, evading the FBI, speaking to the media, appearing on the national news, writing articles, and infuriating J. Edgar Hoover and his henchmen.One Sunday he appeared in a Philadelphia church to give a sermon and said famously. “We have chosen like Jesus to be powerless criminals in a time of criminal power.” That August, he was arrested on Block Island, Rhode Island, and sent to Danbury prison where he barely survived the next few years.I consider Dan one of God’s greatest prophets of peace. Please listen in to this special episode and be inspired by Dan to stand up, speak out, and take action for justice, disarmament and peace! Thank you Dar Williams:God bless you all—Fr. JohnThere are more podcasts and interactive Zoom programs with today's thought leaders, educators and activists that encourage you to follow the nonviolent Jesus :beatitudescenter.orgjohndear.orgdanielberrigan.orgMeet me on Substack:https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/
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#68 With Prof. Melanie Harris of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies on Ecowomanism and Earth Honoring Faiths: "What does the Divine intend for all of humanity?"
Apr 2000:39:04Tap to summarizeOn today’s episode I speak with Prof. Melanie Harris, Professor of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies jointly appointed with African American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. A graduate of the Harvard Leadership Program, Dr. Harris earned her PhD. and M.A. degrees from New York’s Union Theological Seminary, her M. Div. from Iliff School of Theology and a B.A. from Spelman College in Atlanta.She is a former broadcast journalist who worked as a news producer for ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates and is the author of Gifts of Virtue: Alice Walker and Womanist Ethics, and Ecowomanism: Earth Honoring Faiths. She tells us of her own family ecojourney to Colorado, her spiritual mother Alice Walker and relates to us Ecowomanism and the connections between theologies, the earth, and environmental justice in relationship to African American women in particular. “Womanist theology came from black seminary women looking for a term to express the theology of black women,” she explains. She then connects the theology of black women with a theology of the earth. “Justice for all is connected to environmental justice. The question is: What does the Divine intend for all of humanity and all of the earth?”When I asked her suggestions for us, she immediately responded: “Tell the story of Jesus well and truthfully. In truth, Jesus was a nonviolent person and deeply committed to compassion. She also recounts the story of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman and how it is important to recognize how Jesus modeled peace-giving and peace building in that conversation. “All of us are interwoven and interconnected,” she concludes. “We have to come back to our own peace, and the truth that we have to have buckets and buckets of forgiveness and compassion."."Find the spaces of hope for your spirit and nourish those spaces as much as possible. From now on, we need to seed peace from the time we wake up to the time we fall asleep.” Thank you Melanie Harris for your inspiration, education, and dedication to peace: listen in and be inspired!https://orbisbooks.com/products/ecowomanismbeatitudescenter.orgjohndear.orgfatherjohndear.substack.com
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#67 With David Cortright, leading scholar on war, peace, and nonviolent resistance: "we have brought about historic change".
Apr 1300:42:48Tap to summarizeToday I speak with my friend Prof. David Cortright, author and a leading scholar on war, peace and nonviolent resistance. He is the former executive director of SANE, the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy which under his leadership in the 1980s grew from 4,000 to 150,000 members and became the largest disarmament organization in the U.S. He also co-founded Win Without War in 2002. He is a visiting scholar at Cornell University’s Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and professor emeritus at Notre Dame.David is the author, co-author or co-editor of 23 books, including Protest and Policy in the Iraq, the Nuclear Freeze and Vietnam Peace Movements; Civil Society, Peace and Power; Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for a New Political Age; and Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas. He has written widely about nonviolent social change, nuclear disarmament, and sanctions, and provided research services to the foreign ministries of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. He has served as consultant or advisor to the United Nations, the Carnegie Commission, the International Peace Academy, the MacArthur Foundation and Catholic Relief Services.He shares his convictions as a man of faith and reflects on the time he was an active duty soldier during Viet Nam. He speaks of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and our responsibilities as Americans to oppose the war and push to cut off military aid to Israel. We discuss the elections, sustainment and the "inevitable prohibition of nuclear weapons becoming a global reality". He also reminds us of the No War and No Nukes campaigns and how they are one with the No Kings movement. “We were put on this planet to serve God and follow the nonviolent Jesus. Peace making and peace building are obligations of the faith. If we are believers, we are committed and obligated to peace."Be encouraged, inspired and sustained by David Cortright today and carry on this work of peace making and peace building, it starts with us! johndear.orgbeatitudescenter.orghttps://fatherjohndear.substack.com/
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#66 With Kerry Kennedy, author, lawyer, and human rights activist on her family, her faith, and her work with the Kennedy Human Rights Center: "We all have ways of making our country better."
Apr 600:48:50Tap to summarizeOn today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Center for Human Rights kennedyhumanrights.org. A lifelong human rights activist and lawyer, she authored Being Catholic Now, as well as Speak Truth to Power, Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope, and the forthcoming Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy. The 7th of Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s 11 children, Kerry has devoted more than 40 years to the pursuit of equal justice, and the promotion and protection of basic rights around the world on a range of issues. She has led hundreds of human rights delegations and regularly provides commentary on TV. For 10 years, she served as chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council. A graduate of Boston College Law School, she lives in Massachusetts.Kerry talks about her life as a child, her parents, and her human rights work at the Kennedy Center. She lays out the three things her organization does around the world with her team of lawyers and how they have never lost a litigation case. They also work to decrease mass incarceration and abuses committed by ICE, as well as work to stop violence against women, and indigenous and marginalized people around the world. She tells about her recent trip to the notorious, violent prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has been sending hundreds of people illegally to be tortured. When asked about her brother Bobby Kennedy, Jr., and what she thinks about him and his performance as Secretary of Health and Human Services, her answer is unexpected and candid. Her accomplishments cannot be overestimated and she continues to work selflessly all across the world for human rights. She encourages us with her faith and determination to make a difference in our world today while quoting the nonviolent Jesus: "Love one another". Listen to her words of encouragement and be inspired:"We can all do something to make things better for others.” Find out more about our work here: beatitudescenter.org For more information and writing, subscribe to my Substack fatherjohndear.substack.com My newest book "Universal Love, surrendering to the God of Peace" is available now on orbisbooks.com
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#65 John Dear with Jim Finley, author, clinical psychologist, former Trappist monk, and host on Richard Rohr's CAC podcast "Turning to the Mystics": "Jesus is God's complete surrender to us."
Mar 3000:39:06Tap to summarizeThis week I speak with my friend Jim Finley, the beloved teacher of contemplation and mysticism.When he was a teenager, Jim entered the Abbey of Gethsemani and was a novice and later a friend of Thomas Merton. Eventually, he left the monastery, became a clinical psychologist, and opened his practice in Los Angeles, where he still lives.He wrote the first serious book about Merton’s spirituality, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere. Jim has taught and lectured on Merton, spirituality and mysticism for over 50 years, and these days is a faculty member of Fr. Richard Rohr’s Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation.He hosts a free popular podcast, “Turning to the Mystics,” centering on Christian mysticism and contemplative living, which has hundreds of thousands of regular listeners.He is author of several other bestsellers, such as The Awakening Call, The Contemplative Heart, and his recent memoir, The Healing Path.This year, Orbis Books is launching a ten volume series by Jim on the mystics, such as Teresa of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Meister Eckhart. The first volume is on Merton.This year, Orbis Books is launching a massive, ten volume series by Jim on the mystics, such as Teresa of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Meister Eckhart, and the first volume comes out in a few months on Thomas Merton.Jim has done two wonderful zoom presentations for the Beatitudes Center which you can listen to, like tens of thousands of others, on our free YouTube channel.“I saw Merton as a living mystic,” he tells me. “I was so honored to be in his presence. He was my spiritual director, so every other week for six years, I would meet with him and he would always ask the three same questions."He says he learned from Merton that “the only way to ever be at peace is to accept myself as I am, because I'll never be anyone else.”Listen as Jim relates to us how God's presence resides in ourselves and others, and why we have to accept that we are infinitely accepted. Be inspired by him and his words for Holy Week to deepen in the contemplative life of mystical peace!You can also subscribe to my Substack and find more about our work on our website https://beatitudescenter.org
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#64 With writer and scholar Daniel Hunter, founder of Choose Democracy and widely read on wagingnonviolence.org: "The goal is for us to be intimidated and walk away".
Mar 2300:41:38Tap to summarizeOn today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with writer and scholar of nonviolent resistance, Daniel Hunter. He coaches and trains movements across the globe; is a founder of ChooseDemocracy.us which organizes against authoritarianism; and is currently the director of Freedom Trainers. freedomtrainers.net His books include "What Will You Do If Trump Wins,” "Climate Resistance Handbook" and "Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow." His essays about resistance to growing fascism are widely read on wagingnonviolence.org“How can you help stop authoritarianism?” he asks. “You stop viewing them as legitimate; you non-cooperate and don't comply with their orders.”He speaks on the influence of the No Kings protests on elections, Steven Miller's nationalist goals, the Disney boycott, and how to stop authoritarianism. “We are seeing unprecedented collective action. Authoritarianism does not care about polls or the number of activists protesting. Authoritarian power only cares about what it can make us do.”He also reminds us of the National 'No Kings' protests coming on March 28th and 'May Day Strong' on May 1st which calls for no work, no school, and no shopping. "This is a good moment. We're ready to take on the biggest super villain the world has ever seen. Every action, everything we're doing--it's all adding up right now.”nokings.orgmaydaystrong.orgbeatitudescenter.orgfatherjohndear.substack.com
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#63 With Jonathan Kuttab of Palestine, co-founder of Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International: “Most Christian Palestinians are nonviolent peacemakers, and have been since the 1st century,”
Mar 1600:42:57Tap to summarizeToday I speak with Jonathan Kuttab on Palestine. He is the executive director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel North America, the best Christian solidarity group working with Palestinians for peace. Jonathan is also co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO.“The war on Gaza is continuing even today,” he told me just before the US/Israel declared illegal war on Iran. “They're refusing medicine, food, journalists, aid, and they're using the ceasefire to continue the genocide. The world is allowing this to continue, and it breaks my heart.”Jonathan explains why most Christian Palestinians are nonviolent peacemakers, and have been since the 1st century. His conclusion:"Violence does not work. It does not deliver what it is supposed to deliver."FOSNA promotes the vision of Sabeel Jerusalem, an ecumenical liberation theology movement founded by Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land, joining Friends of Sabeel chapters around the world. As a nonprofit organization in the United States, they amplify the voice of Palestinians by advocating with churches, communities, and civic leaders for justice, peace, and liberation in Palestine. See www.fosna.org and www.jonathankuttab.org for more information on Jonathan and FOSNA. I have worked with them for many years and gave a keynote speech at the Sabeel conference in Bethlehem in 2008 with the Cardinal of Jerusalem, you can find it here: www.sabeel.org“It is possible for people to live together!” Jonathan concludes. “We have lived together peacefully in the past, and hopefully we will in the future". Listen in to this Palestinian voice for peace today and be inspired to join the grassroots movement of ordinary Christinas trying to live out the teachings of Christ in the 21st century.www.beatitudescenter.org
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#62 Amy Brooks Paradise, minister and Greenfaith organizer: " We are made for times like this, this is exactly what people in faith are for!"
Mar 900:39:25Tap to summarizeOn today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise of Greenfaith.org, a global, multifaith, grassroots network working to protect creation and resist environmental destruction around the world. She previously served as the Education Director for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network in Charlotte, NC and also as the Pastor for the UU Fellowship of Lake Norman in NC. She lives outside Charlotte with her partner and daughter.“We work with people around the world who are most impacted by climate change,” Amy says. “We encourage people to get involved in local climate issues and make different choices that protect creation.” Check out their website to see some of their grassroots campaigns. “We all see that natural disasters are bigger, more catastrophic and happening more often and everywhere,” she continues. “Scientifically, it is proven our climate is getting warmer, and our use of fossil fuels is the main contributor to global warming. Why is it okay to continue to use fossil fuels?" "The fossil fuel companies created a massive disinformation campaign that became politicized and promoted by politicians. We're now living in a world that is breaking down because the global economy depends on fossil fuel. I'm excited to see so many countries embracing renewable energy, and people of faith involved in these struggles.”She encourages each one of us to get involved: "Find your people, find your community, choose your issue, get training, start showing up in public and doing the work. We are made for times like this, this is exactly what people in faith are for!"Put your faith into action and join Greenfaith today!beatitudescenter.orgjohndear.orggreenfaith.orghttps://fatherjohndear.substack.com/
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