Discovering A Prophet

I had a meaningful Yom Kippur this week, and through some supplemental reading (the group the Halachic Left’s collection of essays for this year’s High Holy Days) I discovered a Jewish theologian I need to dive into, namely Marc H. Ellis. He was one of first people to develop a Jewish liberation theology, especially in the context of Palestine. The notion that Jewish liberation can only come about through the liberation of the Palestinian people is a theology that traces back to Ellis, who started writing about these themes in the 1980s. (He died in June 2024).

It is not surprising I have not heard about him before; his work has been shunned by mainstream Judaism. This essay by Zev Mishell introduced me to him. I particularly like his concept of “Constantinian Judaism”, which is to say that Judaism is now a religion of empire. There was also a series of remembrances of Ellis written up in Contending Modernities, a web publication from the University of Notre Dame.

Lots to read as always.