George McGovern

Future of the Prophetic

“Anytime I think of my dear brother Marc Ellis, I think of quiet dignity, spiritual integrity, moral consistency, fierce fortitude, and an unstoppable determination to tell the truth, expose lies, and bear witness. That’s a bit rare in the ice age of the last thirty years, not just in the academy but in the American empire—with its cultural decay, and political breakdown, and oligarchic rule, and corporate media obsessed with promoting clever gimmicks of mass distraction. But there he is—Brother Marc Ellis—who persists as a prophetic figure…When the chilly effects of the ice age, with its hardened hearts and coarsened consciences, begin to melt, his work will surface in a powerful way.” —Cornel West Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York "Marc Ellis shows that the voice of prophecy has not been silenced in the Jewish community. We will all be the poorer if Ellis' voice is not heeded but how wonderfully enriched if it is." —Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate "Marc Ellis has demonstrated great courage, integrity, and insight in the very important work he has been doing for years. It has been an inspiration for all of us." —Noam Chomsky Massachusetts Institute of Technology “Marc Ellis is a brilliant writer, a deeply thoughtful and courageous mind, an intellectual who has broken the death-hold of mindless tradition and unreflective cliché to produce a superb account of post-Holocaust understanding, with particular reference to the Palestinian people and the moral obligation of Israelis and Diaspora Jews. He is a man to be listened to with respect and admiration.” —The late Edward Said Columbia University “Marc Ellis has written [Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation] for people who want to think. Challenging our conventional ideas, he forces us to reconsider our assumptions regarding Jewish identity and politics. What emerges is a fascinating and original reconfiguration of some of the most hotly debated political and religious topics today.” —Susannah Heschel Dartmouth College "Ellis masterfully uses the central, Jewish story of Exodus and Sinai to call for a contemporary Jewish (and Christian) theology of liberation. He argues against current political policies based on Jewish vulnerability, with the Holocaust as the chief lens, and issues a prophetic call for contemporary Jews to return to the liberation theology embedded in the Exodus, seeking justice for all. In the Israeli-Palestinian context, that requires both sides to ‘embrace revolutionary forgiveness’ as they find ways to come to less-than-ideal but tolerable resolutions of their conflicts, and it requires Americans living in a post-9/11 world to reevaluate their understanding of Muslims and Islam. Whether you agree with Ellis’ conclusions or not, you cannot help but be stimulated by his serious and meaningful use of this central Jewish story to understand and respond creatively to some of the most pressing issues of our time." —Elliot Dorff American Jewish University "This perceptive and well-conceived book offers the reader a masterful analysis of one of the most compelling issues of our age.”