Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul was born on January 6th, 1912. Jacques passed away May 19th, 1994 at 82 years old. Jacques Ellul was born in Bordeaux, France.

Jacques Ellul was a French sociologist, philosopher, resistance fighter, lay theologian, and professor. He was a noted Christian anarchist and was a longtime professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Bordeaux.

Jacques was a prolific author who wrote over 60 books and more than 600 articles during his lifetime, many of which explored the impact of technology on society, propaganda, and the intersection of politics and religion.

The dominant theme of his work proved to be the threat to human freedom and religion posed by modern technology. He didn’t seek to eliminate modern technology or technique; however, he sought to change our perception of modern technique and technology to that of a tool, rather than a regulator of the status quo.

He was best friends with Bernard Charbonneau, a writer from the Aquitaine region and a key figure in the French personalist movement. They met through the Protestant Student Federation during the 1929-30 academic year. Each man acknowledged the great influence the other had on him.

By the early 30s, Jacques’s three primary sources of inspiration were Karl Barth, Karl Marx, and Soren Kierkegaard. He was first introduced to the ideas of Marx during an economics lecture course taught by Joseph Benzacar in 1929-30; Jacques studied Marx and became a prolific interpreter of his theories.

During this same time, he also encountered the Christian existentialism of Søren Kierkegaard. According to Jacques, they were his two greatest influences, and the only two authors whose work he’d read in its entirety. He also considered Karl Barth, a leader of the resistance against the German state church during World War II, to be the greatest theologian of the 20th century. Jacques also said that his dad played a great role in his life and considered the man to be his role model.

The Technological Society is just as wise and insightful today as it was when it was originally published. This book became a classic in its field, laying the groundwork for all other studies of society and technology that have followed.

Jacques offers up a penetrating analysis of our technological civilizations, illustrating how tech, which started innocuously enough as a servant of humankind, threatens to overthrow humanity itself in its ongoing creation of an environment that meets its own ends. No conversations about the dangers of tech and its unavoidable effects on society can start without carefully reading this book.

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Fans of Jacques Ellul also enjoy these authors:

1. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter Series.
2. Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series.
3. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings Series.
4. Andy Weir, author of: Project Hail Mary.
5. Neil Gaiman, author of the American Gods Series.

Jacques Ellul: F.A.Q