Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul (January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994) was a French philosopher, sociologist, lay theologian, and professor.

Noted as a Christian anarchist, Ellul was a longtime Professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Bordeaux.

A prolific writer, he authored more than 60 books and more than 600 articles over his lifetime, many of which discussed propaganda, the impact of technology on society, and the interaction between religion and politics.

The dominant theme of Ellul's work proved to be the threat to human freedom and religion created by modern technology.

He did not seek to eliminate modern technology or technique but sought to change our perception of modern technology and technique to that of a tool rather than regulator of the status quo.

Among his most influential books are The Technological Society and Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes.

Considered by many a philosopher, Ellul was trained as a sociologist, and approached the question of technology and human action from a dialectical viewpoint.

His writings are frequently concerned with the emergence of a technological tyranny over humanity.

As a philosopher and theologian, he further explored the religiosity of the technological society.

Jacques Ellul was born in Bordeaux, France, on January 6, 1912, to Marthe Mendes (Protestant; French-Portuguese) and Joseph Ellul (initially an Eastern Orthodox Christian, but then a Voltarian deist by conviction; born in Malta of an Italo-Maltese father and Serb mother).

As a teenager he wanted to be a naval officer but his father made him study law.

They met through the Protestant Student Federation during the academic school year of 1929–1930.

Both men acknowledged the great influence each had on the other.

Ellul was first introduced to the ideas of Karl Marx during an economics lecture course taught by Joseph Benzacar in 1929–30; Ellul studied Marx and became a prolific exegete of his theories.

During this same period, he also came across the Christian existentialism of Kierkegaard.

According to Ellul, Marx and Kierkegaard were his two greatest influences, and the only two authors whose work he read in its entirety.

Also, he considered Karl Barth, who was a leader of the resistance against the German state church in World War II, the greatest theologian of the 20th century.

In addition to these intellectual influences, Ellul also said that his father played a great role in his life and considered him his role model.

In large measure, and especially in those of his books concerned with theological matters, Ellul restates the viewpoints held by Barth, whose polar dialectic of the Word of God, in which the Gospel both judges and renews the world, shaped Ellul's theological perspective.

In Jacques Ellul: A Systemic Exposition Darrell J. Fasching claimed Ellul believed "That which desacralizes a given reality, itself in turn becomes the new sacred reality".

Ellul believes he was about 17 (1929–30) and spending the summer with some friends in Blanquefort, France.

While translating Faust alone in the house, Ellul knew (without seeing or hearing anything) he was in the presence of a something so astounding, so overwhelming, which entered the very center of his being.

He jumped on a bike and fled, concluding eventually that he had been in the presence of God.

This experience started the conversion process which Ellul said then continued over a period of years thereafter.

Although Ellul identified as a Protestant, he was critical of church authority in general because he believed the church dogmas did not place enough emphasis on the teachings of Jesus or Christian scripture.

Ellul was also prominent in the worldwide ecumenical movement, although he later became sharply critical of the movement for what he felt were indiscriminate endorsements of political establishments.

Ellul came to like Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who convinced him that the creation of new institutions from the grass roots level was the best way to create an anarchist society.

He stated his view is close to that of anarcho-syndicalism, however the kind of change Ellul wanted was an evolutionary approach by means of a "... Proudhonian socialism ... by transforming the press, the media, and the economic structures ... by means of a federative cooperative approach" that would lead to an Anarchist society based on federation and the Mutualist economics of Proudhon.

In regards to Jesus and Anarchism he believed Jesus was not merely a socialist but anarchist and that "anarchism is the fullest and most serious form of socialism".

Ellul has been credited with coining the phrase, "Think globally, act locally."

By the early 1930s, Ellul's three primary sources of inspiration were Karl Marx, Søren Kierkegaard, and Karl Barth.

In 1932, after what he describes as "a very brutal and very sudden conversion", Ellul professed himself a Christian.

He married Yvette Lensvelt in 1937.

Ellul was educated at the universities of Bordeaux and Paris.

In World War II, he was a leader in the French resistance.

In 2000, the International Jacques Ellul Society was founded by a group of former Ellul students.

The society, which includes scholars from a variety of disciplines, is devoted to continuing Ellul's legacy and discussing the contemporary relevance and implications of his work.

For his efforts to save Jews he was awarded the title Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2001.

He was a layman in the Reformed Church of France and attained a high position within it as part of the National Council.

Ellul was best friends with Bernard Charbonneau, who was also a writer from the Aquitaine region and a protagonist of the French personalism movement.