Disarming the Heart: Toward a Vow of Nonviolence [Paperback]

John Dear (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Herald Press (PA); Rev Sub edition (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836136527
• ISBN-13: 978-0836136524
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,515,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Dear, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, organizer, lecturer, and retreat leader. He is also the author/editor of twenty books on peace and nonviolence. John was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. John lives in northern New Mexico. Visit his Web site at www.persistentpeace.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Call To Conversion, October 5, 2000

By 

Ann G Vogan (Polk, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disarming the Heart: Toward a Vow of Nonviolence (Paperback)

In Disarming The Heart, John Dear takes the reader into the heart and soul of what it means to move our lives towards nonviolence.He movingly draws from personal experience, and from the lives of other peacemakers, about what it means to become nonviolent. The reader whether new to nonviolence, or wrestling with continued conversion of their own lives, will be drawn into these pages.John Dear has drafted a compelling work which reminds us that a nonviolent life is not acheived simply by professing a vow of nonviolence -- but by incorporating nonviolence into every aspect of our lives.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NECESSARY FOR EVERY SELF-PROCLAIMED CHRISTIAN TO READ AND TO VOW, October 24, 2006

By 

C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Disarming the Heart: Toward a Vow of Nonviolence (Paperback)

As back cover of this beautiful book mentions how at one time, in the earliest days, asking a Christian to take a vow of non-violence would appear redundant with baptism.

Now it appears urgent in the light of so many violent Christians, including those involved in our imperial warfare.

People no longer understand that to be Christian is to be pacifist. To be Christian means to offer the other cheek. To be Christian is to Love Your Enemy and to do good to those who harm you. To treat others the way you want them to treat you. First.

At least, that is what Christ commanded us.

This book calls us back to our original Christian commitment. This book explicitly states the essential mission of the Christian, as Jesus himself explicitly states it in the Gospels. Love one another, as I have loved you.

Every church which claims the name of Christ must pray upon this book, and take this vow, explicitly, as we now hav elost our way so badly as a Christian people who can kill a million Iraqis for oil, calling it a religious war.

Christians do not have religious wars. Christians are truly by their commitment non-violent. This book calls us back to our origins and to our mission and to our meaning. We do have meaning, which is peace.

Dare to swear to it. This book shows how and why.

Although twenty years old now, this book is more necessary each passing day. It could save our nation from itself.