Welcome to the Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus!
Upcoming Zoom Programs:
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
John Dear’s new book now available
“The Gospel of Peace:
Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke
from the Perspective of Nonviolence”
Call Orbis Books at 1-800-258-5838 and give them the special code: “JDT”
To invite John Dear to speak in your city, write to: john@beatitudescenter.org
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE BEATITUDES CENTER
Quote for the Day:
“The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the
adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the God of peace as the waters cover the sea.”
(Isaiah 11:6–9)
Quote for the Day:
“I am called in the Word of God — as is everyone else — to the vocation of being human, nothing more and nothing less … To be a Christian
means to be called to be an exemplary human being. And to be a Christian categorically does not mean being religious. Indeed, all religious versions of the gospel are profanities. In the face of death, live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst Babel, speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God. Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, define the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word. And more than that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death’s works and wiles, rebuke lies,
cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed,
raise those who are dead in mind and conscience.”
–William Stringfellow
November 5, 2024
Dear friends Blessings of Christ’s Peace!
During the pandemic, as I was writing The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence, I saw that Jesus practiced, taught, and invited us to “universal love, universal compassion, and universal peace,” which means for me, and I submit Gandhi and Dr. King, “total nonviolence.” That became my mantra.
If I understand John Dominic Crossan who will speak to us this Saturday, November 9th about his new book, Paul the Pharisee: A Vision Beyond the Violence of Civilization, Paul’s cosmic vision of Christ announces “universal resurrection,” which means, universal forgiveness and universal mercy, but then something else: “universal responsibility.”
I’ve never thought about it that way. To me, this is exciting and hopeful, and gives us purpose and mission. In the nonviolent Christ, we are headed toward universal resurrection, forgiveness, and mercy—universal love, compassion, and peace—but that means, I think, that we start living and practicing that right now, that we undertake “universal responsibility” for one another, all humanity and creation, that we do our part to stop the violence, injustice, wars, and destruction and welcome God’s reign of nonviolent universal love in our midst.