On Freedom, Love, and Power

by Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) was a French law professor, historian, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist. During the Second World War, he was active in the French resistance; his efforts to save Jews during this time eventually earned him the title .Righteous Among the Nations.. A towering intellectual figure, Ellul taught in Paris and at the University of Bordeaux, wrote and published extensively, and engaged throughout his career in a dialogue between the realities of technology and contemporary life, the tenets of the Christian faith, and the principles of human freedom. Transcribed here for the first time, this series of talks refines and clarifies some of Ellul's most controversial insights into what it means to understand and live out God's wishes. Ellul's evaluation of a number of interrelated books of Scripture, including Genesis, Job, Matthew, and John, challenges Jewish and Christian orthodoxies and more progressive interpretations alike by claiming that the Judeo-Christian tradition is both anti-moral and anti-religious. Promoting a life based on freedom and love, Ellul's thinking opens the door to, in his words, .thinking globally and acting locally..

Genres: Theology, Philosophy

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2010

About the author

Baptised Catholic, Ellul became an atheist and Marxist at 19, and a Christian of the Reformed Church at 22. During his Marxist days, he was a member of the French Communist Party. During World War II, he fought with the French Underground against the Nazi occupation of France.

Educated at the Universities of Bordeaux and Paris, he taught Sociology and the History of Law at the Universities of Strausbourg and Montpellier. In 1946 he returned to Bordeaux where he lived, wrote, served as Mayor, and taught until his death in 1994.

In the 40 books and hundreds of articles Ellul wrote in his lifetime, his dominant theme was always the threat to human freedom posed by modern technology. His tenor and methodology is objective and scholarly, and the perspective is a sociological one. Few of his books are overtly political -- even though they deal directly with political phenomena -- and several of his books, including "Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes" and "The Technological Society" are required reading in many graduate communication curricula.

Ellul was also a respected and serious Christian theologian whose 1948 work, "The Presence of the Kingdom," makes explicit a dual theme inherent, though subtly stated, in all of his writing, a sort of yin and yang of modern technological society: sin and sacramentality.

Reviews

[dachaeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book challenged many of my habits of mind and body where my religion is concerned. I loved the experience. I don't know that can fully embrace Ellul's ideas - but they are good to consider anyway. He was clearly a smart man who spent a great deal of time studying the bible in the original languages and different translations. He brings great insight about the beautiful complexity of Hebrew, the danger of Greek rational thought applied to a spiritual message, and the awesomeness of love and the freedom that must come with it.

Don't read this unless you are ready for your worldview to be grabbed and shaken (hopefully awake!).

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a collection of lectures he gave with students. Great commentaries on Genesis, Job, Jesus' parable in Matthew, and Revelation.