The Desacralized State

What happens if Christians do not take up their freedom in Christ? There then takes place what we have seen.  The desacralized, “dereligionized” state becomes autonomous, rational, and totalitarian.  Being no longer subject to the divine order which was integrated into it, it obeys its own law and intention and has in instelf the principle [...]

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Further Thoughts on Christian Anarchy

Well, I never heard back from the Vancouver Anarchist Bookfair about setting up a table.  It’s too bad, because I would have enjoyed more dialogue about the important differences between secular anarchy and Christian anarchy.  Although I am sure there would have been more confusion. For example, take this passage from an interview with Ellul: [...]

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Ellul on Barth

Ellul looks to Barth’s theology for his starting point.  But Ellul, trained in law, history, and sociology, was not satisfied with Barth’s non-theological work on understanding the world we live in.  In the essay, “Karl Barth and Us,” Ellul explains how he sees his “mission” after Barth: I had the impression that the ethical consequences [...]

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Ellul and the Nature of the Powers

Ellul’s entire sociology (or critical social theory) can be seen as a study of the way the principalities and powers manifest themselves in our world.  In a personal correspondence with Marva Dawn, Ellul was asked about his beliefs on the nature of the powers.  After asking to be understood in a dialectical fashion, he continues: [...]

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The Dominance of Technique

The genius of Jacques Ellul’s sociological studies lies in his analysis of the dominance of Technique in every area of life.  Ellul defines Technique as “the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity.”   In other published works, Ellul uses this [...]

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Christian Anarchy in Vancouver

On June 20th and 21st, the Vancouver Anarchist Bookfair will be held on Unceded Coast Salish Territory.  Seeing as Ellul is well known for being a Christian Anarchist, Michael suggested to me tonight that I attend the bookfair and set up a table representing Christian Anarchy.  It hadn’t occurred to me to do this but [...]

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Seven Points

Marva Dawn wrote her doctoral dissertation at Notre Dame under the supervision of John Howard Yoder.  Her work, “The Concept of ‘the Principalities and Powers’ in the Works of Jacques Ellul,”  is one of the most insightful studies on Ellul available.  Drawing specifically from The Presence of the Kingdom, one of Ellul’s earlier and most [...]

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How to Read Jacques Ellul

Anyone who has tried to read Jacques Ellul will have had a few moments of despair.  Just when you think you’ve got him figured out, he goes and makes a statement that completely contradicts something he said earlier.  This is not an uncommon experience, and probably one of the main reasons that people have trouble [...]

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Jacques Ellul on Economic Catastrophe

This is taken from an interview with Jacques Ellul held in 1983. Ellul: I think we will see a series of economic catastrophes, of bankruptcies. Sichel: Are you saying that corporations like IBM, Exxon, or AT&T can go bankrupt? Ellul: Yes.  When they become too big there will come a point where they will collapse.  [...]

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