Unholy Alliance: Religion and Atrocity in Our Time

by Marc H. Ellis

Tragically, religion has often been associated with violence, repression, war, and vengeance. In this searing work Marc Ellis asks, is there God beyond violence?Ellis's personal quest for religious integrity in the face of evil leads him to probe religious dimensions of both historical violence (in the colonizing of the Americas and the Holocaust) and contemporary eruptions of barbarism in Bosnia, Rwanda, or the Mideast. He also queries the works of prominent contemporary theologians from Moltmann and Ruether to Wiesel and Fackenheim, questioning whether reformist movements might ultimately merely gloss over religious distortions. His uncompromising moral sensitivity poses a frank examination of conscience for all Christians and Jews who seek honestly to engage their tradition and their God.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Marc H. Ellis is retired University Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University. Among his publications are Encountering the Jewish Future (2012), Reading the Torah Out Loud (2007), Practicing Exile (2001), Oh, Jerusalem! (1999), and Unholy Alliance (1997), all from Fortress Press. He is also a regular contributor on Mondoweiss: The War of Ideas in the Middle East with a series called Exile and the Prophetic.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellis is an unflinching truth-teller. Made me think hard about the nature of institutional religion and whether it can and should be salvaged. This book will stay with me for a long time.