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.
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear reflects on the Gospel of John, chapter 11, the story of the raising of Lazarus, based on his book, Lazarus Come Forth! In this podcast, he offers a dramatic socio-political re-reading of the story.
John Dear proposes that the author of John’s Gospel rewrote the story of Jesus 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 commands 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!
He’ll review 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; and 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!” and “Unbind humanity and let him go free.” John will conclude that this is the climactic call of John’s Gospel, and our mission today: to take away the stone that keeps humanity stuck in empire, war, poverty, racism, injustice, fascism, greed, MAGA, nuclear weapons, and the culture of death; to call humanity forth out of the culture of death, and to unbind one another to live free in the new life of love and peace. Listen in and see what you think. God bless you!
- July 20. #81, John Dear with Catherine Meeks
- July 13. #80, John Dear with Fr. Ron Rolheiser
- July 6. #79, John Dear with Wes Howard-Brook
- June 29. #78, John Dear with Lisa Sharon Harper
- June 22. #77, John Dear with Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine
- June 15. #76, John Dear with Mel Duncan
- June 8. #75, John Dear with Joyce Rupp
- June 1. #74, John Dear with John Dominic Crossan and Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, Part 2 of 2
- May 25th. #73, John Dear with John Dominic Crossan, Part 1 of 2
- May 18th. #72, John Dear with Bishop Michael Curry
- May 11th. #71, John Dear with Prof. Kate Common
- May 4th. #70, John Dear with Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral
- April 27th. #69, John Dear’s Reflections on Daniel Berrigan for the 10th Anniversary of His Death
- April 20th. #68, John Dear speaks with Prof. Melanie Harris on “Ecowomanism”
- April 13th. #67 John Dear speaks with Prof. David Cortright on war and peace
- April 6th. #66 John Dear speaks with human rights activist Kerry Kennedy
- March 30th. #65 with Jim Finley on God and the mystics
- March 23rd. #64 with Daniel Hunter on resistance
- March 16th. #63 with Jonathan Kuttab of FOSNA.org
- March 9th. #62, with Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise of Greenfaith.org
- March 2nd. #61, Part 2 of John Dear on his new book “Universal Love”
- February 23rd. #60, John Dear on his new book “Universal Love,” Part 1 of 2
- February 16th. #59, John Dear speaks with activist Ann Wright
- February 9th. #58, John Dear speaks with Ched Myers on his new book on the Gospel of Luke
- February 2nd. #57, John Dear speaks with Emily Yellin on Rev. Jim Lawson’s Memoir, “Nonviolent”
- January 26th. #56, John Dear with actor/activist Mike Farrell
- January 19th. #55, John Dear with Rev. Andrew Young
- January 12th. #54, John Dear with Charlene Howard, Director of Pax Christi USA
- January 5th, 2026. #53, Robert Ellsberg on the Saints!
- December 29th. #52, A Special Year End One Hour Episode of Highlights of the Nonviolent Jesus Podcast from 2025!
- December 22nd. #51, John Dear on the Epiphany Journey to the Nonviolent Jesus—and Civil Disobedience to the Tyrant!
- December 15th. #50, John Dear on Mary’s Advent Journey of Nonviolence
- December 8th. #49, John Dear with activist Mike Martin on beating guns into garden tools!
- December 1st. #48, John Dear with Rep. Jamie Raskin
- November 24th. #47, John Dear with filmmaker and author Gerry Straub, on his journey from Hollywood to Haiti
- November 17th. #46, John Dear with justice activist Wes Granberg-Michaelson
- November 10th. #45, John Dear Talks With Anti-Nuclear Leader Dr. Ivana Hughes
- November 3rd. #44, John Dear Talks Nonviolence with the Legendary Joan Baez
- October 27th. #43, Part 2 of John Dear’s conversation with Sr. Simone Campbell
- October 20th. #42, John Dear with Sr. Simone Campbell
- October 13th. #41, John Dear with Paul Chappell
- October 6th. #40, John Dear on “The Nonviolent Jesus and the Things That Make For Peace”
- September 29th. #39, John Dear with John Fugelsang
- September 22nd. #38, John Dear with Archbishop John Wester
- September 15th. #37, John Dear the Life and Lessons of Gandhi
- September 8th. #36, John Dear with Stanley Hauerwas
- September 1st. #35, John Dear with Rivera Sun
- August 25th. #34, John Dear with Ken Butigan
- August 18th. #33, John Dear with Brad Wolf
- August 11th. #32, Terry Rynne on Jesus the Peacemaker
- August 4th. #31, John Dear on “Love Your Enemies”
- July 28th. #30, Michele Dunne on following St. Francis and Jesus on the path of Gospel nonviolence
- July 21st. #29, Rev. Charles McCarthy on nonviolence and Christlike love
- July 14th. #28, Art Laffin on the Catholic Worker, Plowshares, and the command to love
- July 7th. #27, Cornel West on the collapse of the US empire, and the need to love our way through the darkness and cruelty
- June 30th. #26, Kathy Kelly, on Fasting for an End to the US-backed Israeli Genocide in Gaza
- June 23rd. #25, Michael Nagler on Nonviolence as the destiny of the human race
- June 16th. #24 Frida Berrigan on Remembering Hiroshima 80 Years Ago and Resisting Nuclear Weapons
- June 9th. #23. Matthew Fox on Resisting Evil & A Spirituality of Falling in Love with Life
- June 2nd. #22, Fr. John Dear on Mt. 5:39—the Most Revolutionary–and Most Disobeyed–Teaching in the Gospels
- May 26th. #21, John Dear Talks with Bishop John Stowe, head of Pax Christi, the Catholic peace movement
- May 19th. #20, Fr. John Dear Talks with Maria Stephan on Global Movements for Change
- May 12th. #19, John Dear with Bill McKibben
- May 5th. #18, John Dear with Kazu Haga, author of the new book, Fierce Vulnerability, on trauma healing and creative nonviolence
- April 28th. #17, John Dear on “Francis—the Most Radical Pope in History”
- April 21st. #16, John Dear with Martha Hennessy, longtime peace activist, member of Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York City, granddaughter of Dorothy Day
- April 14th. #15, Eric Stoner of WagingNonviolence.org On the Growing Resistance to Trump’s Policies
- April 7th. #14 John Dear with Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder and director of Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Mar. 31st. #13 John Dear on Jesus’ Grassroots Campaign of Nonviolence, a Model for our Time
- Mar. 24th. #12 Fr. John Dear with Shane Caliborne
- Mar. 17th. #11 Fr. John Dear with Brian McLaren
- Mar. 10th. #10, John Dear with Marie Dennis
- Mar. 3rd. #9 Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes,” Part 3 of 3
- Feb. 24th. #8 Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes,” Part 2 of 3
- Feb. 17th. #7 Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes,” Part 1 of 3
- Feb. 10th. #6, Fr. John Dear on “The Nonviolence of Jesus: 10 Essentials”
- Feb. 3rd. #5 John Dear with Fr. Richard Rohr about his new book on the prophets, “The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an age of outrage.”
- Jan. 27th. #4 The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast with Sr Helen Prejean
- Jan. 20th. #3 John Dear with Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Dr. King’s personal assistant
- Jan. 13th. #2 John Dear with actor and activist Martin Sheen
- Jan. 6th, 2025. #1 John Dear on “Living the Beatitudes”
Upcoming Podcasts
- August 3. #83. John Dear with Jack Cohen-Joppa on nuclear weapons
- August 10. #84. John Dear on Franz Jagerstatter
- August 17. #85. John Dear with David Beckmann on the abolition of poverty
- August 24. #86. John Dear with Tim Shriver on the special olympics
- August 31. #87. John Dear with Todd Walatka on St. Oscar Romero
- September 7. #88. John Dear with Greg Boyle on gangs
- September 14. #89. John Dear on Dorothy Day
- September 21. #90. John Dear with Robert Jonas on the 30th anniversary of Henri Nouwen’s death
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.
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Dr. Catherine Meeks, a nationally recognized leader in racial healing and founder of the Turquoise & Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing. (See: www.turquoiseandlavender.com) 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 and be inspired! God bless everyone.
- July 13. #80, John Dear with Fr. Ron Rolheiser
- July 6. #79, John Dear with Wes Howard-Brook
- June 29. #78, John Dear with Lisa Sharon Harper
- June 22. #77, John Dear with Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine
- June 15. #76, John Dear with Mel Duncan
- June 8. #75, John Dear with Joyce Rupp
- June 1. #74, John Dear with John Dominic Crossan and Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, Part 2 of 2
- May 25th. #73, John Dear with John Dominic Crossan, Part 1 of 2
- May 18th. #72, John Dear with Bishop Michael Curry
- May 11th. #71, John Dear with Prof. Kate Common
- May 4th. #70, John Dear with Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral
- April 27th. #69, John Dear’s Reflections on Daniel Berrigan for the 10th Anniversary of His Death
- April 20th. #68, John Dear speaks with Prof. Melanie Harris on “Ecowomanism”
- April 13th. #67 John Dear speaks with Prof. David Cortright on war and peace
- April 6th. #66 John Dear speaks with human rights activist Kerry Kennedy
- March 30th. #65 with Jim Finley on God and the mystics
- March 23rd. #64 with Daniel Hunter on resistance
- March 16th. #63 with Jonathan Kuttab of FOSNA.org
- March 9th. #62, with Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise of Greenfaith.org
- March 2nd. #61, Part 2 of John Dear on his new book “Universal Love”
- February 23rd. #60, John Dear on his new book “Universal Love,” Part 1 of 2
- February 16th. #59, John Dear speaks with activist Ann Wright
- February 9th. #58, John Dear speaks with Ched Myers on his new book on the Gospel of Luke
- February 2nd. #57, John Dear speaks with Emily Yellin on Rev. Jim Lawson’s Memoir, “Nonviolent”
- January 26th. #56, John Dear with actor/activist Mike Farrell
- January 19th. #55, John Dear with Rev. Andrew Young
- January 12th. #54, John Dear with Charlene Howard, Director of Pax Christi USA
- January 5th, 2026. #53, Robert Ellsberg on the Saints!
- December 29th. #52, A Special Year End One Hour Episode of Highlights of the Nonviolent Jesus Podcast from 2025!
- December 22nd. #51, John Dear on the Epiphany Journey to the Nonviolent Jesus—and Civil Disobedience to the Tyrant!
- December 15th. #50, John Dear on Mary’s Advent Journey of Nonviolence
- December 8th. #49, John Dear with activist Mike Martin on beating guns into garden tools!
- December 1st. #48, John Dear with Rep. Jamie Raskin
- November 24th. #47, John Dear with filmmaker and author Gerry Straub, on his journey from Hollywood to Haiti
- November 17th. #46, John Dear with justice activist Wes Granberg-Michaelson
- November 10th. #45, John Dear Talks With Anti-Nuclear Leader Dr. Ivana Hughes
- November 3rd. #44, John Dear Talks Nonviolence with the Legendary Joan Baez
- October 27th. #43, Part 2 of John Dear’s conversation with Sr. Simone Campbell
- October 20th. #42, John Dear with Sr. Simone Campbell
- October 13th. #41, John Dear with Paul Chappell
- October 6th. #40, John Dear on “The Nonviolent Jesus and the Things That Make For Peace”
- September 29th. #39, John Dear with John Fugelsang
- September 22nd. #38, John Dear with Archbishop John Wester
- September 15th. #37, John Dear the Life and Lessons of Gandhi
- September 8th. #36, John Dear with Stanley Hauerwas
- September 1st. #35, John Dear with Rivera Sun
- August 25th. #34, John Dear with Ken Butigan
- August 18th. #33, John Dear with Brad Wolf
- August 11th. #32, Terry Rynne on Jesus the Peacemaker
- August 4th. #31, John Dear on “Love Your Enemies”
- July 28th. #30, Michele Dunne on following St. Francis and Jesus on the path of Gospel nonviolence
- July 21st. #29, Rev. Charles McCarthy on nonviolence and Christlike love
- July 14th. #28, Art Laffin on the Catholic Worker, Plowshares, and the command to love
- July 7th. #27, Cornel West on the collapse of the US empire, and the need to love our way through the darkness and cruelty
- June 30th. #26, Kathy Kelly, on Fasting for an End to the US-backed Israeli Genocide in Gaza
- June 23rd. #25, Michael Nagler on Nonviolence as the destiny of the human race
- June 16th. #24 Frida Berrigan on Remembering Hiroshima 80 Years Ago and Resisting Nuclear Weapons
- June 9th. #23. Matthew Fox on Resisting Evil & A Spirituality of Falling in Love with Life
- June 2nd. #22, Fr. John Dear on Mt. 5:39—the Most Revolutionary–and Most Disobeyed–Teaching in the Gospels
- May 26th. #21, John Dear Talks with Bishop John Stowe, head of Pax Christi, the Catholic peace movement
- May 19th. #20, Fr. John Dear Talks with Maria Stephan on Global Movements for Change
- May 12th. #19, John Dear with Bill McKibben
- May 5th. #18, John Dear with Kazu Haga, author of the new book, Fierce Vulnerability, on trauma healing and creative nonviolence
- April 28th. #17, John Dear on “Francis—the Most Radical Pope in History”
- April 21st. #16, John Dear with Martha Hennessy, longtime peace activist, member of Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York City, granddaughter of Dorothy Day
- April 14th. #15, Eric Stoner of WagingNonviolence.org On the Growing Resistance to Trump’s Policies
- April 7th. #14 John Dear with Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder and director of Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Mar. 31st. #13 John Dear on Jesus’ Grassroots Campaign of Nonviolence, a Model for our Time
- Mar. 24th. #12 Fr. John Dear with Shane Caliborne
- Mar. 17th. #11 Fr. John Dear with Brian McLaren
- Mar. 10th. #10, John Dear with Marie Dennis
- Mar. 3rd. #9 Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes,” Part 3 of 3
- Feb. 24th. #8 Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes,” Part 2 of 3
- Feb. 17th. #7 Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes,” Part 1 of 3
- Feb. 10th. #6, Fr. John Dear on “The Nonviolence of Jesus: 10 Essentials”
- Feb. 3rd. #5 John Dear with Fr. Richard Rohr about his new book on the prophets, “The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an age of outrage.”
- Jan. 27th. #4 The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast with Sr Helen Prejean
- Jan. 20th. #3 John Dear with Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Dr. King’s personal assistant
- Jan. 13th. #2 John Dear with actor and activist Martin Sheen
- Jan. 6th, 2025. #1 John Dear on “Living the Beatitudes”
Upcoming Podcasts
- July 27. #82. John Dear on the Raising of Lazarus
- August 3. #83. John Dear with Jack Cohen-Joppa
- August 10. #84. John Dear on Franz Jagerstatter
- August 17. #85. John Dear with David Beckmann
- August 24. #86. John Dear with Todd Walatka
- August 31. #87. John Dear with Tim Shriver
- September 7. #88. John Dear with Fr. Greg Boyle
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast is available on these other platforms too!
(In the Opinion Section - Guest Voices)
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The Beatitudes Center
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John Dear’s 15 previous “Peace Podcast,” recorded 2020-2021.
Click a link below to open the podcast in a new window.
The Life And Teachings Of Daniel Berrigan
The Beatitudes of Peace and Nonviolence
The Nonviolent Sermon on the Mount
Jesus’ Campaign of Nonviolence
The Raising of Lazarus as Nonviolent Revolution
Walking With the Nonviolent Risen Jesus
Mary and the Advent Journey of Peace and Nonviolence
Gandhi’s Lessons on Nonviolence
Dr. King’s Teachings on Nonviolence
The Nonviolent Life of Dorothy Day
The Nonviolent Life of Franz Jagerstatter
Thomas Merton’s Teachings of Nonviolence
The Psalms of Peace and Nonviolence
75 Years After Hiroshima, My Stories of Nonviolent Resistance (August, 2020)