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.

February 16th. #59, John Dear speaks with activist Ann Wright

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks peace activist Ann Wright. She is a retired US Army Colonel who worked in the military for 29 years, 13 on active duty and 16 in the Army Reserves, as well as a retired US state department official. In March 2003, when the US started massively bombing Iraq, she was one of three state department officials to publicly resign in protest of the US war on Iraq. Since then, she has become a full-time activist working to end war, often working with organizations such as Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, International Peace Bureau, and World Beyond War.

She travels full time to places of conflict around the world, such as Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Palestine, and Cuba, to see firsthand the effects of US warmaking. She also speaks out and writes about the need to resist war and pursue peace. She has been a coordinator with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla for 16 years and was jailed in Israeli prisons twice for being on Gaza flotillas. Visit: www.voicesofconscience.com

They discuss her public resignation over the US war on Iraq, and her work for peace in Afghanistan and Palestine as well as the abolition of nuclear weapons.

“I just could not be a part of what I knew was going to be a horrific death for so many people in Iraq,” she tells John about her resignation. “Never underestimate the power of trying to get people together to do something that will galvanize the rest of our community and the country. It’s our own conscience we have to watch out for. We have to be able to say: ‘I’ve done what I could to try to stop the violence in our world.’ Be consistent and keep moving!” Listen in and be inspired! God bless everyone!—Fr. John

Upcoming Podcasts

Feb. 23rd. #60. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 1
March 2nd. #61. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 2
March 9th. #62. John Dear in conversation with Amy Brooks Paradise
March 16th. #63. John Dear in conversation with Jonathan Kattub
March 23rd. #64. John Dear in conversation with Daniel Hunter
March 30th. #65. John Dear in conversation with Kerry Kennedy
April. 6th. #66. John Dear in conversation with David Cortright
April 13th. #67. John Dear in conversation with Jim Finley

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.

February 9th. #58, John Dear speaks with Ched Myers on his new book on the Gospel of Luke

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Ched Myers, one of the world’s greatest scripture scholars, about his new book on the Gospel of Luke, called Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy: Luke’s Jesus and Sabbath Economics.

Many of us consider Ched’s commentary on Mark, Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus (Orbis Books, 1988), the greatest book on scripture ever written. An activist and a theologian, Ched and his partner Elaine Enns are ecumenical Mennonites based in southern California where they lead Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries (visit www.bcmonline.org). He begins our conversation by sharing his journey to radical Christianity through the Catholic Worker movement and our mentor Daniel Berrigan, and then we turn to Luke.

In his new book, Ched explores Luke from the perspective of “Sabbath economics,” the biblical practice of resisting economic disparity and the idolatry of wealth, greed, and war. We discuss Jesus’ first sermon in the Nazareth synagogue where he proclaims the Jubilee Year (Lk. 4), the parable of Lazarus the rich man and the poor beggar who dies and goes to heaven (Lk. 16), and Luke’s resurrection story on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24)

“The biggest single, core, root issue of violence is economic disparity–the cruel gulf between the have-too-muches- and the have-not-enoughs. Concentrated wealth underlies every form of violence and is ruining our planet. If we Christians are going to follow the Way, we need to dive into the scripture about Sabbath economics.” Listen to Ched Myers and be inspired! God bless you!

Upcoming Podcasts

Feb. 16th. #59. John Dear in conversation with Ann Wright on war and peace
Feb. 23rd. #60. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 1
March 2nd. #61. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 2
March 9th. #62. John Dear in conversation with Amy Brooks Paradise on climate change
March 16th. #63. John Dear in conversation with Jonathan Kuttab on Palestine