What do you think?
Rate this book
Modern Spiritual Masters
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings
Daniel Berrigan is a Jesuit priest, poet, and peacemaker, whose words and actions over the past 50 years have offered a powerful witness to the God of Life. Fr. Berrigan, along with his brother Philip, was one of the Catonsville 9, arrested and imprisoned in 1968 for destroying draft files in a protest against the Vietnam War. But this was only one step along a journey of faith. Through this selection from his many books, journals, poems, and homilies, a chronicle of Fr. Berrigans life and work unfolds, from the early steps in his vocation, to his decision to cross the line and go to prison, his ongoing witness for peace, and his extraordinary commentaries on scripture and the life of radical discipleship.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
13 people are currently reading
317 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/
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 12, 2022
A collection of poems, letters, and published writings of one of the great movement Christians. Who he is comes through so clearly in his writing- and the world he longs for and is working for. A felon who evaded the FBI for years, who built solidarity with Vietnamese people in the midst of the war, a pastor at heart. His writing so clearly exhibits his intimate knowledge of and relentless pursuit of God, and he sets the high stakes of what it should mean to claim oneself as a Christian these days.
November 3, 2011
This book, introduced and edited by John Dear who was mentored by Berrigan, is a wealth of materials of Berrigan’s talks and writings through the years as well as some of his poetry.
I am not a big fan of the poetry, although that probably says more about me than about Berrigan's skill as a poet, but I continue to be challenged by Berrigan's narration of his thoughts about peacemaking, thoughts tied in with his extensive non-violent, civil disobedience through the years.
Here are just a few of the statements I liked:
“The nonviolent person is the one who within normal times can save normal times from their idolatries—neglect of the poor, growing bourgeois selfishness, weapons or war, and the other realities around us” (p. 64).
In 1970 Berrigan wrote, “Americans who can bear equably with the sight of burning children are enraged and baffled by the sight of burning draft files” (p. 112). Also, “There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war—at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake” (p. 113).
In his court testimony in March 1981, Berrigan said, “I have learned that we must not kill if we are Christians. . . . I have read that Christ our Lord underwent death rather than inflict it. And I am supposed to be a disciple” (p. 189). Later: “The only message I have to the world is: We are not allowed to kill innocent people. We are not allowed to be complicit in murder. We are not allowed to be silent while preparations for mass murder proceed in our name, without money, secretly” (p. 192).
"The first nonviolent revolution was, of course, the Resurrection. The event had to include death as its first act. And also the command to Peter, 'Put up your sword." So that it might be clear, once and for all, that Christians suffer death rather than inflict it" (p. 276).
"The 'just war theory' is in fact a cruel oxymoron. War, no matter its provocation or justification, is of its essence and nature, supremely unjust. The injustice of war implies a blasphemous inflation of human authority, that humans are allowed to decree who shall live and who shall die, to dispose of human differences by disposing of humans. We are done with that theory forever" (p. 278).
I am not a big fan of the poetry, although that probably says more about me than about Berrigan's skill as a poet, but I continue to be challenged by Berrigan's narration of his thoughts about peacemaking, thoughts tied in with his extensive non-violent, civil disobedience through the years.
Here are just a few of the statements I liked:
“The nonviolent person is the one who within normal times can save normal times from their idolatries—neglect of the poor, growing bourgeois selfishness, weapons or war, and the other realities around us” (p. 64).
In 1970 Berrigan wrote, “Americans who can bear equably with the sight of burning children are enraged and baffled by the sight of burning draft files” (p. 112). Also, “There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war—at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake” (p. 113).
In his court testimony in March 1981, Berrigan said, “I have learned that we must not kill if we are Christians. . . . I have read that Christ our Lord underwent death rather than inflict it. And I am supposed to be a disciple” (p. 189). Later: “The only message I have to the world is: We are not allowed to kill innocent people. We are not allowed to be complicit in murder. We are not allowed to be silent while preparations for mass murder proceed in our name, without money, secretly” (p. 192).
"The first nonviolent revolution was, of course, the Resurrection. The event had to include death as its first act. And also the command to Peter, 'Put up your sword." So that it might be clear, once and for all, that Christians suffer death rather than inflict it" (p. 276).
"The 'just war theory' is in fact a cruel oxymoron. War, no matter its provocation or justification, is of its essence and nature, supremely unjust. The injustice of war implies a blasphemous inflation of human authority, that humans are allowed to decree who shall live and who shall die, to dispose of human differences by disposing of humans. We are done with that theory forever" (p. 278).
July 21, 2021
"Dear friends, I would not have any child born into this world, into this nation, into this church, in order to bear arms, in order to belong to the stratagems of death, in order to obey the Pentagon, in order to raven the poor in distant lands, to die there, to kill there, in any sense, in any case, to perish there. Neither would I have any parent approve of such disposition of the lives of others. Nor would I have the churches support it, nor clerics remain silent before it, nor congregations argue on its behalf. Nor would I have such a tearing apart of the right order of things as condemns the poor here and throughout the world to lives of utter degradation and hopelessness while we stand idly by, our ill-gotten goods turned to weapons turned against others. And all this despite our Gospel and the stern claim of Christ upon us, in life and in death."
This quote will give you an idea of who Daniel Berrigan was if you don't remember him. Sadly, he was an outlier in his day and continues to be one in ours.
This is not always easy reading; no anthology can be. But, there are moments that make the trudge wholly worthwhile.
I'll start with the best. If you read only one portion of this book, read, "We Could Not Not Do This" (pp 187 - 192 in my copy). I choose this because it is both clear and moving.
Another such moment is the homily Daniel Berrigan offered at the funeral Mass for Roger LaPorte, a young Catholic Worker who immolated himself in front of the United Nations to protest the Vietnam War.
In 2021, there is considerable dissatisfaction with the American Catholic bishops. Daniel Berrigan expresses a similar dissatisfaction in 1967 in the Church after the Baltimore four.
"The Price of Peace" is another excellent piece. Be sure to read it.
"The Pentecostal Fire of Catonsville" is equally thought provoking.
Quotes:
"We must admit that a rather large percentage of what we are doing could disappear without any real damage to humankind."
"But the church had become a holy morgue, the dead were preaching morality to the dead."
"And as for myself, I would as soon be under the heel of former masters as under the heel of new ones."
"I can almost sense the prayer and thoughts of others streaming in my direction tonight. I turn prayer gently around, for the children, the wounded, the dying, the bombed. The silence comes down like a gift, a benediction. Happy half century, Daniel. Would that all priests were as fortunate tonight as you."
The book finishes on a high note:
"Zen Poem," by Daniel Berrigan
How I long for supernatural powers!
said the novice mournfully to the holy one.
I see a dead child
and I long to say, Arise!
I see a sick man
I long to say, Be healed!
I see a bent old woman
I long to say, Walk straight!
Alas, I feel like a dead stick in paradise.
Master, can you confer on me
supernatural powers?
The old man shook his head fretfully
How long have I been with you
and you know nothing?
How long have you known me
and learned nothing?
Listen; I have walked the earth for 80 years
I have never raised a dead child
I have never healed a sick man
I have never straightened an old woman's spine
Children die
men grow sick
the aged fall
under a stigma of frost
And what is that to you or me
but the turn of the wheel
but the way of the world
but the gateway to paradise?
Supernatural powers!
Then you would play God
would spin the thread of life and measure the thread
5 years, 50 years, 80 years
and cut the thread?
Supernatural powers!
I have wandered the earth for 80 years
I confess to you,
sprout without root
root without flower
I know nothing of supernatural powers
I have yet to perfect my natural powers!
to see and not be seduced
to hear and not be deafened
to taste and not be eaten
to touch and not be bought
But you-
would you walk on water
would you master the air
would you swallow fire?
Go talk with the dolphins
they will teach you glibly
how to grow gills
Go listen to eagles
they will hatch you, nest you
eaglet and airman
Go join the circus
those tricksters will train you
in deception for dimes-
Bird man, bag man, poor fish
spouting fire, moon crawling
at sea forever-
supernatural powers!
Do you seek miracles?
listen- go
draw water, hew wood
break stones-
how miraculous!
Listen; blessed is the one
who walks the earth 5 year, 50 years, 80 years
and deceives no one
and curses no one
and kills no one
On such a one
the angels whisper in wonder,
behold the irresistible power
of natural powers-
of height, of joy, of soul, of non belittling!
You dry stick-
in the crude soil of this world
spring, root, leaf, flower!
trace
around and around
and around-
an inch, a mile, the world's green extent,-
a liberated zone
of paradise!
This quote will give you an idea of who Daniel Berrigan was if you don't remember him. Sadly, he was an outlier in his day and continues to be one in ours.
This is not always easy reading; no anthology can be. But, there are moments that make the trudge wholly worthwhile.
I'll start with the best. If you read only one portion of this book, read, "We Could Not Not Do This" (pp 187 - 192 in my copy). I choose this because it is both clear and moving.
Another such moment is the homily Daniel Berrigan offered at the funeral Mass for Roger LaPorte, a young Catholic Worker who immolated himself in front of the United Nations to protest the Vietnam War.
In 2021, there is considerable dissatisfaction with the American Catholic bishops. Daniel Berrigan expresses a similar dissatisfaction in 1967 in the Church after the Baltimore four.
"The Price of Peace" is another excellent piece. Be sure to read it.
"The Pentecostal Fire of Catonsville" is equally thought provoking.
Quotes:
"We must admit that a rather large percentage of what we are doing could disappear without any real damage to humankind."
"But the church had become a holy morgue, the dead were preaching morality to the dead."
"And as for myself, I would as soon be under the heel of former masters as under the heel of new ones."
"I can almost sense the prayer and thoughts of others streaming in my direction tonight. I turn prayer gently around, for the children, the wounded, the dying, the bombed. The silence comes down like a gift, a benediction. Happy half century, Daniel. Would that all priests were as fortunate tonight as you."
The book finishes on a high note:
"Zen Poem," by Daniel Berrigan
How I long for supernatural powers!
said the novice mournfully to the holy one.
I see a dead child
and I long to say, Arise!
I see a sick man
I long to say, Be healed!
I see a bent old woman
I long to say, Walk straight!
Alas, I feel like a dead stick in paradise.
Master, can you confer on me
supernatural powers?
The old man shook his head fretfully
How long have I been with you
and you know nothing?
How long have you known me
and learned nothing?
Listen; I have walked the earth for 80 years
I have never raised a dead child
I have never healed a sick man
I have never straightened an old woman's spine
Children die
men grow sick
the aged fall
under a stigma of frost
And what is that to you or me
but the turn of the wheel
but the way of the world
but the gateway to paradise?
Supernatural powers!
Then you would play God
would spin the thread of life and measure the thread
5 years, 50 years, 80 years
and cut the thread?
Supernatural powers!
I have wandered the earth for 80 years
I confess to you,
sprout without root
root without flower
I know nothing of supernatural powers
I have yet to perfect my natural powers!
to see and not be seduced
to hear and not be deafened
to taste and not be eaten
to touch and not be bought
But you-
would you walk on water
would you master the air
would you swallow fire?
Go talk with the dolphins
they will teach you glibly
how to grow gills
Go listen to eagles
they will hatch you, nest you
eaglet and airman
Go join the circus
those tricksters will train you
in deception for dimes-
Bird man, bag man, poor fish
spouting fire, moon crawling
at sea forever-
supernatural powers!
Do you seek miracles?
listen- go
draw water, hew wood
break stones-
how miraculous!
Listen; blessed is the one
who walks the earth 5 year, 50 years, 80 years
and deceives no one
and curses no one
and kills no one
On such a one
the angels whisper in wonder,
behold the irresistible power
of natural powers-
of height, of joy, of soul, of non belittling!
You dry stick-
in the crude soil of this world
spring, root, leaf, flower!
trace
around and around
and around-
an inch, a mile, the world's green extent,-
a liberated zone
of paradise!
March 10, 2014
My oh my!
This is what you get when you get a person who has lived out the gospel of peace in full allegiance to the slaughtered lamb compiling writings from one who has done the same. Absolutely incredible book worth revisiting again and again. The constant appeal to practice resurrection needs to be on the forefront of our minds in a culture of death.
Here are some quotes for you:
On Trial with the Catonsville Nine:
Defense: Could you state to the court what your intent was in burning the draft files?
Daniel Berrigan: I did not want the children or the grandchildren of the jury or the judge to be burned with napalm.
Judge: You say your intention was to save these children, of the jury, of myself, when you burned the records? That is what I heard you say. I ask if you meant that.
Daniel Berrigan: I meant that or I would not say it. The great sinfulness of modern war is that it renders concrete things abstract. I do not want to talk about Americans in general.
Judge: You cannot think up arguments now that you would like to have had in your mind then.
Daniel Berrigan: My intention on that day was to save innocent from death by fire. I was trying to save the poor who are mainly charged with dying in this war. I poured napalm on behalf of the prosecutor's and the jury's children. It seems to me quite logical. If my way of putting the facts is inadmissible then so be it, but I was trying to be concrete about the existence of God who is not an abstraction but is someone before me for whom I am responsible.
Defense: Was your action at Catonsville a way of carrying out your religious beliefs?
Daniel Berrigan: Of course it was. May I say if my religious belief is not accepted as a substantial part of my action, then the action is eviscerated of all meaning and I should be committed for insanity.
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 125-127
___________________________
"We are deeply respectful of a law that is in favor of human life. And as we know, at least some of our laws are. We are very respectful of those laws. We want you to know that. Years and years we spent writing letters, trying to talk to authorities, vigilant in public places, holding candles at night, holding placards by day, trying, trying, fasting, trying to clarify things to ourselves as we were trying to speak to others; all of that within the law, years of it.
And then I had to say, I could not not break the law and remain human. That was what was in jeopardy: what I call my conscience, my humanity, that which is recognizable to children, to friends, to good people, when we say, “There is someone I can trust and love, someone who will not betray.”
We spent years within the law, trying to be that kind of person, a non-betrayer. Then we found we couldn’t. And if we kept forever on this side of the line, we would die within ourselves. We couldn’t look in the mirror, couldn’t face those we love, and no Christian message in the world, nothing to say if we went on that way. I might just as well wander off and go the way of a low-grade American case of despair: getting used to the way things are. This is what I mean by dying. That is what we have to oppose.”
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 191
___________________________
"I wish I hadn’t had to do it. And that has been true every time I have been arrested, all those years. My stomach turns over. I feel sick. I feel afraid. I don’t want to go through this again. I hate jail. I don’t do well there physically. But I cannot not go on, because I have learned that we must not kill if we are Christians. I have learned that children, above all, are threatened by these weapons. I have read that Christ our Lord underwent death rather than inflict it. And I am supposed to be a disciple. All kinds of things like that. The push, the push of conscience is a terrible thing.
So at some point your cowardly bones get moving, and you say, “Here it goes again,” and you do it. And you have a certain peace because you did it, as I do this morning in speaking with you. One remains honest because on has a sense, “Well, if I cheat, I’m really giving over my humanity, my conscience.” Then we think of these horrible Mark 12A missiles, and something in us says, “We cannot live with such crimes.” Or our consciences turn in another direction. And by a thousand pressures, a thousand silences, people begin to say to themselves, “We can live with that. We know it’s there. We know what it is for. We know many thousands will die if only one of these exploded.”
We believe, according to the law, and the law of the state of Pennsylvania, that we were justified in saying, “We cannot live with that,” justified in saying it publicly, saying git dramatically, saying it with blood and hammers, as you have hard; because that weapon, the hundreds and hundreds more being produced in our country, are the greatest evil conceivable on this earth. There is no evil to compare with that. Multiply murder. Multiply desolation. The mind boggles. We we went into the death factory, and in a modest, self-contained, careful way, we put a few dents in two missiles, awaited arrest, and came willingly into court to talk to you. We believe with all our hearts that our actions as justified.”
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 189-190
___________________________
"Our 'no,' uttered in face of imperial violence, takes the form of a non-answer. Our appeal, more often than not wordless, like the silent Christ before Pilate, is precisely to Christ Crucified. Which is to say, to God in trouble for being Godly. God under capital punishment. God sentenced to death, executed for being God, for being human. The crime: such acts, miracles, healings, stories, refusals, as serve to vindicate, honor, and celebrate human life.
In contrast, "Witness of the Resurrection" was a title of honor, self-conferred by the twelve [Acts 1:21-22]. The meaning of the phrase is simple. The apostles were called to take their stand on behalf of life, to the point of undergoing death, as well as death's analogies--scorn and rejection, floggings and jail.
This is our glory. From Peter and Paul to Martin King and Romero, Christians have known something which the 'nations' as such can never know or teach--how to live and how to die. We are witnesses of the resurrection. We practice resurrection. We risk resurrection."
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 279
___________________________
"My teachers, among others, have been Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Gandhi, Thomas Merton, and my brother Philip, a continuity of nonviolence and non-ideology, stemming from the early church and the prophets, from Jesus himself. My teachers are non-ideologues. They are attached to no self or special interest, including the self-interest commonly considered most legitimate of all, their own lives. Simply put, they know how to live and how to die. They draw on the great earth-time symbols that offer both 'mimesis' and 'praxis' --"the image" and "the movement."
"Your ancestors said, 'An eye for an eye,' but I say to you, offer no violent resistance to evil. Love your enemies." That is why we speak again and again of 1980 and all the Plowshares actions since, how some f us continue to labor to break the demonic clutch on our souls, of the ethic of Mars, of wars and rumor of wars, inevitable wars, just wars, necessary wars, victorious wars, and say our No in acts of hope. For us, all these repeated arrests, the interminable mailings, the life of our small communities, the discipline of nonviolence--these have embodied an ethic of resurrection.
Simply put, we long to taste that event, its thunders and quakes, its great Yes. We want to test the resurrection in our bones. To see if we might live in hope instead of in the silva oscura, the thicket of cultural despair, nuclear despair, a world of perpetual war. We want to taste the resurrection.
May I say we have not been disappointed."
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 280-281
This is what you get when you get a person who has lived out the gospel of peace in full allegiance to the slaughtered lamb compiling writings from one who has done the same. Absolutely incredible book worth revisiting again and again. The constant appeal to practice resurrection needs to be on the forefront of our minds in a culture of death.
Here are some quotes for you:
On Trial with the Catonsville Nine:
Defense: Could you state to the court what your intent was in burning the draft files?
Daniel Berrigan: I did not want the children or the grandchildren of the jury or the judge to be burned with napalm.
Judge: You say your intention was to save these children, of the jury, of myself, when you burned the records? That is what I heard you say. I ask if you meant that.
Daniel Berrigan: I meant that or I would not say it. The great sinfulness of modern war is that it renders concrete things abstract. I do not want to talk about Americans in general.
Judge: You cannot think up arguments now that you would like to have had in your mind then.
Daniel Berrigan: My intention on that day was to save innocent from death by fire. I was trying to save the poor who are mainly charged with dying in this war. I poured napalm on behalf of the prosecutor's and the jury's children. It seems to me quite logical. If my way of putting the facts is inadmissible then so be it, but I was trying to be concrete about the existence of God who is not an abstraction but is someone before me for whom I am responsible.
Defense: Was your action at Catonsville a way of carrying out your religious beliefs?
Daniel Berrigan: Of course it was. May I say if my religious belief is not accepted as a substantial part of my action, then the action is eviscerated of all meaning and I should be committed for insanity.
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 125-127
___________________________
"We are deeply respectful of a law that is in favor of human life. And as we know, at least some of our laws are. We are very respectful of those laws. We want you to know that. Years and years we spent writing letters, trying to talk to authorities, vigilant in public places, holding candles at night, holding placards by day, trying, trying, fasting, trying to clarify things to ourselves as we were trying to speak to others; all of that within the law, years of it.
And then I had to say, I could not not break the law and remain human. That was what was in jeopardy: what I call my conscience, my humanity, that which is recognizable to children, to friends, to good people, when we say, “There is someone I can trust and love, someone who will not betray.”
We spent years within the law, trying to be that kind of person, a non-betrayer. Then we found we couldn’t. And if we kept forever on this side of the line, we would die within ourselves. We couldn’t look in the mirror, couldn’t face those we love, and no Christian message in the world, nothing to say if we went on that way. I might just as well wander off and go the way of a low-grade American case of despair: getting used to the way things are. This is what I mean by dying. That is what we have to oppose.”
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 191
___________________________
"I wish I hadn’t had to do it. And that has been true every time I have been arrested, all those years. My stomach turns over. I feel sick. I feel afraid. I don’t want to go through this again. I hate jail. I don’t do well there physically. But I cannot not go on, because I have learned that we must not kill if we are Christians. I have learned that children, above all, are threatened by these weapons. I have read that Christ our Lord underwent death rather than inflict it. And I am supposed to be a disciple. All kinds of things like that. The push, the push of conscience is a terrible thing.
So at some point your cowardly bones get moving, and you say, “Here it goes again,” and you do it. And you have a certain peace because you did it, as I do this morning in speaking with you. One remains honest because on has a sense, “Well, if I cheat, I’m really giving over my humanity, my conscience.” Then we think of these horrible Mark 12A missiles, and something in us says, “We cannot live with such crimes.” Or our consciences turn in another direction. And by a thousand pressures, a thousand silences, people begin to say to themselves, “We can live with that. We know it’s there. We know what it is for. We know many thousands will die if only one of these exploded.”
We believe, according to the law, and the law of the state of Pennsylvania, that we were justified in saying, “We cannot live with that,” justified in saying it publicly, saying git dramatically, saying it with blood and hammers, as you have hard; because that weapon, the hundreds and hundreds more being produced in our country, are the greatest evil conceivable on this earth. There is no evil to compare with that. Multiply murder. Multiply desolation. The mind boggles. We we went into the death factory, and in a modest, self-contained, careful way, we put a few dents in two missiles, awaited arrest, and came willingly into court to talk to you. We believe with all our hearts that our actions as justified.”
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 189-190
___________________________
"Our 'no,' uttered in face of imperial violence, takes the form of a non-answer. Our appeal, more often than not wordless, like the silent Christ before Pilate, is precisely to Christ Crucified. Which is to say, to God in trouble for being Godly. God under capital punishment. God sentenced to death, executed for being God, for being human. The crime: such acts, miracles, healings, stories, refusals, as serve to vindicate, honor, and celebrate human life.
In contrast, "Witness of the Resurrection" was a title of honor, self-conferred by the twelve [Acts 1:21-22]. The meaning of the phrase is simple. The apostles were called to take their stand on behalf of life, to the point of undergoing death, as well as death's analogies--scorn and rejection, floggings and jail.
This is our glory. From Peter and Paul to Martin King and Romero, Christians have known something which the 'nations' as such can never know or teach--how to live and how to die. We are witnesses of the resurrection. We practice resurrection. We risk resurrection."
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 279
___________________________
"My teachers, among others, have been Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Gandhi, Thomas Merton, and my brother Philip, a continuity of nonviolence and non-ideology, stemming from the early church and the prophets, from Jesus himself. My teachers are non-ideologues. They are attached to no self or special interest, including the self-interest commonly considered most legitimate of all, their own lives. Simply put, they know how to live and how to die. They draw on the great earth-time symbols that offer both 'mimesis' and 'praxis' --"the image" and "the movement."
"Your ancestors said, 'An eye for an eye,' but I say to you, offer no violent resistance to evil. Love your enemies." That is why we speak again and again of 1980 and all the Plowshares actions since, how some f us continue to labor to break the demonic clutch on our souls, of the ethic of Mars, of wars and rumor of wars, inevitable wars, just wars, necessary wars, victorious wars, and say our No in acts of hope. For us, all these repeated arrests, the interminable mailings, the life of our small communities, the discipline of nonviolence--these have embodied an ethic of resurrection.
Simply put, we long to taste that event, its thunders and quakes, its great Yes. We want to test the resurrection in our bones. To see if we might live in hope instead of in the silva oscura, the thicket of cultural despair, nuclear despair, a world of perpetual war. We want to taste the resurrection.
May I say we have not been disappointed."
Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings Selected by John Dear, Pg. 280-281
June 8, 2016
First Daniel Berrigan, then Muhammad Ali -- two heroic individuals whose lives truly mattered. Within several months of each other we've lost two of the most soulful Americans in public life, both never hesitating to stand up for what they believed in. Not coincidentally, they both went to jail for not towing the line when it came to the Vietnam War. Ali, to be sure, is far more well known; if you've never heard of or read anything by Berrigan, start here.
August 5, 2010
This really is essential reading--a wonderful distillation of Dan Berrigan's thought and witness throughout his long, prophetic life. I used the readings as daily spiritual reading, meditating on each selection as it inspired me. Wonderful stuff, all!
March 1, 2011
I'm not crazy about a lot of Berrigan's poetry. His writing is sometimes stiff and stilted. But his passionate commitment to peace and justice underlie his every word and make this a great introduction to his thought and work.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews