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The Beatitudes of Peace: Meditations on the Beatitudes, Peacemaking and the Spiritual Life
With a foreword by Nobel Winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire The Beatitudes are the hope and prayer and vision of Jesus...the blueprint for Christian discipleship, the job description of every Christian, says John Dear. These stirring meditations are more than mere reflections. They are a call to action, a summons to take up the Beatitudes as a daily handbook for life, written by an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. Set against vivid descriptions of peace efforts in places like Afghanistan; Israel; and Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dear combines scriptural wisdom with practical advice from peacemakers like Gandhi (who regularly read the Beatitudes), Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and many more. In each chapter, Dear affirms that the God of peace is alive and at work among us, calling his sons and daughters into the fullness of a life of true, lasting peace.
- GenresSpirituality
176 pages, Paperback
Published June 20, 2016
31 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
John Dear
56 books30 followersFather John Dear (The Society of Jesus) is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. A Jesuit priest, pastor, peacemaker, organizer, lecturer, and retreat leader, he is the author/editor of 30 books, including his autobiography, “A Persistent Peace.” In 2008, John was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
From 1998 until December 2000, he served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States.
After the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, John served as a Red Cross Chaplain, and became one of the coordinators of the chaplain program at the Family Assistance Center. He worked with some 1,500 family members who lost loved ones, as well as hundreds of firefighters and police officers, while at the same time, he spoke out against the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
From 2002-2004, he served as pastor of several parishes in northeastern New Mexico. He co-founded Pax Christi New Mexico and works on a nonviolent campaign to disarm Los Alamos. These days, he lectures to tens of thousands of people each year in churches and schools across the country and the world. He also writes a weekly column for the “National Catholic Reporter” at www.ncrcafe.org.
A longtime practitioner and teacher of nonviolence, John has written hundreds of articles and given thousands of talks on nonviolence. John has two masters degrees in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California.
* BIO EXCERPT FROM http://www.johndear.org/
From 1998 until December 2000, he served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States.
After the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, John served as a Red Cross Chaplain, and became one of the coordinators of the chaplain program at the Family Assistance Center. He worked with some 1,500 family members who lost loved ones, as well as hundreds of firefighters and police officers, while at the same time, he spoke out against the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
From 2002-2004, he served as pastor of several parishes in northeastern New Mexico. He co-founded Pax Christi New Mexico and works on a nonviolent campaign to disarm Los Alamos. These days, he lectures to tens of thousands of people each year in churches and schools across the country and the world. He also writes a weekly column for the “National Catholic Reporter” at www.ncrcafe.org.
A longtime practitioner and teacher of nonviolence, John has written hundreds of articles and given thousands of talks on nonviolence. John has two masters degrees in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California.
* BIO EXCERPT FROM http://www.johndear.org/
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 7, 2019
More than thoughtful
As Marine in Vietnam I was responsible for deaths. Now in my final years I look back at those actions and seek forgiveness or at least resolution. This book goes a long way to help me find that peace and resolution i have been seeking for 50 years
As Marine in Vietnam I was responsible for deaths. Now in my final years I look back at those actions and seek forgiveness or at least resolution. This book goes a long way to help me find that peace and resolution i have been seeking for 50 years
March 24, 2021
Wow! If you want a book that will challenge you past anything you've been challenged before, this book will do the trick!! Written in 2016, here's a right on time quote: “Jesus calls us to … “hate” money, give it away to the poor, simplify our lives, practice universal love and compassion, and focus our attention, time, and energy on the God of love and peace. Of course, this either/or teaching can be applied to all the consequences of the idolatry of money. Jesus could just as easily say: “You cannot serve both God and country. You cannot serve both God and war. You cannot serve both God and nuclear weapons. You cannot serve both the God of life and peace and the false gods of death and war. It’s one or the other.”
April 26, 2023
Wow, I throughly enjoyed reading this book. John Dear has walked the walk. He is a radical through and through, and he calls others to do the same. As a Christian to attributes his commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking to his faith.
While I was often uncomfortable with the intensity of his radical views, and disagreed with some of the liberties taken in his interpretation of certain scriptures, I nonetheless was deeply challenged by his teachings. As someone already committed to Christian nonviolence, I did not need convincing. However, this book stirred my faith and pointed out just how radical Christ’s call to nonviolence was in his sermon on the mount.
I found his centering of Gandhi an interesting one. While Gandhi certainly was a friend of christianity, he was not one himself. I wish he dedicated more time to Christian nonviolent activist. Regardless, I believe Gandhi’s teachings and life reflected Christ in its stance on nonviolence, and therefore did not mind his use of him as an example.
Overall I’d recommend this book to those already convinced of Christian nonviolence, but not those looking for theological arguments for the stance. If you are on the fence of the legitimacy of christian nonviolence as a teaching of scripture, i’d recommend first reading Dr. Preston Sprinkle’s book on the topic, “Nonviolence: the revolutionary way of Jesus”.
While I was often uncomfortable with the intensity of his radical views, and disagreed with some of the liberties taken in his interpretation of certain scriptures, I nonetheless was deeply challenged by his teachings. As someone already committed to Christian nonviolence, I did not need convincing. However, this book stirred my faith and pointed out just how radical Christ’s call to nonviolence was in his sermon on the mount.
I found his centering of Gandhi an interesting one. While Gandhi certainly was a friend of christianity, he was not one himself. I wish he dedicated more time to Christian nonviolent activist. Regardless, I believe Gandhi’s teachings and life reflected Christ in its stance on nonviolence, and therefore did not mind his use of him as an example.
Overall I’d recommend this book to those already convinced of Christian nonviolence, but not those looking for theological arguments for the stance. If you are on the fence of the legitimacy of christian nonviolence as a teaching of scripture, i’d recommend first reading Dr. Preston Sprinkle’s book on the topic, “Nonviolence: the revolutionary way of Jesus”.
October 7, 2017
A clearly written interpretation of the non-violent message of Jesus and of the Sermon on the Mount. A challenge to all of us. What side are we on? I love and hate this kind of stuff at the same time. I saw Daniel Berrigan speak a long time ago and he spoke of the difference between hope and optimism. Hope does not need optimism. Hope is in what is real. Optimism is in what is fleeting and impermanent. Dear writes about what lasts. He courageously takes and encourages us all to take the narrow road. Not easy. But worth the exploration. Read this book!
October 16, 2022
While impassioned and enlightening, John Dear is a bit repetitive in phrasing and content (perhaps more succinct editing would help?). I found his focus on peace and nonviolence engaging, but his overly repetitive usage of the examples of nuclear weapons, admitted US failures in the culture of war (what, the rest of the world isn't involved here, too?), and little to no mention of the culture of violence within our own country as part of the systemic injustice we live in made this a little bit of a "one trick pony" of a work.
April 7, 2020
Sooooo thought-provoking. And convicting. This book and the thoughts presented will be accompanying me a long time and will hopefully continue to help me in my work towards becoming a peacemaker.
The author tends to repeat himself and the last chapter sort of felt squished in there - a quick finishing off of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.
The author tends to repeat himself and the last chapter sort of felt squished in there - a quick finishing off of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.
April 17, 2018
One of the best modern applications of the Beatitudes I have read, especially in the day and age in which we find ourselves that seems so antithetical to the Beatitudes teaching.
August 16, 2022
Second time I’ve read this. I think I’ll try to read it every year. We need more peacemakers like John Dear.
July 25, 2024
Lofty goals. This book makes you think.
April 30, 2017
I agree wholeheartedly with the importance of a life of peace. I enjoyed the fresh perspective on the beatitudes. In fact, this book really changed my perspective on the importance of peacemaking in our world and in our personal and religious lives.
However, I think that Rev. Dear goes a bit to far in making world peace the central idea of the gospel. It's a very secular view I can't quite buy in to.
However, I think that Rev. Dear goes a bit to far in making world peace the central idea of the gospel. It's a very secular view I can't quite buy in to.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews