The vocation of a theologian is not just to proclaim the glory of God on earth; it entails, as well, an embrace of the prophetic. By prophetic, I mean the enduring refusal to settle for systems of violence that define the lives of those at the margins who are used as pawns in the existential chess game of those at the center of power. Few scholars meet this definition of the prophetic. Marc H. Ellis is definitely one of the few. In this edited volume, The New Diaspora and the Global Prophetic: Engaging the Scholarship of Marc H. Ellis, renowned scholars from different disciplines, who have been shaped deeply by Ellis’ works, offer their own reflections on how they have embraced the prophetic vocation as members of the community of the new diaspora—“The New Diaspora does not speak in one single voice, just opposite, but sometimes important intellectuals center its considerations” (2).
The contributions in this volume offer new ways of thinking that open up horizons for creatively imagining a just world. As noted by the editors of the volume, Susanne Scholz and Santiago Slabodsky, “He [Ellis] rejects the ecumenical deal, a phrase he coined to expose the power dynamics present in contemporary Jewish-Christian dialog during which Christians do not mention the injustice done to Palestinians by Israel, while Jews accept Christian repentance for the Holocaust” (4). This radical positionality that grounds itself within the domain of marginality is the global prophetic approach of speaking truth to power that Ellis has given voice to through his works and life. This point serves as the basis of the contributions of Aaron Ellis and Isaiah Ellis in the postscripts of the volume.
The motif of invisibility, as a structural system of oppression, is critiqued by Sara Roy in the chapter “The Last Jew in Gaza.” As narratives define our existence, Roy calls to question the idolatrous narratives the State of Israel and its allies in the global discourses on the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts have created to paint the Palestinians as the aggressors who seek to destroy their Jewish neighbors. By doing this, Roy sheds light on the dynamics of coloniality inherent in narratives that produce negative identity markers needed to validate violence toward the innocent other.
Ellis calls to question the moral content of Jewishness in light of state-sponsored violence and apartheid policies toward the Palestinians by the Jewish State of Israel. What does Jewishness mean in an era of whiteness as a way of being in the world that grounds itself in the following markers of coloniality—oppressive use of power; racialization of the human with the intent to create a hierarchy of the human; the weaponization of knowledge production; and the erasure of memories of liberation that allow for the aridity of the imagination? In the chapter “Israel and the Idolatry of Whiteness: The Critique of Race that Marc Ellis Never Knew He Made,” Jessica Wai-Fong Wong provides a credible argument by showing how the appropriation of the hegemonic identity markers of whiteness by many contemporary Jews has led to an emptying of the content of the world—Jew—as a way of being in the world that allows for God's solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized to be validated.
The transnational focus of Ellis’ intellectual imagination and creativity is best captured by the insights shared by Karen Baker-Fletcher in her chapter titled “Womanist Theology and Jewish Liberation Theology: Where Is the Dialogue?” The prophetic sheds light on the possibilities that can open up for all who desire a just world. It is on that note that Baker-Fletcher concludes that “Ellis's thought on a Jewish theology of liberation welcomes conversation between black liberation theologians and Jewish theologians during a time of tension between blacks and Jews in the United States” (254).
This volume is unique in many ways. It stands as a witness to the best of what decolonial scholarship ought to be; one that refuses to follow the logic of the systems that instantiate oppression in our world. This volume offers relevant tools for both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary studies. It is a work that ought to become an intellectual vade mecum for all who work to bring about positive social transformation. This volume gives credence to the relevance of prophetism as a way of engaging global issues. It moves away from tribal discourses on social issues and sheds light on how systems of evil define our world.
Finally, Ellis’ insights, as reflected upon by the different contributors to this volume, are meant to serve as a guiding star for scholars involved in disruptive narratives intended to bring about the flourishing of all creatures in God's world.
