Welcome to the Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus!
February 2nd, 2026
Episode #57, John Dear speaks with Emily Yellin on Rev. Jim Lawson’s Memoir, “Nonviolent”
On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks 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 John’s friend for 34 years. They met in jail during a protest in 1990 and he later hired John to be director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
“One of the things that stunned me about Rev Lawson,” Emily tells John, “was his consistency with nonviolence that came from a deep conviction to love. Jim Lawson was the best example of how to live a life that leads with love and does no harm. One of his core teachings was, ‘We can’t imitate the evil ways of our oppressors.’ Nonviolence is the way to build a more loving and just world, he taught.” Listen in and be inspired! God bless you!Next week…
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Ched Myers! For more information, visit here.
February 9th, 2026
Episode #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.
Next week…
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Ann Wright! For more information, visit here.
Upcoming Zoom Programs:
Rev. Charlie McCarthy, “The Nonviolent Jesus Is, Before Abraham or the World Was”
Saturday February 14, 2026
11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
Ched Myers on his new book, “Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy: Luke’s Jesus and Sabbath Economics”
Saturday March 7, 2026
11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
Sr. Helen Prejean, in conversation with John Dear, on the Holy Week Journey of the Nonviolent Jesus
Saturday March 28, 2026
11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace”
Saturday April 18, 2026
11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
John Dear’s new book now available
“The Gospel of Peace:
Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke
from the Perspective of Nonviolence”
To invite John Dear to speak in your city, write to: john@beatitudescenter.org
John Dear’s new book available February 17th, 2026
Universal Love:
Surrendering to the God of Peace
By John Dear
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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
February 6, 2026
Dear friends, Christ’s blessings of peace to you!
On the next episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” Monday February 9th, 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.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)