Today is Part 2 of my conversation with scripture scholar John Dominic Crossan along with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, about their new book, Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God’s Reign on Earth Then and Now.

Co-author Michael Okinczyc-Cruz is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership in Chicago where he is a community organizer. He is also a professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago.

“One cannot look at our current political moment and not think about Jesus,” Dom Crossan says. “

Jesus’ teaching had to do with the lived realities of the oppressed people of his time. Jesus did faith-based community organizing and his nonviolent movement has ongoing relevance for today,” he says.

Their new book, Jesus and Justice, reflects on Jesus as a grassroots movement organizer of nonviolent resistance, and combines Dom’s scholarship with Michael’s organizing work on the streets of Chicago.

“In Chicago,” he says,“you could encounter Border Patrol and ICE agents roaming the streets, arresting people based on the color of their skin. Conditions were so horrific in detention, one local judge described it as a concentration camp. We organized thousands of people to protest these conditions, and our grassroots movement has made some progress. The distinctive nature of our work is nonviolence in all our actions and our words. This is how we follow Jesus.”

“This path of nonviolence is the only path to an approximation of God's reign,” Dom concludes.

“What's happening in our country is a revelation of who we are. We have a savage culture. We need people of good faith to be engaged, organize nonviolently and take risks and action to pursue and live out God's reign in our hearts and here on earth.”

beatitudescenter.org

Welcome to my Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend author and theologian John Dominic Crossan, perhaps the most widely read scripture scholar in the world. This is the first of two episodes with Dom.

John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-born biblical scholar with post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a Catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature, and is professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul university in Chicago.

His many books include:

*God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome;

*How to read the Bible and Still Be a Christian;

*Resurrecting Easter;

*Excavating Jesus; The Birth of Christianity;

*Who Killed Jesus?

* The Historical Jesus

*The Essential Jesus

Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography

A Memoir: A Long Way from Tipperary.

In our conversation, he tells his fascinating journey to “the historical Jesus,” and how this became a global movement.

“I can't not think of Jesus while living in this country and what's happening today,” he says.

“What is hopeful now for the first time is that we are asking the right question: the historical Jesus is not just for Christians. The story isn’t just Jesus against Rome; it’s about God's creation against our civilization which is based entirely on violence.”

At 92, after a lifetime of writing about the historical Jesus, he wonders about the fate of humanity. “Are we a sustainable species?” he asks. “That's the question. Or has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and our world?”

Part Two will discuss his next book with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God’s Reign on Earth Then and Now.

For more interactive Zoom teachings and podcast episodes: beatitudescentrum.org

Follow along @FatherJohnDear on Substack

🌻, John

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with legendary Bishop Michael Curry who served as the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church. Elected in 2015, he retired in 2024.

Throughout his forty years of ordained ministry, Bishop Curry has been a prophetic leader, particularly in the areas of racial reconciliation, climate change, evangelism, immigration policy, and marriage equality.

Bishop Curry is the author of five books, including the best-seller, Love Is the Way, as well as, The Power of Love; Crazy Christians and Following the Way of Jesus.

He captured the world’s attention when he preached at Harry and Megan’s wedding at Westminster Abbey and called the whole world to love.

“A Christianity that doesn't take the way of Jesus, his way of radical unconditional love, his way of nonviolent living,” he says, “always goes wrong. Sacrificial love is the way of God and the way of life!

As Duke Ellington said, ‘It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!’”

Bishop Curry talks about Jesus as an organizer, and what he asks us to do when we join the movement of God, and what that movement means. His enthusiasm is infectious and his words run deep.

When I asked for his parting words of encouragement, he said this is “a long distance walk, so we need each other, we need community.”

Then he sang the old spiritual: “Walk together children, and don't you get weary; there's a great camp meeting in the Promised Land!”

If you need encouragement, inspiration, and want to "hold on to hope in troubled times", you want to listen to this episode with Bishop Michael Curry today (and it's worth a repeat).

For more information on the work we do, and to sign up for our newsletter and interactive Zoom conversations go to beatitudescenter.org

Come join me on Substack @fatherjohndear.substack.com

Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus!

🌻, John