The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast

Posted Every Monday

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast is a free, weekly thirty-minute podcast, posted on every Monday, featuring Fr. John Dear and his reflections about Jesus, Gospel nonviolence, and peacemaking, and guests who teach, speak out, organize and work for a more just, most peaceful, more nonviolent world. Through these weekly reflections, we hope to inspire everyone to follow the nonviolent Jesus more faithfully and do our part to welcome God’s reign of peace with justice on earth!

To listen, click on any link below to hear past podcast.

To hear the latest podcast, click on the most recent link at the bottom of the list.

Below that, you will see some of the platforms which also host it, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack, as well as on the National Catholic Reporter.

March 23rd. #64, with Daniel Hunter on resistance

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks 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. [www.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 [see www.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.”

“We are seeing unprecedented collective action. For example, over 1.5 million people participated in the Disney boycott within hours of Jimmy Kimmel being removed from his show. Disney tracked who was more powerful–the government or the people—and saw that the people are more powerful so his show was restored… Authoritarianism does not care about polls or the number of activists protesting. Authoritarian power only cares about what it can make us do.”

“I’m really excited about March 28th, the National ‘No Kings’ day, and May 1st, ‘May Day Strong,’ which calls for no work, no school, and no shopping. [see www.nokings.org and www.maydaystrong.org] This is a good moment. We’re getting 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.” Listen in and be inspired! God bless you!

Upcoming Podcasts

March 30th. #65. John Dear in conversation with Jim Finley
April. 6th. #66. John Dear in conversation with Kerry Kennedy
April 13th. #67. John Dear in conversation with Prof. David Cortright
April 20th. #68. John Dear in conversation with Prof. Melanie Harris
April 27th. #69. John Dear on Daniel Berrigan, for the tenth anniversary of his death
May 4th. #70. John Dear in conversation with Bishop Marian Budde

To listen, click on any link below to hear past podcast.

To hear the latest podcast, click on the most recent link at the bottom of the list.

Below that, you will see some of the platforms which also host it, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack, as well as on the National Catholic Reporter.

March 30th. #65, Jim Finley on God and the mystics

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with his 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,” 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. “I saw Merton as a living mystic,” he tells John. “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: How’s it going? Then, how’s it going in your surrender to God who accessed your heart to lead you to this place? And finally, how’s it going in discovering the depth of the 2nd question percolating to the messy details of the 1st question?” 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.”

“The infinite presence of God is pouring itself out, whole and complete in the very presence of ourselves and others,” he concludes. “We can never lose God’s love. Jesus is God’s complete surrender to us. We have to accept that we are infinitely accepted.” Listen in to this wise teacher and be inspired for Holy Week to deepen in the contemplative life of mystical peace! God bless you!

Upcoming Podcasts

April. 6th. #66. John Dear in conversation with Kerry Kennedy
April 13th. #67. John Dear in conversation with Prof. David Cortright
April 20th. #68. John Dear in conversation with Prof. Melanie Harris
April 27th. #69. John Dear on Daniel Berrigan, for the tenth anniversary of his death
May 4th. #70. John Dear in conversation with Bishop Marian Budde