3/18CCC: John Dear's "They Will Inherit the Earth" book

3/18 Creation Corner Column

Book Overview: They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace & Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change, by John Dear.  2017, Orbis Press, 161 pages.  $20.

The thesis of John Dear's book, intended for readers of the Christian religious faith, but also useful to non-Christian and secular readers, is that if we are to have (inherit) an inhabitable earth, we must practice non-violence.  

We need to turn away from violence in our personal lives, institutions, policies, systems, structures, and within the "powers and principalities," etc.  For Dear, it is as simple and fundamental as that.

He offers biblical justification for his view (the Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount, scriptural passages, The Lord's Prayer) and quotations from the 2015 ecology encyclical by Pope Francis,  Laudato si': On Care for Our Common Home. 

In seeking the "Kingdom of God" (may "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven") we are to practice nonviolence for such is what God intends for his earth to flourish with integrity and wholeness.  In that way nonviolence enables us to inherit the earth as it is designed.  

By following a nonviolent Jesus we may live in, with, and under God's reign of nonviolence.

Ways in which we violate the earth are mentioned, in our personal lifestyles (food consumption choices, fossil fuel dependence, etc.), and he extrapolates the multiplier effect of such with carbon footprint data, and offers remedies in a chapter on sustainable rules for the planet.

Often he uses the two-word admonition phrase of "Wake Up!" to alert us as to how the earth's balances are being imperiled.  But he also encourages us to "Let Go" and not be burdened by beating up on ourselves with self-guilt, giving up or giving in to the point of depression and despair, sitting back, doing nothing while the earth "groans in travail."

While some people of faith employ the phrase "Let Go, Let God", Lutherans might add that it is "God's Work, Our Hands."

Book chapters offer examples of hope, from the USA grassroots efforts (Santa Clara pueblo near Los Alamos NM; among the indigenous Lenca people of Honduras; those who took a stand against a pipeline at the ND Sioux Nation Standing Rock; the Nonviolent Cities Project; and the Oakland CA Canticle Farm.

Nonviolence can be applied to many social problems (racism, sexism, classism, militarism, war, nuclear weapons and other forms of violence).  Cooperation and solidarity can help to solve earth's problems, with work among environmentalists, scientists, those who are young, labor and anti-corporate groups, interfaith coalitions, indigenous people, antiwar/pro-peace folks, women advocates for Mother Earth, etc.  

One chapter raises up global interfaith voices, another is on the Call of Pope Francis.  Especially valuable, and most challenging, are passages in chapter 14 (the longest one of 21 pages), wherein he narrates attitudes, beliefs and practices that go beyond the usual

"re-" words (restore, reconciliation, reparations, etc.).

A study guide for personal reflection and small group discussion concludes the book.  Overall it can be recommended as an important and welcomed addition to the growing literature on caring for creation as it adds the dimension of advocacy for nonviolence in our efforts to prevent climate chaos.

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John Dear (b. 1959), a vegetarian for 35 years, author of over 35 books on peace and nonviolence, is a Catholic priest who grew up in NC and currently lives in NM.  A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, he has often been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience in opposition to the "war machine."

This newest book of his is based on the Third Beatitude: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  For John Dear "the meek" refers to those who are non-violent.

He will speak March 27 in Williamsport PA in the Mary Welch Honors Hall of Lycoming College, corner of Basin  and E. 4th Streets, at 7 p.m.   www.johndear.org 

For a timely article on the various forms of non-violence, from letter-writing on, see Shane Claiborne's "Why We Go to Jail" in the April 2018 issue of Sojourners magazine.

 https://sojo.net/magazine/april-2018/why-we-jail-Christian-civil-disobedience

On communicating climate change concerns, see the cover story in March 14 issue of the Christian Century, "How to Talk to climate change skeptics": an interview with Katharine Hayhoe.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/climate-scientist-talks-respectfully-climate-change-skeptics

Also see the life-long work of Gene Sharp (1928-2018) documenting non-violence.

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