The Nonviolent Jesus

by Fr. John Dear

Season 2

#87 John Dear with Professor Todd Walatka of Notre Dame on Saint Oscar Romero: "The true church is the one that stands with the poor".

One of the key prophets, saints, teachers and models for me is Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was assassinated while saying Mass in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. I lived and worked in a refugee camp in 1985, and traveled back nearly twenty times, including his beatification Mass in San Salvador. To me, he is the epitome of the modern day prophet who denounces war, poverty, and killing, calls people to be converted to the nonviolent Jesus, and announces the coming of God’s reign of justice, disarmament and peace. On this episode I speak with Professor Todd Walatka of Notre Dame, author of a new book, “Words of Life: The Preaching of St. Oscar Romero.” Todd Walatka teaches about Catholic theology after Vatican II, Latin American theology, Catholic social teaching, and Christian spirituality. He is also the editor of Óscar Romero and Catholic Social Teaching, which examines the life of Romero in light of contemporary work for justice and human development. “If you hear Romero's words or know anything about his life, you immediately think, ‘This is the gospel!’” Todd says. “Romero asked us: ‘What is the Good News today? What does it demand of our very lives today? Romero truly believed that the Word of God can change our lives.” Discover more about Saint Oscar Romero here: orbisbooks.org beatitudescenter.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero Come join me on Substack: https://substack.com/@fatherjohndear 🌻, John

S2 · E87

Aug 31, 2026

39:04

#86. John Dear with Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics:"The Special Olympics is a peacemaking movement.”

On this episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. Tim expanded the organization from one million athletes to over six million athletes in more than 170 countries around the world. After passing on the CEO torch, he wondered how the spirit of the athletes of Special Olympics might provide a model for our divided world. He started a conversation with hundreds of young people, faith leaders, educators, philosophers, scientists, activists and political figures on how we might reclaim our common humanity. He formed the nonprofit UNITE which uses what he calls the “Dignity Index,” a new tool to help Americans disagree without demonizing each other. Tim went to Yale, got his Master's degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut. Before joining the Special Olympics in 1996, he co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading school reform organization in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL). On the side, he is a Hollywood producer of several films including “Amistad.” He is coauthor of “Fully Alive – Discovering What Matters Most,” and co-editor of “The Call to Unite: Voices of Hope and Awakening.” In May, Notre Dame awarded him the Laetare Medal. “My parents were innovation machines,” Tim tells me. “They were problem solvers.” His mother started the Special Olympics by asking, "'What if we just spoke each others' language and ate each others’ food?’" That was peace-building. Last year the volunteer army of human goodness created 80,000 Special Olympics events. "Go to an event! There's a recognizable presence of human dignity and therefore divine energy. There's a different vibrational field. The Special Olympics is a peacemaking movement.” www.specialolympics.org When I ask Tim about Unite and the Dignity Index, he says it’s based on the insight that “our problems are not based on our differences but how we treat each other when we differ. When we treat each other with dignity, we have a good chance of solving our problems. We try to learn how to treat each other with dignity and reduce contempt.” Listen in as Tim describes various ways to respond to others in keeping with human dignity. God bless you! 🌻, John beatitudescenter.org Meet me over on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ www.dignity.us www.timothyshriver.com

S2 · E86

Aug 24, 2026

39:30

#85. John Dear with economist, author, pastor and former president of Bread for the World David Beckmann: "We won't end poverty if we can't talk to each other."

This week I speak with David Beckmann, former president of Bread for the World, one of the best groups fighting poverty in the world (www.bread.org). His many books include: Eden Revival; The Overseas List; Grace at the Table; Exodus from Hunger, and his latest book, “Poverty Abolitionists: Faith, activism, and Hope for Difficult Times. www.davidbeckmann.org “In recent decades, the world has made dramatic progress against poverty. But now, the second Trump administration has pushed that progress into full reverse. I'm so appalled that we are systematically dismantling things that are important to the poor in the U.S. and the world. It's certainly possible to end poverty where starvation and malnutrition exist. We don't have to have millions of kids go without food in the U.S., yet we do. “The most progressive community in the U.S. are atheists - they are not waiting for God to solve the world's problems. Our hope is built on Jesus' promise of the kingdom of God, but we have to do our share and advocate for justice and an end to poverty,” he says. In the end, he calls us to “seek and form loving, justice-seeking churches; to think critically about our faith and the work to end poverty; and to open our hearts to God's universal, forgiving love. Those who imagine a loving, forgiving God—not a violent, punishing god--are more inclined to work for justice and the end of poverty.” Listen in and be inspired to join the movement to abolish poverty! www.beatitudescenter.org Come join me on Substack: https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ www.davidbeckmann.org www.bread.org 🌻, John

S2 · E85

Aug 17, 2026

30:08

#84 John Dear on meeting Franziska Jagerstatter in Austria and reflecting on the life and courage of her husband Franz Jagerstatter, one of the few men who refused to fight for Nazi Germany.

On this week's episode of The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast, I reflect on Franz Jagerstatter, one of the most important saints in history. In the late 1970s, while a student at Duke University, wondering what to do with my life, my grandmother gave me a pamphlet about Franz. I was amazed by the story of a young Austrian farmer, born on May 20, 1907, who in 1936 married Franziska, the local sacristan at their church in St. Radegund. HIs wife, Franziska, was a saint, so he tried to become a saint too. When the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938, nearly everyone in Austria supported the Nazis. In February 1943, Franz received a letter ordering him to turn himself in and join the Nazi military, where he would be sent off to the Russian front. He went and spoke with several priests and even the bishop. Each one of them said it was his duty as a Catholic to fight for Hitler. But what about Jesus? he asked them. So Franz refused to fight, was arrested, imprisoned, taken to Berlin, brought before the Nazi high court, condemned to death for “undermining military morale,” and beheaded on August 9, 1943. I’ve been studying him for decades, and in the 1990s, became a friend of his wife Franziska and family. In this episode, I review Franz’s life, my own experience with Franziska and his beatification in Austria, and some concluding lessons, which I hope will encourage you in your own commitment to the nonviolent Jesus. I think Franz demonstrates a new political mysticism, a sanctity that is a threat to the empire and the culture of war. I think this has to become the new norm, as it was in the early Church. “As a Christian, I prefer to do my fighting with the Word of God and not with arms,” he wrote from prison. “We need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead spiritual weapons—and the foremost among these is prayer…Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in God’s love.” beatitudescenter.org orbisbooks.org

S2 · E84

Aug 10, 2026

43:31

#83 With nuclear activist, public educator and publisher Jack Cohen Joppa: " We have to support the activist who ends up in jail if we are to succeed."

This week marks the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I plan to take part in several demonstrations in California as part of my ongoing penance, prayer and witness against nuclear weapons and God’s call for peace on earth. I speak with my friend Jack Cohen-Joppa, who along with his wife, Felice, has published The Nuclear Resister newspaper since 1980. With over 200 issues, they have chronicled over 100,000 anti-nuclear and anti-war civil disobedience actions and related prosecutions covering thousands of activists, and encouraged support for the women and men jailed and imprisoned for such nonviolent actions. Their newspaper has tracked every public action that involved crossing a line against war and nuclear weapons, that is, every campaign, every local and regional grassroot effort, and the rise and fall of national movements. When you open its pages or study their website, you discover a whole world of peace activism that few know about. It routinely documents nonviolent direct actions—including recent demonstrations at California's Vandenberg Space Force Base where activists protest the testing and modernization of nuclear missile systems. Jack's nuclear education began in 1978 while participating in a year-long civil disobedience campaign at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant outside Denver, and standing trial with Daniel Ellsberg and eight others that autumn. Theirs is a lifetime of steadfast resistance in campaigns at the Pentagon, Livermore Labs, Los Alamos Labs, the Nevada Test Site, the Trident submarine bases and the Plowshares “We face a nuclear threat now that is comparable with the threat we faced during the Cold War,” Jack says. “Our challenge is to continue to delegitimize and stigmatize the building of nuclear weapons. I am in touch with the people who believe that hope is a verb and take action. We believe that this is work worth doing.” Listen in and discover an ongoing grassroots movement against nuclear weapons and get with the program. Please visit their site at: www.nuclearresister.org Supporters can sign up for action alerts, read chronicled histories of dissent, and find instructions on how to write letters of support to imprisoned peace activists. For those of us who have spent time in jail and prison for civil disobedience against nuclear weapons, Jack and Felice are longtime faithful heroes. He continues to study, write and speak publicly about nuclear issues. Beatitudescenter.org Follow me on Substack @FatherJohnDear 🌻, John

S2 · E83

Aug 3, 2026

40:42

#82 John Dear on the Raising of Lazarus: "We need to to call humanity forth out of the culture of death, war and empire."

On this week's episode I reflect on the Gospel of John, chapter 11, the story of the raising of Lazarus, based on my book, Lazarus Come Forth! I propose that John rewrote the Gospel story to portray Jesus as the God of life who calls humanity in the person of Lazarus out of the tombs of death, out of empire, violence and war, and command us to unbind humanity from the trappings of death and let humanity go free in the fullness of life and resurrection peace. The message is: have nothing to do with death, with violence, injustice, war or anything that inflicts death on others. Instead, live life to the full, and help others live life to the full. Possibly you'll recognize yourself in these scriptures: How the male disciples promise to walk with him but never show up; How the professional mourners weep over Lazarus, even though they just tried to stone Jesus to death; How Martha tries to stop Jesus’ nonviolent resistance; How Jesus announces, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever is fully alive here and now in the present moment of resurrection peace, and believes in me as I walk the way of life and nonviolence and confront the forces of death, will never die.” “Do you believe this?” he asks us. As Jesus approaches the tomb, he issues three new commandments: “Take away the stone!” “Lazarus/Humanity come forth!” “Unbind humanity and let him go free.” Listen for my conclusion of this climactic call of John’s Gospel, and what our mission is today. See what you think. I hope you like it. My book is available here More writings from me: beatitudescenter.org You can find me on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ 🌻, John

S2 · E82

Jul 27, 2026

35:22

#81. John Dear with scholar, author and international leader in racial healing Dr. Catherine Meeks: "The culture in the US reinforces the notion that people of color are inferior to white people."

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Dr. Catherine Meeks, a nationally recognized leader in racial healing and founder of the Turquoise & Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing. Her latest book is .Bridging the Rivers of Difference: A Proclamation of Unity in Resistance Her other books include The Night Is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations on Racial Healing, and The Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper’s Daughter. She spent 25 years as chair of the African American Studies program at Mercer University. “I grew up poor and black in Arkansas, and my way in the world is to connect to the spiritual and God and the way people should be treated right,” she says. This country was founded on the notion that some humans were worth more than others, included black people and women. The Constitution wasn't talking about us. The Heritage Foundation has been working militantly with Project 2025, but we have to be willing to stop having a hierarchy of human value. “Racism has injured us all,” she continues. “Everyone has been wounded by it. The culture in the US reinforces the notion that people of color are inferior to white people, but we're all made in God's image and we all deserve to be treated right. We have to create new narratives and trust each other enough to work for the general welfare that benefits everybody, not just one set of people." “We need to recognize the nonviolent Jesus. To dehumanize another person is violent while Jesus was always respecting people. There is no Jesus for warmongers. War is never going to end other wars. We need to reimagine what nonviolence really is about. I see this moment as a time to come to grips with what kind of human we want to be.” Listen in to hear the powerful words of Dr. Catherine Meeks! www.turquoiseandlavender.com beatitudescenter.org https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/

S2 · E81

Jul 20, 2026

40:17

#80. John Dear in conversation with author and theologian Fr. Ron Rolheiser: " In my lifetime I've never lived through darker days."

“My mantra now is, ‘Let it go, let it go, let it go,’” theologian Ron Rolheiser tells John Dear On today’s episode I speak with my friend writer and theologian, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, one of the most popular Catholic writers in the world, about his new book, Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years, the conclusion of his trilogy of modern spiritual classics, following The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire. Fr. Ron Rolheiser is the author of many other best-sellers including The Restless Heart, The Shattered Lantern, Forgotten Among the Lilies; Prayer; and The Passion and the Cross. Orbis published an anthology, Ron Rolheiser: Essential Spiritual Writings. He recently retired from his position as President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, but continues to write, teach and speak around the country. You can learn more about him at his website: www.ronrolheiser.com Speaking about a spirituality for our wisdom years, Ron invites us to address anger, and other forms of resentment and bitterness, and let it go into softness, forgiveness, and gratitude. “I've spent most of the years of my life in leadership and now nobody's asking for my opinion,” he says. “Letting go of control is difficult. As my health deteriorates, I have to learn to let go. My mantra now is, ‘let it go, let it go, let it go.’ But as I move from full time activity into passivity, I’m asking myself, ‘Who am I when I stop doing? When you're God's beloved, how do we actually own that?’” “In my lifetime I've never lived through darker days,” he adds. “We're trying to solve violence with violence, but violence begets violence. Politicians are openly saying that compassion is weakness. We've never needed the message of nonviolence more than now. "The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest moral code ever written. We have to be the ones who stand up and live in hope! To do that, we have to keep a subversive sense of humor.” Listen in to this great wisdom teacher and be inspired! beatitudescenter.org ronrolheiser.com 🌻, John

S2 · E80

Jul 13, 2026

35:01

#79. John Dear in conversation with scripture scholar and author Wes Howard-Brook: "We're faced with the choice between the religion of empire or the religion of creation."

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend scripture scholar Wes Howard-Brook, author of several great books, including his commentary on the Gospel of John, Becoming Children of God. He also has a free YouTube channel “The Radical Bible,” his study of the Bible as a whole called, Come Out My People!: God’s Call out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond. He also just published a smaller, more accessible version of it called: Creation or Empire: A Choice of Religions in the Bible and Beyond. He tells us: "The Bible is not a bunch of rules or a bunch of pull quotes." “Most Christians treat the Bible like someone who's been on a one-week tourist trip with a bad tour guide, which is to say, they've gotten a superficial overview and had it interpreted wrongly, and then concluded, ‘Why would I want to go there again?’ he says. “The heart of my work is trying to re-establish a passion for biblical literacy, because as all indigenous cultures know, as a people, you are the stories that carry you forward. “The Bible is a set of narratives, poems, proverbs, and other texts that were written by our Israelite and Judean ancestors to get their children to grapple with one central question: what kind of people does God intend us to be? “The Bible proposes two choices: the religion of creation and the religion of empire. Jesus enters into that 2,000 year old argument among his people: are we to be a powerful empire in the name of God, centered in Jerusalem, to which all the nations will stream and bow down to us and our God? Or is creation the temple; do we find the Creator in the creation, and every created being is part of that? Jesus plainly and explicitly sides with the religion of creation and resists empire.” We were so inspired by this Bible scholar to find the Creator in creation and resist empire! Find his book here Sign up for more podcasts and interactive zooms here beatitudescenter.org IG @thenonviolentjesus Connect with me on Substack @FatherJohnDear 🌻, John

S2 · E79

Jul 6, 2026

32:50

#78. John Dear with theologian/author/activist Lisa Sharon Harper: "We were three floors below ground, it was hot and the walls and floor were covered with roaches."

Today I speak with my friend Lisa Sharon Harper. Lisa is a theologian, speaker, author, activist and trainer who has worked in Ferguson and Charlottesville, as well as South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Ireland and across the U.S. Her 2022 book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family And The World--And How To Repair It All, was named “Book of the Year” by Word and Way. Her 2016 book, The Very Good Gospel, was named “Book of the Year” by the Englewood Review of Books. After her leadership at Sojourners magazine, she founded Freedom Road, where she is the host of its podcast and column on Substack. The Huffington Post named her one of 50 Women Religious Leaders to Celebrate on International Women’s Day. (See: ) When I asked her about these days of social injustice, white supremacy and permanent warmaking under Trump, she spoke of crying every die. “I actually have hope but I'm grieving like the rest of the country,” she said. “I cry because of the Church's silence during the Obama era and back to the 70s/80s during the rise of the religious right. People didn't know what was right, just and Jesus's way…Evil is embedded in the Constitution and in the 3/4 compromise. I grieve for our inaction in the past. It didn't have to be this way, but in every generation, there is a remnant. There has always been a witness of the actual Jesus way of being in the world." "Right now, that witness is alive and well.” She told three stories: Her time in Ferguson in August, 2014 after Michael Brown was killed by a white policeman; Her time in Charlottesville, VA, when she was present in the protest against Trump’s neo-Nazis who killed Heather Heyer; Our experience when we were arrested and in the D.C. Central Cell block jail after protesting at the Supreme Court on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. death penalty. She shares about her organization, Freedom Road, which trains people of faith to take public action for justice, as well as her recent best-selling books and why she wrote them. “Nonviolence is the only way for people who are not on the upside of empire to fight back,” she concludes. "Nonviolence is the only way to not be at war with God.” Listen in and be inspired by this peacemaker to carry on! Lisa Sharon Harper Follow Lisa on Substack www.freedomroad.us beatitudescenter.org Follow me on Substack 🌻, John

S2 · E78

Jun 29, 2026

41:22

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