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

microphone_2368382.png

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

Spotify_Primary_Logo_RGB_Green.png
ncr-logo.png
apple-podcasts-logo.png
amazon-music-logo.png
podbean.jpg
podcast-index-logo.png
fountain-fm-logo.png
true-fans-logo.png
youtube-logo-40x40-1.png

April 20th, 2026

Episode #68, John Dear speaks with Prof. Melanie Harris on “Ecowomanism”

 
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with his friend Dr. 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, she is the author of Gifts of Virtue: Alice Walker and Womanist Ethics, and Ecowomanism: Earth Honoring Faiths. She is a former broadcast journalist who worked as a news producer for ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates. 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.
 
“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 John asks for her suggestions, she says: “Tell the story of Jesus well and truthfully. In truth, Jesus was a nonviolent person and deeply committed to compassion. Jesus was corrected by the Syrophoenician woman. For a male religious leader to be speaking with a woman was radical; this was a model of peace-giving and peace-building. It is important to recognize that the gospel of Jesus is a gospel of peace. Jesus was not one who stood for violence, hierarchy or domination.”
 
“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.” Listen in and be inspired to be a peacemaker! God bless you all!

Next week…

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

microphone_2368382.png

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

Spotify_Primary_Logo_RGB_Green.png
ncr-logo.png
apple-podcasts-logo.png
amazon-music-logo.png
podbean.jpg
podcast-index-logo.png
fountain-fm-logo.png
true-fans-logo.png
youtube-logo-40x40-1.png

April 13th, 2026

Episode #67, John Dear speaks with Prof. David Cortright on war and peace

 
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Prof. David Cortright, 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, and has served as consultant or advisor to the United Nations, the Carnegie Commission, the International Peace Academy, the MacArthur Foundation and Catholic Relief Services.
 
On the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. “It’s a war of folly and is completely groundless. It’s immoral, unjust and illegal. Half or more Israelis and American Jews oppose the war in Gaza and Iran. As Americans we have the responsibility to oppose the war, and push to cut off military aid to Israel until Israel agrees to follow the rule of law and UN principles.” 
 
On nuclear weapons: “In the 80’s, we had massive movements against nuclear weapons. Now, we are rebuilding all our nuclear weapons to make them even more lethal. There are no guard rails of any kind, but the UN Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons is becoming a global reality.”
 
“We were put on this planet to serve God and follow the nonviolent Jesus. Peacemaking and peacebuilding are obligations of the faith. If we are believers, we are committed and obligated to peace. Jesus was a revolutionary and preached against violence… We have power. We are not helpless in front of these violent and evil forces. We have to speak out and work for justice and peace!” Listen in and be inspired to carry on the Easter work of peace! God bless you.

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Prof. Melanie Harris! 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

John Dear’s New Book, Available February 17th, 2026!

Universal Love:
Surrendering to the God of Peace

By John Dear

For more information, click here
 
Available from www.orbisbooks.com or call 1-800-258-5838, or Amazon.com 
 
“One of the people I respect most on this earth and whose winsome company I enjoy most is Fr. John Dear. In this short, valuable, and practical book, John shares his conversations with a young spiritual seeker named Will who came to him seeking spiritual guidance. As I read each chapter, I felt like I was meeting with John for coffee, sharing my struggles, and receiving his wisdom and encouragement.
This book is a treasure.”
 
— Brian McLaren, author of Faith After Doubt and The Last Voyage

Recent Books

GospelOfPeace
Praise-Be-Peace-cover-pdf-663x1024
“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

John Dear Talks Nonviolence with Joan Baez: A Conversation

Read More

The Peacemaking Life of Pope Francis

A few years ago, three French peace activists met with Pope Francis and asked him for advice. “Start a revolution,” he said. “Shake things up! The world is deaf. You have to open its ears.” That’s what Pope Francis did — he started a nonviolent revolution and invited us all to join. 

I’m grateful for him for so many reasons, but mainly because he spoke out so boldly, so prophetically in word and deed for justice, the poor, disarmament, peace, creation, mercy and nonviolence. It is a tremendous gift that we had him for 12 years, that he did not resign or retire, but kept at it until the last day, Easter Sunday.

Read More

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.

Read More

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 

Visit
www.DanielBerrigan.org

“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

Find the Beatitudes Center on Facebook!

Find the Beatitudes Center on Instagram

Find John Dear on Facebook

john-dear-and-friend

Visit Fr. John Dear’s Work at:
The Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus

Sign Up Here to receive John Dear’s Free eblast newsletter with news of upcoming podcasts, zooms and speaking events!

Free, weekly podcast: “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast“

Contact Fr. John Dear via the email or mailing address at: www.beatitudescenter.org