The Nonviolent Jesus
Was Jesus nonviolent?🎙️ This Monday weekly podcast features thought-provoking, inspiring conversations with some of the greatest visionary leaders in peace and nonviolence in modern history like Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, Gandhi), Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy) , Cornel West (Race Matters), Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking) , Sr. Joan Chittister, John Fugelsang (Separation of Church and Hate), Rev. Richard Rohr (The Universal Christ), Shane Claiborne (Red Letter Christians), and many, many more!Join Fr. John Dear—priest, author, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee—on The Nonviolent Jesus, a weekly 30-minute podcast that dares to reclaim the radical, active nonviolence of Jesus. Rooted in...
#96. John Dear with Melissa Parke, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Exec. Dir. of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: "Action is the antidote to a sense of helplessness."
This week I speak with Melisssa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
Melissa Parke is the former Minister for International Development for Australia, where she’s from, and was a member of the Australian Parliament from 2007 to 2016.
Prior to being elected to Parliament, she worked as an international lawyer with the United Nations in Kosovo, Gaza, New York and Lebanon from 1999 to 2007.
“ICAN, the Int’l Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons was started in Melbourne by a group of friends who sa...
#95. John Dear on the life and witness of Dorothy Day: "Our manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount."
On today’s episode I reflect on the life and witness of Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker.
Last month, at the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence international conference in Rome, I suggested in my speech that it’s time we all took up Dorothy Day’s example and committed ourselves full time to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. J
ust after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, as the U.S. entered World War II, she published a bold headline saying, “Our Manifesto Is the Sermon on the Mount!” Thousands left her movement ove...
#94. John Dear with Cyprian Consiglio, Sec. General of Monastic Interfaith Dialogue in Rome: "The world really depends on dialogue between the world religions."
“Catholicism has something vital to learn from other religious traditions,” says Cyprian Consiglio, Sec. Gen. of Monastic Interfaith Dialogue
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, a well-known composer and musician, the former prior of the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, Cal., and now the Sec. General of Monastic Interfaith Dialogue in Rome, a movement within the Benedictine and Cistercian orders that promotes interfaith dialogue between monastic communities of different religions.
He is the author of several books including Prayer In the Cave o...
#93. With Wamuyu Wachira, President of Pax Christi International from Nairobi, Kenya: "If someone cuts my finger, I want them to see nonviolence flow out of it."
Today I speak with Wamuyu Wachira from Nairobi, Kenya, Pres. of Pax Christi International
Sr. Wamũyũ, president of Pax Christi International, the official global Catholic peace movement, is a scholar, educator and peace practitioner with a PhD in Peace Studies. She serves as Senior Lecturer and Program leader in Peace and Conflict Studies at St. Paul University in Nairobi.
“Nonviolence is a way of love, compassion, mercy and peace,” she says. “Pax Christi has 120 member organizations worldwide and has been promoting peace, justice and human rights for 81 years."
"We believe peace is possible...
#92 With former Ohio congressman and peacemaker Dennis Kucinich: "Unless we stop licensing, funding and creating implements of war, we will not survive as a nation."
This week I speak with my friend Dennis Kucinich, former congressman from Ohio from 1997 to 2013 who has been an outspoken voice against war.
He was perhaps the leading voice against the US war on Iraq, which killed hundreds of thousands of people. He also called for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
I met Dennis about a month after 9/11, when New Jersey Peace Action decided to give us their annual peacemaker awards together. We were both told to meet on a Sunday morning at a country club in New Jersey...
#91. John Dear with theologian, author and editor Robert Jonas on Henri Nouwen: “Henri Nouwen wanted us to know that we are never alone, that we are infinitely loved, that we are God’s beloved.”
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Robert Jonas about the legendary spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, who died 30 years ago on September 26, 1996.
Henri and I corresponded regularly for many years, right up until his death. Much to my surprise, he offered steadfast support for my peacework, especially when I was in jail for my plowshares action, when he wrote me every week. I thought it would be wonderful to welcome one of his best friends, Robert Jonas, to speak about Henri’s life, teachings, and lessons.
Robert Jonas re...
#90: With Fr. Greg Boyle, founder and director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles: "If you hate ICE agents, I think your God's too puny."
This week I speak with my friend Fr. Greg Boyle, one of the most well known and beloved religious leaders in the world. A Jesuit priest, he has spent decades accompanying and working with young people and gang members in Los Angeles, and creating new alternatives with them.
Fr. Greg is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries and Homeboy Global Network with 300 organizations in the US and 50 outside the country.
It is the world's largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program, and former pastor of Dolores Mission Church, the poorest church in the...
#89. Special Episode with John Dear: Dedicated to all whose lives were altered that day: Life and Death at Ground Zero.
This episode is dedicated to the victims of September 11, 2001, and to the countless families whose lives were forever altered by that day.
As we reflect on a message of profound peace, healing, and the pursuit of a nonviolent world, we pause to honor the memory of those we lost. May their legacies inspire us to reach across divides, comfort those who mourn, and work tirelessly toward a future defined by compassion, reconciliation, and enduring peace.
This week, I’m offering two special episodes of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast” to commemorate 9/11.
Earlier, on Monday, I post...
#88. Part 1 of 2 special episodes on 9/11: This week with Colleen Kelly of Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who united to turn grief into action for peace.
This week The Nonviolent Jesus podcast brings 2 special episodes:
Today (part 1 of 2), I speak with my friend Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. A few years earlier, I had baptized Colleen’s daughter at a very happy family event.
On Thursday’s episode, (part 2 of 2), I’ll share my own stories as the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at Ground Zero. You can also read more stories about this period of my life in my book "A Persistent Peace".
On September 11th, Colleen's brothe...
#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...
#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...
#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 t...
#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...
#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 ja...
#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...
#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...
#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; an...
#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 u...
#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 t...
#77 John Dear in conversation with Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine: "The West Bank is a prison, Gaza is a concentration camp."
Today I speak with one of the great peacemakers of our time, my friend Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine.
Zoughbi is a lifelong Catholic Palestinian activist, organizer and teacher of Gospel nonviolence.
Long ago he founded the Wi’am Center, the Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center in the center of Bethlehem. Wi'am is widely recognized as a place of nonviolent conflict resolution that helps Palestinians in the day to day struggle for justice and peace (www.alaslah.org)
For the last few years, he has also served as the president of the In...
#76 John Dear with Mel Duncan, co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce about his work all over the world, more recently in Palestine and St. Paul, MN: "Organized nonviolence led to ICE leaving Minneapolis."
Dear friends,
This week I speak with one of the great peacemakers of our times, my friend Mel Duncan about unarmed civilian protectors and the Nonviolent Peaceforce that has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
Mel has been a leader in developing the practice of unarmed civilian protection for over two decades:
He started providing nonviolent protective presence along Nicaragua’s northern border in 1984 during the Contra war. In 2002 along with David Hartsough and Mary Lou Ott he co-founded Nonviolent Peaceforce nonviolentpeaceforce.org
Nonviolent Peaceforce’s “nonviolent civilian protectors” provide...
#75 John Dear in conversation with bestseller writer Joyce Rupp on her award winning book "The Years of Ripening": "The Serenity Prayer is the prayer of elderhood, not just for AA!"
This week I speak with the beloved spiritual writer Joyce Rupp.
An international retreat leader and conference speaker, Joyce is the author of three dozen bestselling books on compassion, grief, aging in midlife and in the later years, prayers and poems for every occasion, reflections on nature, and a memoir.
Among her bestsellers are Boundless Compassion; Return to the Root; Jesus Guide of My Life; Constant Hope; Dear Heart Come Home; Praying Our Goodbyes; Inviting God In; and Walk in a Relaxed Manner. Orbis Books also published Joyce Rupp: Essential Writings.
She is...
#74 Part 2 of 2: John Dear with authors John Dominic Crossan and Michael Okinczyc-Cruz on their new book "Jesus and Justice" and organizing work on the streets of Chicago: "We have a savage culture".
Today is Part 2 of my conversation with scripture scholar John Dominic Crossan along with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, about their new book, Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God’s Reign on Earth Then and Now.
Co-author Michael Okinczyc-Cruz is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership in Chicago where he is a community organizer. He is also a professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago.
“One cannot look at our current political moment and not think about Jesus,” Dom Crossan says. “
Jesus’ teaching h...
#73 Part 1 of 2: John Dear with scripture scholar John Dominic Crossan:"Has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and the world?"
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend author and theologian John Dominic Crossan, perhaps the most widely read scripture scholar in the world. This is the first of two episodes with Dom.
John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-born biblical scholar with post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a Catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature, and is professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul university...
#72 John Dear with Bishop Michael Curry, prophetic leader and best-selling author on the way of God and the way of life: "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!"
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with legendary Bishop Michael Curry who served as the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church. Elected in 2015, he retired in 2024.
Throughout his forty years of ordained ministry, Bishop Curry has been a prophetic leader, particularly in the areas of racial reconciliation, climate change, evangelism, immigration policy, and marriage equality.
Bishop Curry is the author of five books, including the best-seller, Love Is the Way, as well as, The Power of Love; Crazy Christians and Following the Way of Jesus.
He c...
#71 John Dear with professor and theologian Kate Common on the two of the Great Heresies, the nonviolent origins of the Hebrew community and her book "Undoing Conquest".
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Kate Common on the nonviolent origins of the Hebrew community as she describes in her new book, Undoing Conquest: Ancient Israel, the Bible, and the Future of Christianity (Orbis).
Dr. Kate Common is the Assistant Professor of Public and Practical Theology at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and the Theologian-in-Residence at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton, MA. (katecommon.com)
“In the battle of Jericho, in the book of Joshua, Israel’s army kills everyone-- men, women, children and livestock. Suddenly, human violen...
#70 With Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral on returning to Minneapolis this January: “There was a sense of resolve, horror, exhaustion, fear and defiance. I've never been part of anything like it.”
This week I speak with my friend Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral. She received global attention last year during the interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral when she called upon Trump to show “mercy” to people.
Here is that excerpt of her sermon:
"Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in o...
#69: On the 10th anniversary of the death of my friend and mentor Daniel Berrigan: May 9, 1921-April 30, 2016: "War has become the ultimate antiChrist."
In this episode I offer reflections on the life, witness and teachings of my friend and mentor, the legendary peacemaker and war resister Rev. Daniel Berrigan who died ten years ago this week on April 30, 2016, just before his 95th birthday. www.danielberrigan.org
This special episode begins and ends with my friend Dar Williams singing her great song “I Had No Right” about Dan, and features recordings of Dan reading three of his poems.
Dan was born in 1921, was a Jesuit priest, poet, author of 50 books, lecturer, and antiwar activist who was arrested over...
#68 With Prof. Melanie Harris of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies on Ecowomanism and Earth Honoring Faiths: "What does the Divine intend for all of humanity?"
On today’s episode I speak with Prof. Melanie Harris, Professor of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies jointly appointed with African American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
A graduate of the Harvard Leadership Program, Dr. Harris earned her PhD. and M.A. degrees from New York’s Union Theological Seminary, her M. Div. from Iliff School of Theology and a B.A. from Spelman College in Atlanta.
She is a former broadcast journalist who worked as a news producer for ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates and is the author of Gifts of Virt...
#67 With David Cortright, leading scholar on war, peace, and nonviolent resistance: "we have brought about historic change".
Today I speak with my friend Prof. David Cortright, author and a leading scholar on war, peace and nonviolent resistance.
He is the former executive director of SANE, the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy which under his leadership in the 1980s grew from 4,000 to 150,000 members and became the largest disarmament organization in the U.S. He also co-founded Win Without War in 2002. He is a visiting scholar at Cornell University’s Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and professor emeritus at Notre Dame.
David is the author, co-author or co-editor of 23 books, in...
#66 With Kerry Kennedy, author, lawyer, and human rights activist on her family, her faith, and her work with the Kennedy Human Rights Center: "We all have ways of making our country better."
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Center for Human Rights kennedyhumanrights.org.
A lifelong human rights activist and lawyer, she authored Being Catholic Now, as well as Speak Truth to Power, Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope, and the forthcoming Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy.
The 7th of Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s 11 children, Kerry has devoted more than 40 years to the pursuit of equal justice, and the promotion and protection of basic ri...
#65 John Dear with Jim Finley, author, clinical psychologist, former Trappist monk, and host on Richard Rohr's CAC podcast "Turning to the Mystics": "Jesus is God's complete surrender to us."
This week I speak with my friend Jim Finley, the beloved teacher of contemplation and mysticism.
When he was a teenager, Jim entered the Abbey of Gethsemani and was a novice and later a friend of Thomas Merton. Eventually, he left the monastery, became a clinical psychologist, and opened his practice in Los Angeles, where he still lives.
He wrote the first serious book about Merton’s spirituality, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere. Jim has taught and lectured on Merton, spirituality and mysticism for over 50 years, and these days is a faculty member of Fr. Rich...
#64 With writer and scholar Daniel Hunter, founder of Choose Democracy and widely read on wagingnonviolence.org: "The goal is for us to be intimidated and walk away".
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with writer and scholar of nonviolent resistance, Daniel Hunter. He coaches and trains movements across the globe; is a founder of ChooseDemocracy.us which organizes against authoritarianism; and is currently the director of Freedom Trainers. freedomtrainers.net
His books include "What Will You Do If Trump Wins,” "Climate Resistance Handbook" and "Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow." His essays about resistance to growing fascism are widely read on wagingnonviolence.org
“How can you help stop authoritarianism?” he asks. “You stop viewing them a...
#63 With Jonathan Kuttab of Palestine, co-founder of Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International: “Most Christian Palestinians are nonviolent peacemakers, and have been since the 1st century,”
Today I speak with Jonathan Kuttab on Palestine. He is the executive director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel North America, the best Christian solidarity group working with Palestinians for peace.
Jonathan is also co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and...
#62 Amy Brooks Paradise, minister and Greenfaith organizer: " We are made for times like this, this is exactly what people in faith are for!"
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise of Greenfaith.org, a global, multifaith, grassroots network working to protect creation and resist environmental destruction around the world.
She previously served as the Education Director for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network in Charlotte, NC and also as the Pastor for the UU Fellowship of Lake Norman in NC. She lives outside Charlotte with her partner and daughter.
“We work with people around the world who are most impacted by climate change,” Amy says. “We encourage people to ge...
#61 Part 2 of 2: John Dear on "Universal Love, Surrendering to the God of Peace": "You want me to get rid of my guns?"
On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I offer part 2 of my reflection on my new book, Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace.
If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, it will be helpful to listen to last week's podcast first. There I tell how the book came about, and why I wrote it.
I conclude the first episode with the story of my visit with Archbishop Tutu in Cape Town, South Africa, where he confided with me his thoughts on free will as the basis of understanding God and our wo...
#60 Part 1 of 2: John Dear on his newest book "Universal Love, Surrendering to the God of Peace": "We have more power as ordinary people than we realize".
This week I reflect on my new book, Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace. This is Part 1 of 2 episodes.
In this first episode, I tell how the book came about. When the pandemic began, I joined the local gym and the young person who taught the class, whom I call Will, asked me to be his guru, so I started teaching him meditation. He called God, “Universal Love” and one day, Universal Love came to him in prayer and called him to be “an extension of Universal Love.”
Sections in the first part of the b...
#59 With retired US Army Colonel and peace activist Ann Wright: "Make sure you write your Congress before breakfast every day!"
This week my guest is my friend 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...
#58 With activist, theologian and scripture scholar Ched Myers on "Sabbath Economics" and "Resisting Plutocracy": "Concentrated wealth underlies every form of violence."
This week I speak 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 great 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.bcmo...
#57 With Emily Yellin on her new posthumous memoir of Civil Rights leader Jim Lawson: "Nonviolent: My Life of Resistance, Agitation and Love"
This week I speak with writer Emily Yellin, co-author of the new, posthumous memoir by the late Civil Rights leader Rev. James Lawson called Nonviolent: My Life of Resistance, Agitation and Love, which comes out on Feb. 17th from Random House.
Emily is a longtime writer for The New York Times. Jim Lawson was my friend for 34 years. I first met him in jail during a protest in 1990 and he later hired me to be director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Dr. King called Jim Lawson “the greatest theoretician and strategist of nonviolence in...
