Jacques Ellul

A Companion to His Major Works

Jacob E. Van Vleet, Jacob Marques Rollison

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781625649140
  9781498288637
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725249585
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) was Professor of the History and Sociology of Institutions at the University of Bordeaux. A sociologist, historian, and Protestant lay theologian, Ellul is primarily known for his writings on technology, propaganda, and Christian anarchism. He influenced a wide array of thinkers including Ivan Illich, William Stringfellow, Thomas Merton, Paul Virilio, and Neil Postman. In this book, Jacob Van Vleet and Jacob Marques Rollison guide readers through Ellul's most influential theological and sociological writings. By understanding Ellul's primary works, readers will be able to clearly grasp his social theory and theological ethics, profiting from his deep insight and prophetic wisdom.

Part I

Theology

1

Presence in the Modern World

Christians need to immerse themselves in social and political problems so that they can act in the world, not in the hope of making it a paradise, but only of rendering it tolerable. Not of attenuating the opposition between this world and the kingdom of God, but only the opposition between this world’s disorder and the order of preservation that God wants for it. Not of making the kingdom of God come, but so that the gospel may be proclaimed, that all people may hear truly the good news of salvation and resurrection.4

One of Ellul’s first and most important books is Presence in the Modern World, published in 1948 and translated into English in 1951.5 In this foundational work, Ellul explores what it means to be a Christian in the milieu of mid-twentieth-century industrial-technological society. He thoughtfully and carefully discusses the role of Christians in a world filled with increasing alienation and absurdity. He also gives insightful advice to Christians struggling to find their role and identity in the present-day milieu. It is an incisive and brilliant work that provides readers with a creative blend of theological reflection, social criticism, and a call to action. Any serious reader of Ellul should become familiar with the concepts and central arguments of this work; it contains the seeds of nearly every other major work he will go on to write.

The Christian’s Role in the Modern World

Presence was originally published in French with the subtitle Problems of Post-Christian Civilization. This signals that this book—and Ellul’s entire project (since he intended Presence as the introduction to everything he would later go on to write)—will include both analysis of society hic et nunc (Latin for here and now), and a Christian ethical response with presence as the major ethical category.6 If this work straddles Ellul’s usual theological/sociological separation, it does so as a precursor to a much more intensive study of both sides.

This brief work contains five chapters: (1) The Christian in the World, (2) Revolutionary Christianity, (3) The End and the Means, (4) Communication, and (5) Prologue and Conclusion. Ellul begins by investigating the following paradox: the Christian is to be in the world, but not of the world. What does this mean? How is this to be interpreted? At the very least, it implies that the Christian lives in an uncomfortable tension, like an ambassador who lives among a people who are not her own. Ellul explains that the Christian is engaged in combat with the world’s spiritual reality. As the rest of the book will develop, the “world,” in this spiritual sense, is characterized by alienation, isolation, and a sort of spiritual slavery (which has sociological manifestations). By authentically embodying the Spirit of God, the Christian is called to bring freedom and hope into the world. Ellul steadfastly believes that all Christians are exhorted to “destroy the fate that oppresses the world.”7

There are three ways that Christians can accomplish this. First, Christians are to be living signs of God’s covenant in a world that, for the most part, does not authentically know the message of Christ. By speaking and living out the truth manifested in God’s revelation, Christians are the “salt of the earth.”8 In contrast to many interpretations that focus on the preserving or flavoring function of salt, Ellul interprets this as a reference to Lev 2:13, which sees salt as a sign of God’s sworn relationship to humanity, his covenant. Living and embodying this truth is how Christians communicate and become the message of Christ and of the eternal covenant.9 The practical and concrete expressions of this embodiment should come from the word of God—that is, one’s direct, existential relationship with God, guided by Scripture, but not limited to it.

Second, Christians are to “be the light of the world.”10 Ellul argues that the world is largely dominated by illusions and idol worship. “Light” in the biblical sense always includes good works, which allow these idols and illusions to be seen for what they really are. Furthermore, Ellul sees light as orienting the development of history: the meaning of history “emerges through the church’s presence, as odd as this may seem.”11

Third, Christians must embrace the sacrificial and uncomfortable role of being “sheep among wolves.”12 In imitating Christ (the Lamb), Ellul believes, Christians should not seek to control, dominate, or even compete with others. Rather, Christians should exemplify humility, serving God and their fellow humans. We currently live in a “survival of the fittest” society, which promotes competition and violence over community and nonviolence. Instead of embracing the values of the powerful and materially successful, Christians need to follow Christ’s example. This is far more challenging, but Ellul asserts it is the only way to accurately follow the directive of God. Throughout Presence in the Modern World, Ellul also discusses various temptations and challenges arising for Christians who make an effort to follow God. Note that these three metaphors all elucidate how Christians are to be in, yet not of the world. In his later works, Ellul develops a contrast between this world and the Christian life in terms of necessity and freedom. This world is characterized by necessity—the inescapability of work, competition, violence, and death—which results in hopelessness and alienation. But within this realm there is always the possibility of a hopeful and life-giving reality: freedom. Freedom is possible in relation to God through Christ, liberating us from bondage to necessity. Yet the Christian sits dialectically in both realms: freed from sin, hopelessness, and death, while inevitably within the necessity of the world. Ellul writes, “It is an infinitely painful situation, it is very uncomfortable, but it is the only one that can be fruitful and faithful for the Christian’s actions and presence in the world . . . this tension must be accepted and then lived out continuously.”13 Nowhere is this tension felt more than in the ethical life of the believer.

A Preliminary Sketch of a Christian Ethic

Ellul is quite cautious when discussing moral demands and ethical systems. Throughout Presence in the Modern World (and his later theological ethics) he maintains that Christians should follow the guidance of the Spirit rather than rigidly or blindly following ethical dictates. Since Ellul’s goal is Christians living in freedom, he is wary that Christian ethics might easily undermine itself if it simply tells believers what to do. However, he does provide a rough sketch of what he considers to be the dominant characteristics of a Christian ethic in the modern world. (This will be developed in chapter 6.)

Ellul points out that many Christians are t...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Part I: Theology
• Part II: Sociology
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Bibliography