O, Jerusalem

Book Summary

This century has bequeathed to the Jewish people a series of events "with horrific and startling consequences," including the Holocaust, the birth of the state of Israel, and its development into a powerful military state. Ellis argues that the history and identity of the Jewish people are now being decisively transformed and reinterpreted. What is their destiny in the next century? Ellis asks, "Are there religious ideals, intellectual concepts, and political movements . . . that will help Jews confront the history we are creating . . . ?" In this profound and provocative work, he finds the answers in the covenant, symbolized by Jerusalem. Ellis offers a renewed theology of the covenant and its justice dimensions, its present "exile," and its future in revolutionary forgiveness.

Book Details