Reviewed by:

• The New Diaspora and the Global Prophetic: Engaging the Scholarship of Marc H. Ellis ed by Susanne Scholz and Santiago Slabodsky
• Seth Ward, retired

Ellis, the prolific author or editor of some thirty volumes, is best known as a “Jewish Scholar of Conscience” who introduced a Jewish liberation theology. Readers interested in his theological development and approach will find his interview in this book, conducted by its editors, to be especially enlightening. He traces his early influences to Dorothy Day and Richard Rubenstein and provides a needed introduction to key terms used by many of the chapter authors, such as Constantinian Judaism, the ecumenical deal, idolatry, empire, exile, and “the prophetic,” many of which he often describes as having “come to him.”

A key element of Ellis’s approach is to emphasize the problem in modern times of the dichotomy between Jewish ethics and the oppression and killing of Arab Palestinians linked to the rise of the Jewish State. Nevertheless, Ellis recognizes that “Anti-Zionism is mostly theoretical,” that “seeing Israel as a colonial venture—only—is historically shortsighted,” and that Jews “are not returning to a position of powerlessness,” to decolonize Israel (p. 15). Ellis’s response may be seen as the “radical position linking the future of the Jewish People to the liberation of Palestinians” (Kwok Pui-Lan, p. 153). The terms in the book’s title, “New Diaspora” and “Global Prophetic,” flow from this as well. Nevertheless, while he raises this as a conundrum in the introduction, his writings often are [End Page 126] not seen that way. In any case, this book is not a venue for critical evaluation of Ellis’s thought in light of this conundrum or working out its ramifications.

Books of this nature often seek to add to research in areas of specialization of a deservedly honored scholar or to do innovative studies that honor his or her profile in the field. Exemplifying this are Robert O. Smith’s critique of the term “Judaeo-Christian tradition,” Luis Rivera Pagán’s re-reading of the Bible (Hebrew Bible and Christian Testament) in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and Charles Ramsey’s study of Muhammad Asad. The book most often appears to be engaging the scholarship of Ellis mostly along the lines of “friends paying tribute to him” (p. ix), outlining the crucial role he has played as a colleague, mentor, advisor, and friend in their professional and personal lives. Sources for many essays are largely Ellis’s own writings and personal reflections. For example, Naim Ateek’s dismissal of Yitz Greenberg and other rabbis footnotes only Ellis.

Appearing in 2021, the book does not engage the Abraham Accords, although there are references to Black Lives Matter. Unsurprisingly, contributors tend to discuss Latin American and Palestinian issues, with the Palestinian side mostly represented by Christians—themselves increasingly marginalized in a kind of double Exile in the Palestinian Autonomous area.

The Foreword is by Susannah Heschel; Scholz and Slabodsky offer the introduction and the Ellis interview. The section headings should be familiar from Ellis’s writings. In addition to contributors already mentioned, the book includes chapters by Sarah Roy, Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, Miguel A. De La Torre, Claudio Carvalhaes, Thia Cooper, Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, William A. Walker III, Jin Young Choi, Brant Rosen, Keren Batiyov, Robert Cohen, Karen Baker Fletcher, and the two editors. Ellis’s sons, Aaron and Isaiah, offer personal and moving tributes as Postscripts.

审核人：

• 新侨民和全球预言家：参与 Marc H. Ellis 的奖学金， Susanne Scholz 和 Santiago Slabodsky 编着
• 赛斯沃德，退休

埃利斯 (Ellis) 是一位多产的作家或编辑，着有约 30 本书，最著名的身份是“犹太良心学者”，他介绍了犹太解放神学。对他的神学发展和方法感兴趣的读者会发现本书的编辑对他的采访特别有启发性。他将自己早期的影响追溯到多萝西·戴 (Dorothy Day) 和理查德·鲁宾斯坦 (Richard Rubenstein)，并对许多章节作者使用的关键术语进行了必要的介绍，例如君士坦丁犹太教、合一交易、偶像崇拜、帝国、流放和“先知”，许多他经常将其描述为“来到他身边”。

埃利斯方法的一个关键要素是强调现代犹太伦理与与犹太国家崛起相关的对阿拉伯巴勒斯坦人的压迫和杀害之间的二分法问题。尽管如此，埃利斯承认“反犹太复国主义主要是理论性的”，“将以色列视为殖民冒险——只是——从历史上看是短视的”，并且犹太人“没有回到无能为力的位置”，以实现以色列的非殖民化（第 16 页）。 15). 埃利斯的回应可被视为“将犹太人的未来与巴勒斯坦人的解放联系起来的激进立场”（郭佩兰，第 153 页）。书名中的术语“New Diaspora”和“Global Prophetic”也源于此。然而，虽然他在介绍中将此作为一个难题提出，但他的作品通常是[End Page 126]没见过这样的。无论如何，这本书不是根据这个难题或解决其后果对埃利斯的思想进行批判性评估的场所。

这种性质的书籍通常寻求增加当之无愧的荣誉学者的专业领域的研究，或者进行创新研究以表彰他或她在该领域的形象。这方面的例子有罗伯特·史密斯对“犹太-基督教传统”一词的批评、路易斯·里维拉·帕甘与巴勒斯坦人民团结一致重读圣经（希伯来文圣经和基督教约书），以及查尔斯·拉姆齐对穆罕默德·阿萨德的研究。这本书似乎最常采用埃利斯的奖学金，主要是按照“朋友们向他致敬”（第 ix 页）的方式，概述了他在他们的职业生涯中作为同事、导师、顾问和朋友所扮演的重要角色和个人生活。许多文章的来源主要是埃利斯自己的著作和个人反思。例如，

该书于 2021 年出版，但并未涉及《亚伯拉罕协议》，尽管其中提到了“黑人的命也是命”。不出所料，撰稿人倾向于讨论拉丁美洲和巴勒斯坦问题，巴勒斯坦方面主要由基督徒代表——他们在巴勒斯坦自治区的双重流放中越来越被边缘化。

前言由 Susannah Heschel 撰写；Scholz 和 Slabodsky 提供介绍和 Ellis 采访。章节标题应该与 Ellis 的著作相似。除了已经提到的贡献者之外，本书还包括 Sarah Roy、Jessica Wai-Fong Wong、Miguel A. De La Torre、Claudio Carvalhaes、Thia Cooper、Rubén Rosario Rodríguez、William A. Walker III、Jin Young Choi、Brant Rosen 的章节、Keren Batiyov、Robert Cohen、Karen Baker Fletcher 和两位编辑。Ellis 的儿子 Aaron 和 Isaiah 在后记中提供了个人感人的悼词。