The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast:

What does it mean to practice ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ in a world often ruled by violence?

The Beatitudes aren’t just ancient sayings—they’re a bold, countercultural call to action. In this episode, we’ll explore how nonviolence isn’t just the absence of conflict—it’s the presence of love in action and creative activism.

We can create real change, stand up to injustice, and find the courage to choose peace every single day. Tog...

This week’s guest is actor and activist Martin Sheen, one of our most celebrated, award-winning actors from movies such as “Apocalypse Now,” “Gandhi,” “Selma,” “The American President,” “Gettysburg,” “The Way,” “Badlands,” and many more, and the star of the TV series, “The West Wing,” where he played President Bartlett.

Martin is perhaps the most committed activist celebrity, who has been speaking out against war, injustice, homele...

This week’s guest is Dr. Bernard Lafayette, one of the great heroes and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement who was also Dr. Martin Luther King’s assistant.

He is an activist and organizer who was part of the Nashville student movement with Rev. Jim Lawson, John Lewis and Diane Nash; one of the Freedom Riders; played a leading role in the Selma voting rights movement; and then served as Dr. King’s assistant until his death.

He wor...

Our guest this week is Sister Helen Prejean, a spiritual powerhouse and one of the world's leading voices against the death penalty. Sister Helen’s journey into activism began in the shadows of death row, and her relentless pursuit of justice has captured hearts around the globe. Sister Helen is a Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille, and is one of the most well-known Catholic leaders in the modern era.

You may know her as the author o...

🔥 Spiritual seekers, this is an episode you won’t want to miss! 🔥

This week on The Nonviolent Jesus, we welcome Fr. Richard Rohr, one of the most influential spiritual voices of our time. A beloved Franciscan priest, best-selling author, and prophetic teacher, Fr. Richard has guided millions—including Oprah, Bono, and even Pope Francis—toward a deeper, more transformative faith.

As the founder of the Center for Action and Contempla...

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast

🎙️ Episode #6: Fr. John Dear on “The Nonviolence of Jesus: 10 Essentials”

📅 Drops Feb. 10, 2025

What if Jesus wasn’t just a teacher of love, but a radical, nonviolent activist challenging empire, oppression, and injustice? What if his message wasn’t about passive faith but fearless resistance rooted in love?

In this episode, Fr. John Dear breaks down 10 essential lessons on the nonviolence of Jesus—a mess...

🎙 Episode #7: Fr. John Dear & Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes” (Part 1 of 3)

📆 Drops Feb. 17, 2025

What if the Beatitudes weren’t just comforting words, but a blueprint for a way of life? What if Jesus wasn’t just offering hope, but a call to action in a world of injustice, violence, and oppression?

In this powerful first episode of a three-part series, Fr. John Dear sits down with the legendary Sr. Joan Chittis...

Episode #8: "It's so easy!" Fr. John Dear with Sr. Joan Chittister on “Jesus and the Beatitudes” (Part 2 of 3)

📆 Drops Monday, Feb. 24, 2025

❓What if living the Beatitudes wasn’t just about faith—but about transforming the world?

In this second powerful conversation, Fr. John Dear and the fearless Sr. Joan Chittister dive into the next three Beatitudes, showing how they call us to radical compassion, unshakable justice, and undivided...

#9: ✨"How to be a human being" ✨: Sr. Joan Chittister with Fr. John Dear on “Jesus and the Beatitudes” (Part 3 of 3)

❓What does it really mean to be a peacemaker? To fight for justice? To get into “good trouble” for the sake of love? "How do we form a happy, holy world"?

In this powerful final conversation, Fr. John Dear and the unstoppable Sr. Joan Chittister explore the last Beatitudes—where Jesus calls us:

💠 Blessed are the peac...

🙏 Episode #10 – "Nonviolence is the only way forward" with Marie Dennis

❓What if the Church fully embraced the radical nonviolence of Jesus? Can the Church lead a nonviolent revolution?

This week on The Nonviolent Jesus, Fr. John Dear sits down with longtime peace activist and Catholic Nonviolence Initiative leader Marie Dennis to talk about shaking up the Vatican, challenging the outdated just war theory, and reclaiming the heart...

Episode #11 – "Decide how you want to show up: this is your one and only life!" with best-selling author, theologian and activist Brian McLaren

In a time of rising Christian nationalism, oligarchy, and fascism, here at home under the Trump administration, the Republican party and FOX news, as well as around the world, what does it mean to follow the nonviolent Jesus? Brian warns us: "we are going to have to keep our eyes and ears o...

Episode #12 – "Our love doesn't stop at our own borders" with author, activist and founder of Red Letter Christians, Shane Claiborne

This week, Fr. John Dear has a dynamic conversation with Shane Claiborne in about public organizing, bold resistance, and living out the Gospel where it matters most—on the streets, in communities, and on the frontlines of change; how we need to respond to the worsening violence, racism, war making, gr...

Episode #13 – "Jesus is a nonviolent general leading a peace revolution:" How to Build a Nonviolent Movement Today with Fr. John Dear

Jesus wasn’t just a teacher—he was a movement builder, a grassroots organizer, and a radical leader of nonviolent resistance. This week on The Non-Violent Jesus, John Dear unpacks Luke 10, where Jesus sends out 72 disciples in pairs—not to conquer, but to disarm, disrupt, and dismantle empire through...

🎙Bryan Stevenson: "If I am successful at all, it is because I got close to a condemned man and heard his song."

This week on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with the legendary lawyer, founder and executive director of Equal Justice Initiative, professor of law at New York University law school, and author of the best-selling book, JUST MERCY, which was made into a great movie of the same name starring Michael B. J...

#15: "Contrary to what a lot of people see or think, there is more protest and resistance to Trump than you see or read in the mainstream media" with Eric Stoner, co-founder and editor of WagingNonviolence.org

On Feb 28 up to 4oM people participated in the economic blackout boycott, making it one of the most successful acts of non-compliance in U.S. history.

John Dear speaks with Eric Stoner, founding editor of WagingNonviolence.or...

#16 "We are experiencing the thrashing of empire and death throes of capitalism", says Dorothy Day's granddaughter Martha Hennessy in this week's conversation with Fr. John Dear. Dorothy Day was an activist, author, anarchist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement.

Martha Hennessy, also a longtime peace activist, lives on her family farm in Vermont and volunteers part time for the last fifteen years at Maryhouse Catholic W...

#17, “Start a revolution! Shake things up! The world is deaf. You have to open its ears.” Fr. John Dear on Pope Francis—The Most Radical Pope in History.

Fr. John shares his own outreach to Pope Francis and the Vatican on nonviolence; reflects on the great themes of Pope Francis; and in particular, reviews Francis’ extraordinary efforts at peacemaking and how he started to turn the church back to its roots in Gospel nonviolence. I...