The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence

As a proponent and practitioner of peace and nonviolence, I find Fr. John Dear's superb book, The Gospel of Peace, to be essential to helping to turn people's closed hearts into opened hearts in embracing Jesus' constant message of peace and nonviolence. We see Matthew, Mark and Luke in a new refreshing light which can help to heal our broken humanity. This is a challenge is today's chaotic world, but it is an opportunity to elevate ourselves as a kinder human species whom God created in love.

An in depth look at the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the perspective of nonviolence. I think it’s worth a read for religious leaders to grapple with these lenses of Scripture interpretation. If what Fr John Dear proposes in his commentary is true to the heart of God, there are massive implications for us as individual Christians and a global Christian community. It is my prayer that those who grapple with this book will discover more of God’s heart and experience life transformation.

Father John Dear presents a unique perspective of nonviolent love at the heart of the Gospels, so desperately needed in our world that is convulsing from violence of every imaginable form. The author begins with the writings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King who put nonviolence into practice in the most difficult of circumstances, and invites us and challenges us to journey into the heart of Jesus' message of peacemaking in our world. This book is a masterpiece! - Frank C. Bognar

Fr. Dear unpacks the gospels from the perspective of non-violence. Compelling read--clear and accessible. Does a beautiful job of calling us to consider how this teaching can be reflected in our own lives.

There's nothing better than a pacifist who doesn't need to resort to violence because he can outsmart/out-think those who attempt to antagonize him. The Christ in this book is a perfect model for our contemporary world.

I was looking forward to reading this book, but its large size and format was a turn off to me -- I wouldn't have bought the book had I seen it in my hands first. It may be the greatest book on love and nonviolence ever written, but it's format was a deal breaker for me. I gave my copy to our local St. Vinnie's.

Especially needed at this time to combat Christian nationalism

I learned about this book at a meeting held at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) less than a month ago, in Harrisonburg VA. The friend who told me about it regards EMU as a beacon of peace and justice to the world, a light not to be covered by a basket. As he described the book, I remembered Jesus’ words - “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” Intrigued by the descriptions on the internet, which mentioned the connections to Gandhi and MLK, I immediately ordered the book from Orbis and received it a few days later. Gandhi was an avid follower of the Sermon on the Mount, which he regarded as a major inspiration, as he did the Bhagavad Gita. MLK was a follower of Jesus and a great admirer of Gandhi. Gandhi is often quoted as having said “I am a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Parsi, a Jew”. I often joke that Gandhi discovered that he was in a “quantum superposition” state of many faiths.Both Gandhi and MLK realized that nonviolence and love encompass people of all faiths and walks of life, and put their lives on the line to demonstrate practically the most radical application of these principles to the world around them, filled with injustice and violence. Getting to know about this book at EMU was an event that made a lot of sense, given the nonviolent and pacifist Mennonite traditions that inspired EMU. Fr. John Dear, along with many others that we learn about in the book, has followed in their footsteps and personally realized what an explosive combination nonviolence and love create; they are the source of life itself and have the potential to overcome violence and death. He has absorbed deeply the ideas and principles described by Gandhi and MLK not just through their writings but with their lives, as did Jesus and his disciples. In this book we have a chance to see how history has been shaped by nonviolence and love in ways that we would never have imagined possible, if we restrict ourselves to the perspectives and reference frames generated by materialistic capitalism and the languages of power and violence.It has been most refreshing to read what I can only describe as an outpouring of the heart combined with the rich experiences of a life lived over decades of activism and study. One realizes that nonviolence and love can only be brought into practice through a spine of steel – an uncompromising adherence to these principles, tempered with humor and joy. While there are very few people who will achieve what Gandhi, MLK and the others mentioned in this book did over the course of their lives, the relevant and important point is to start the transformation in our own lives, of creating reference frames based on love and nonviolence that we can live by and constantly refine, so that we align ourselves progressively with the values that nourish life in the world, not death. That transformation is a miracle, and who knows where it will take any one of us – perhaps even to realize that we peacemakers are beloved sons and daughters of God - isn’t that the whole idea behind what Jesus taught us in his sermon on the mount?