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I. Background Information - Jacques Ellul was born in 1912 in France. He was educated at the University of Bordeaux and the University of Paris, where he earned a "doctorat en droit and agregation". In 1937 he married Yvette Lensvelt raising together three children; Jean, Yves and Dominique. That year he began his academic career at the University of Montpellier. He was removed as a professor by the Vichy government and spent World War II in the French Resistance, spiriting Jews to safety. He spent most of his academic career at the University of Bordeaux. Jacques Ellul was a member of the Reformed faith and a consultant to the Ecumenical World Council of Churches. His focus was on issues of socio-political analysis integrating theology and social history. Between 1946 and his death in 1994, he wrote more than 40 books. II. Significant contributions to the field of ethics - Jacques Ellul is best known for: Presence of the Kingdom (1948), his first significant book, deals with technology gone mad. The Technological Society (1964 in English) is his most widely acclaimed book. [Cited in comments below] Anarchy and Christianity asks if Christianity should normally be the ally of civil authority. The Church of Euthanasia is a collection of his sermons. The Humiliation of the Word defends language and scripture against image-worshippers of technology. Among his other works are: Jesus and Marx; The Subversion of Christianity; What I Believe; The Technological Bluff; and Reason for Being -- a Meditation on Ecclesiastes. III. Comment -- Jacques Ellul's dominant theme is the threat to human freedom and Christian faith created by modern technology. He has angered many who glibly believe in inevitable human progress. He saw the world as increasingly dominated by what he calls technique: "the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency in every field of human activity" (The Technological Society, page 25). Technique is impersonal, rational, and systematic, involving the creation of standards and the reduction to logic, with spontaneity and creativity removed from the equation. Standardized methods are used to attain predetermined results. Everything must be measured and calculated mathematically so that the method decided on will be the most efficient. Ellul warned that technology was becoming a religion unto itself, that people are blindly accepting technology; indeed technology was now what humanity holds sacred. In doing so, humans are making themselves slaves to it: the controllers are themselves becoming controlled by their creations. Technology is becoming a defining force for the ensuing social order, wherein efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity. Ellul posited that technology has begun to diminish the value of humans. While machines and technology were created to better human life, over-reliance is against Christian theology. He said, "We have reduced our role to that of a spectator whose task is not to understand or interpret but to observe." Two parallel columns of books have poured from his pen. One was a thoroughgoing sociological analysis that speaks to secularists turned off by pietistic clichés. For these secular academics, his biblical theology was utterly unknown or dismissed as some quirky hobby. The other column of books explores scripture for earnest Christians who want to discern the Word of God in its vigor amidst the world's illusions and distresses. The Technological Society and The Meaning of the City represent these two poles of his mature thought. His constant theme in both secular and religious books has been one of technological tyranny over humanity. As a philosopher and theologian, he explored the religiosity of the technological society. Ellul always insisted that the self-utterance and "seizure" of the living God frees individuals from their conformity to a world which blinds and binds, even as it renders them useful to God and world on behalf of that kingdom which cannot be shaken. IV. Significant influences made to ethical thinking -- Jacques Ellul's social thought is in the mold of Neil Postman, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Rifkin, Alvin Toffler, and Ivan Illich. He is unique because his critique of technology is informed by this Christian belief. He has influenced the ethics of persons as diverse as Daniel Berrigan, William Stringfellow and even the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski. Questions to consider about ethics and technology 1. Does technology help or hinder your quest for an ethical life? 2. Do problems caused by technology require a technical solution? 3. If you believe that human destiny is space, then is your religion science? |