Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellulwas a French philosopher, professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and 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 58 books and more than a thousand 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 his work proved to be...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth6 January 1912
CountryFrance
Jacques Ellul quotes about
God is not an encyclopedia whose task it is to satisfy our curiosity.
Freedom is completely without meaning unless it is related to necessity, unless it represents victory over necessity.
Faith lived in the incognito is one which is located outside the criticism coming from society , from politics , from history , for the very reason that it has itself the vocation to be a source of criticism. It is faith (lived in the incognito) which triggers the issues for the others, which causes everything seemingly established to be placed in doubt , which drives a wedge into the world of false assurances.
So I can very well say without hesitation that all those who have political power, even if they use it well have acquired it by demonic mediation and even if they are not conscious of it, they are worshippers of diabolos.
All human language draws its nature and value from the fact that it both comes from the Word of God and is chosen by God to manifest himself. But this relationship is secret and incomprehensible, beyond the bounds of reason and analysis.
We have to admit that there is an immeasurable distance between all that we read in the Bible and the practice of the Church and of Christians.
Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.
The machine is a tool. But it is not a neutral tool. We are deeply influenced by the machine while using it.
When there is propaganda, we are no longer able to evaluate certain questions, or even to discuss them
Everyone has been taught that technique is an application of science.... This traditional view is radically false. It takes into account only a single category of science and only a short period of time
And an apprenticeship to whatever gadgetry is useful in a technical world
The biblical God lets us make our own history, and goes with us on the more or less unheard-of adventures we concoct.
The orchestration of press, radio and television to create a continuous, lasting and total environment renders the influence of propaganda virtually unnoticed precisely because it creates a constant environment.
The individual who is the servant of technique must be completely unconscious of himself.