Pope Francis’ 2017 World Day of Peace Message: The Church’s First Ever Statement on Nonviolence
Today, Pope Francis released the annual World Day of Peace Message for January 1, 2017, called “Nonviolence-A Style of Politics for Peace.” This is the Vatican’s fiftieth World Day of Peace message, but it’s the first statement on nonviolence, in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-in history. We need to...
Read MorePaul Farmer: the Saint with the Stethoscope
by Rev. John Dear (Celebrated Doctor and Founder of Partners In Health, which was 20,000 doctors and healthcare workers serving in the poorest countries of the world and has saved millions and millions of lives, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Feb. 21, 2022 in Rwanda, at the university and hospital he founded. He was...
Read MoreOffer No Violent Resistance to One Who Does Evil: Jesus’ Commandment of Nonviolence
Not long ago, the legendary theologian Walter Wink and his wife June invited me to lunch with friends in Santa Fe. It was a blessing to enjoy their company, but I’m still nervous around my old friend Walter. I consider him one of Christian history’s greatest scripture scholars because of his ground-breaking analysis of the...
Read MoreNonviolence Is Power: A Conversation with Rev. James Lawson
(I first met my friend Civil Rights leader Rev. James Lawson in the L.A. Jail in January, 1990 after protesting US military aid to El Salvador. In 1998, he hired me to be the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Over the years we have spoken at many events together, including on “Democracy Now.” This...
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National Catholic Reporter Review of ‘The Gospel of Peace’ by Art Laffin, Jan. 2024
Born from a four-decades long commitment to prayer, Eucharist, careful study of Scripture, Jesus, Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Gospel-based action and writing and speaking about Gospel nonviolence, The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence is the culmination of the lifework of...
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