Finding Our Voice

Finding Our Voice is a series of meditations on how to express the deepest sense of who we are in a troubled world. What is the core of our being? How do we find the language to name that core? If the core of our faith is identifying and embodying the prophetic for our time, surviving that naming is as challenging as finding our voice. Often as not, the prophetic lands us in hot water. We feel alone and abandoned. Recognizing others in the same situation is crucial to our ability to hold fast. With others our voice grows more certain and finds a home, even in exile. Soon the community we left is replaced by a new community of fellow travelers. We are not alone. ""A fierce meditation about the quest for meaning in our lives that goes far beyond the happy smiley faces of empty redemption. Ellis's reflections are haunting to Jews and non-Jews alike, as he ruminates on the forces of injustice that make meaning seem such a game of luxury. His considerations about being Jewish in the era of Jewish-state empowerment are a must-read for anybody worried about the ubiquitous network of oppressive power, politics, and religion."" --Susanne Scholz, Southern Methodist University ""Finding Our Voice is a beautiful and dismaying song of the prophetic. In yet another groundbreaking work, Marc Ellis offers an articulated interrogation of the complexities of theological justice, interreligious conversations, and Jewish identity. Excavating the buried responsibilities of peoplehood, he offers to the next generation of fighters the sparks that can lead to another future. This is a must-read for anyone interested in Jewish thought, social justice, coloniality and religion, Palestinian studies, and interreligious conversations."" --Santiago Slabodsky, Hofstra University ""Audacious, provocative and essential, Finding our Voice is classic Marc Ellis. He is truly among the most important Jewish thinkers of our time."" --Brant Rosen, American rabbi, journalist, author, and blogger for Shalom Rav ""Ellis is a prophet that comes back to us time and again, haunting our religious commitments and the ins and outs of our faith. In this new book, Ellis's poetry is riveting, rendering the prophetic even more complex, difficult, and challenging. Where do we go now that we have this religious consciousness? Our task is to decide what to do with our faith the same way Father Paneloux did in Camus's novel The Plague. Definitely not an easy task."" --Claudio Carvalhaes, Associate Professor of Worship, Union Theological Seminary, New York City Marc H. Ellis is Professor of History and Jewish Studies, formerly of the Maryknoll School of Theology and Baylor University. He is founding Director of the Center for the Study of the Global Prophetic and author and editor of twenty-five books, including Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation and Unholy Alliance: Religion and Atrocity in Our Time.