They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change
By John Dear
176 Pages / Orbis Books / Feb. 2018
These are signed copies by John Dear

This is a remarkable testimony summing up a remarkable life: nonviolence is our greatest tool, and here you see it wielded with kindness, firmness, and skill.”–Bill McKibben

In the Beatitudes, Jesus says of the meek, “they will inherit the earth.” Meekness, John Dear argues, is the biblical word for nonviolence. He makes the connection Jesus makes at the start of his Sermon on the Mount between our practice of nonviolence and our unity with creation: our rejection of nonviolence is inevitably linked to the catastrophic effects of climate change and environmental ruin.

Drawing on personal stories of his life in the desert of New Mexico, his time as a chaplain at Yosemite, his friendship with indigenous and environmental leaders, his experience at the Standing Rock protests, as well as his work with the Vatican on a new stance on nonviolence, John Dear invites us to return to nonviolence as a way of life and a living solidarity with Mother Earth and her creatures.

REVIEW

“John Dear is an extraordinarily lucid writer on peace and nonviolence. If we are to save this world from destruction, we need to wake up and start building peace and nonviolence.” –Arun Gandhi, author, activist, and lecturer on Gandhian nonviolence

“In these heartfelt essays, John Dear navigates our most challenging environmental issues with simple decency, purposeful compassion and an unswerving commitment to justice.” –Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club

“With his message and his lived example, John Dear demonstrates how we can maintain our humanity as we grapple with the greatest crisis facing our civilization.” –Tim DeChristopher, climate activist, co-founder of peacefuluprising.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dear is a priest, activist, and lecturer, who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of peace. His many books include Thomas Merton, Peacemaker (2015) and Lazarus, Come Forth! (2011), both from Orbis. He was nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the Nobel Peace Prize. John works with Pace e Bene and Campaign Nonviolence