On December 7, 1993, Fr. John Dear, S.J. was arrested in North Carolina for hammering on a nuclear F-15 fighter in an effort to "beat swords into plowshares", according to the biblical vision of the prophet Isaiah. A member of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Dear's commitment to radical non-violence has taken him to war zones and prisons. He has been arrested over fifty times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience for peace. Author of many books on peace, Fr. John Dear is both a scholar and activist for peace. Drawing on his experiences of working for peace around the world, he will argue that non-violence is the heart and soul of Christian discipleship.
Fr. John Dear, S.J.
Appointed Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1998, Fr. John Dear, S.J., is the first Catholic priest to head the 85-year-old interfaith peace organization. He is the author of more than a dozen books on peace including Peace Behind Bars: A Journal from Jail; The God of Peace; Disarming the Heart and The Sacrament of Civil Disobedience. His most recent books are The Sound of Listening as well as edited collections of the writings of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Henri Nouwen, and Daniel Berrigan. He has worked with the victims of violence in Central America, the Philippines, and the United States. He has also worked with Mother Teresa and Sr. Helen Prejean to stop the death penalty.