For nearly three decades Ellis has been exploring the shattering theological and political impact of the Holocaust. Through all of his books he has attempted to find a way back to the Biblical moral imperatives of the Hebrew Prophets who challenged the immorality of Jewish...
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For nearly three decades Ellis has been exploring the shattering theological and political impact of the Holocaust. Through all of his books he has attempted to find a way back to the Biblical moral imperatives of the Hebrew Prophets who challenged the immorality of Jewish power and individual behaviour in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Ellis draws a straight line between the prophetic challenges to injustice made by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Micah and the modern Jewish dissidents who have refused to allow the narrow nationalism of Zionism to hijack traditional Jewish ethical understanding.
Future of the prophetic is his most detailed exploration of these themes since Towards a Jewish Liberation Theology published in 1987. The new book brings the Jewish civil war (‘Empire Jews’ versus ‘Jews of Conscience’) bang up to date.
As Ellis makes clear in the new book, the prophetic continues to break through, and break out, despite all attempts to silence it: "Whether Jews like it or not, they are stuck with the prophetic". And in every generation there are new voices willing to witness to the unravelling moral disaster even if their views lead them into a new social, political and religious 'Jewish Exile'.
However, despite the resilience of the prophetic in Jewish DNA, there are some disturbing questions posed by Ellis that make it perfectly clear just how much he believes is at stake. For much of the book there is a pessimism and sense of mourning about the prospects for the Jewish future.
"For more and more Jews, Jewish life has reached a tipping point...these last decades have introduced a new question. Is there anything ethical left in Jewish life worth saving?"
For Ellis, the relationship between Jews and Palestinians is the defining issue. Everything else is secondary or informed by the layers of self-deception and denial that have accompanied the Jewish dream of empowerment through a modern nationalist project of 'return'.
Throughout the book, Ellis makes audacious and deeply challenging, sometimes disorientating statements that will disturb Jewish sensibilities: "Too often, the Holocaust demobilizes Jews rather than mobilizes them to act justly." The book is full of such thought provoking (and highly quotable) propositions that are then thoroughly explored.
In the final reckoning, Ellis believes that the maintenance of the Jewish prophetic, and in turn the preservation of a distinctly Jewish ethic, can only be achieved by broadening Jewish horizons to make the connections between our own suffering and those of others.
By the end of the book the reader is left convinced of the tenacity of the prophetic in Jewish life. But like the ancient prophets themselves, the mission may be vital but the work looks overwhelming. It has to be done, but the chances of success appear slim.
Nevertheless, Ellis has made another highly significant contribution to what is becoming an existential debate on the future of Judaism. The Holocaust and Israel has left us at a crossroads and Ellis describes this moment better than any other writer. Some, as I did, will find this book stimulating and challenging, providing essential fuel for the ethical struggle ahead. But like the fate of the ancient prophets, still more will ignore or dismiss his words. Either way, the prophetic will live on.
You can read my interview with Marc Ellis, linked to the publication of this book, at my blog: Micah’s Paradigm Shift.
http://micahsparadigmshift.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/micah-meetsmarc-h-ellis.html
For nearly three decades Ellis has been exploring the shattering theological and political impact of the Holocaust. Through all of his books he has attempted to find a way back to the Biblical moral imperatives of the Hebrew Prophets who challenged the immorality of Jewish power and individual behaviour in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Ellis draws a straight line between the prophetic challenges to injustice made by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Micah and the modern Jewish dissidents who have refused to allow the narrow nationalism of Zionism to hijack traditional Jewish ethical understanding.
Future of the prophetic is his most detailed exploration of these themes since Towards a Jewish Liberation Theology published in 1987. The new book brings the Jewish civil war (‘Empire Jews’ versus ‘Jews of Conscience’) bang up to date.
As Ellis makes clear in the new book, the prophetic continues to break through, and break out, despite all attempts to silence it: "Whether Jews like it or not, they are stuck with the prophetic". And in every generation there are new voices willing to witness to the unravelling moral disaster even if their views lead them into a new social, political and religious 'Jewish Exile'.
However, despite the resilience of the prophetic in Jewish DNA, there are some disturbing questions posed by Ellis that make it perfectly clear just how much he believes is at stake. For much of the book there is a pessimism and sense of mourning about the prospects for the Jewish future.
"For more and more Jews, Jewish life has reached a tipping point...these last decades have introduced a new question. Is there anything ethical left in Jewish life worth saving?"
For Ellis, the relationship between Jews and Palestinians is the defining issue. Everything else is secondary or informed by the layers of self-deception and denial that have accompanied the Jewish dream of empowerment through a modern nationalist project of 'return'.
Throughout the book, Ellis makes audacious and deeply challenging, sometimes disorientating statements that will disturb Jewish sensibilities: "Too often, the Holocaust demobilizes Jews rather than mobilizes them to act justly." The book is full of such thought provoking (and highly quotable) propositions that are then thoroughly explored.
In the final reckoning, Ellis believes that the maintenance of the Jewish prophetic, and in turn the preservation of a distinctly Jewish ethic, can only be achieved by broadening Jewish horizons to make the connections between our own suffering and those of others.
By the end of the book the reader is left convinced of the tenacity of the prophetic in Jewish life. But like the ancient prophets themselves, the mission may be vital but the work looks overwhelming. It has to be done, but the chances of success appear slim.
Nevertheless, Ellis has made another highly significant contribution to what is becoming an existential debate on the future of Judaism. The Holocaust and Israel has left us at a crossroads and Ellis describes this moment better than any other writer. Some, as I did, will find this book stimulating and challenging, providing essential fuel for the ethical struggle ahead. But like the fate of the ancient prophets, still more will ignore or dismiss his words. Either way, the prophetic will live on.
You can read my interview with Marc Ellis, linked to the publication of this book, at my blog: Micah’s Paradigm Shift.
http://micahsparadigmshift.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/micah-meetsmarc-h-ellis.html
