2024 Speaking Tour

Host Fr. John Dear on his 2024 Speaking Tour for his Forthcoming Orbis Book: “’The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence.” For more info, click here

Listen on Apple, Spotify, all major platforms,
and the National Catholic Reporter

March 24, 2025

#12, Fr. John Dear in conversation with Shane Claiborne on resistance, organizing & Gospel living

“Our love doesn’t stop at our own borders.” That’s what popular speaker and author Shane Claiborne tells John Dear in this episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast.” He talks about public organizing, bold resistance, and living out the Gospel where it matters most—on the streets, in communities, and on the frontlines of change; and how we need to respond to the worsening violence, authoritarianism, white supremacy, racism, warmaking, greed, lies, and warmaking overtaking our nation and the world. 
 
We need to go where people are hurting, and serve them, and stop the pain, violence and injustice, he says. “The closer we are to the pain, the more urgently we respond to it.”
 
Shane knows a lot about living the Gospel and responding to the pain and needs of the poor. He has worked on the streets of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, spent time in Rwanda and Iraq, and journeyed with me to Kabul, Afghanistan during the war. He lives in inner-city Philadelphia with the Simple Way community serving, advocating, and organizing on the streets. His best-selling books include The Irresistible Revolution and Beating Guns: Hope for People Weary of Violence.
 
He also speaks out all over the world. A dynamic, popular speaker and activist, he is the founder of Red Letter Christians which works with thousands of young evangelicals for justice, disarmament and creation. Shane has put radical love and nonviolence into action and invites us to do the same through the testimony of his life. “Our protest is a form of liturgy,” he says. “We can bring joy in the midst of public lament.” Visit: www.redletterchristians.org Hope you feel energized by Shane’s witness for the nonviolent Jesus!

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Fr. John Dear! For more information, visit here.

Listen on Apple, Spotify, all major platforms,
and the National Catholic Reporter

March 31, 2025

#13, John Dear on Jesus’ Grassroots Campaign of Nonviolence, a Model for our Time

 
Jesus wasn’t just a teacher or a devout rabbi—he was a movement builder, a grassroots organizer, and a radical leader of nonviolent resistance to injustice and empire. That’s what John Dear suggests based on Luke 10, his subject for the next episode of The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast. Jesus sends out 72 disciples in pairs—not to conquer, oppress or kill, but to disarm, heal and dismantle empire through radical peacemaking.
 
What if following Jesus today means joining a similar real, organized, strategic movement of active nonviolence?
🔥 What does it mean for us to be “lambs among wolves” in a world of rising fascism, white supremacy, and permanent war?
🔥 How do we mobilize like Jesus, Gandhi, and MLK to create real disarmament and social change today?
🔥How do we proclaim the coming of God’s reign of peace, justice and love today?
 
Luke 10 presents Jesus as “a nonviolent general leading a peaceful revolution. He’s like Gandhi on the Salt March or MLK on the Selma-to-Montgomery march.” Like the Galilee 72, John Dear suggest that Jesus calls each one of us at this moment to get up, get moving, start organizing, and take action. He’s sending us out as “lambs among wolves” to proclaim God’s reign, and in the process, to share in the joy—yes, the joy—of Jesus’ grassroots nonviolence. This Lent, take a good long look at Luke 10 as a framework for your own grassroots work for justice, disarmament, and creation.
 
📖 For more, check out John Dear’s latest book, The Gospel of Peace.
 

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Bryan Stevenson! For more information, visit here.

John Dear’s new book now available!

“The Gospel of Peace:
Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke
from the Perspective of Nonviolence”

For info, click here
 
To order, call Orbis Books at 1-800-258-5838
 

To invite John Dear to speak in your city, write to: john@beatitudescenter.org 

National Catholic Reporter Review of “The Gospel of Peace,” click here
 
To watch Fr. John’s interview with Dean Young of Grace Cathedral about the book, click here
 
To watch Fr. John’s sermon at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, on Jan. 21, 2024, (at the 30 minute mark) click here
 
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast, a free weekly podcast with John Dear
click here

Recent Books

“The Sacrament of Civil Disobedience”
Revised 2022 Edition, with new foreword by Shane Claiborne,
Available on amazon, in the U.K.  To order, visit: https://labora.press/product/the-sacrament-of-civil-disobedience/

Recent Articles

War is the Ultimate Failure

Today, in the name of the God of peace, we say to the United States: we are sick and tired of your endless wars, your military spending, your nuclear weapons, your global domination, your violence, your imperialism and fascism and corporate greed and permanent warfare. We remember the U.S. war on Iraq, and how we killed millions of sisters and brothers there for a great lie, to steal their oil and sell weapons and help the one percent get richer. We remember the U.S. war on Afghanistan, and how we killed and injured countless innocent civilians for a great lie so we could get their oil and sow chaos in the world and sell weapons. With thousands of people in over twenty demonstrations across the nation we say today, enough is enough! No more endless wars!

Daniel Ellsberg, Prophet of Truth and Disarmament

A few months before he died on Friday, June 16th, famed whistle blower and peace activist Daniel Ellsberg sent an email letter to hundreds of friends announcing that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three months or so to live. After reflecting on his life’s work for peace, he announced that he was full of “joy and gratitude” and wished the same for all of us who work to end war.

My Long Lost Conversation with John Lewis

Last summer, after Congressman John Lewis died, I posted a photo on social media of me and John from a memorable afternoon we spent together in his congressional office. It was 26 years ago. We had talked for a while, and then filmed a formal conversation on nonviolence.

Needless to say, it was one of the greatest days of my exciting life.

Recent News

“Nonviolence,” a new 147 page special edition
of Richard Rohr’s journal Oneing, now available from www.cac.org

John Dear on “Democracy Now” talking about Thich Nhat Hanh and Archbishop Tutu 

“Jesus was totally nonviolent and calls us to practice and teach Gospel nonviolence and welcome God’s reign of peace and nonviolence, which means from now on, we work for the abolition of war, poverty, racism, gun violence, the death penalty, nuclear weapons, environmental destruction, and all violence.” – Fr. John Dear

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