Jacques Ellul (original) (raw)

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Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul in 1990
Born January 6, 1912Bordeaux, France
Died May 19, 1994(1994-05-19) (aged 82)Pessac, France
Era 20th century philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School non-conformist
Influences John Calvin, Søren Kierkegaard, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Christoph Blumhardt, Karl Barth, Nikolai Berdyaev
Influenced Langdon Winner, Ivan Illich, Greg Boyd

Jacques Ellul (January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994) was a French philosopher, sociologist, theologian, and Christian anarchist. He wrote several books about the "technological society", and about Christianity and politics, such as Anarchy and Christianity (1991) – anarchism and Christianity are socially following the same goal. A philosopher who approached technology from a deterministic viewpoint. Ellul was professor at the University of Bordeaux. He authored some 40 books and hundreds of articles over his lifetime, the dominant theme of which has been the threat to human freedom and Christian faith created by modern technology. Ellul spoke often about the emergence of a "technological tyranny" over humanity.[1]

Ellul has been credited with saying the phrase, "Think globally, act locally."[2]

  1. Ellul, Jacques. The Technological Society, trans. John Wilkinson (New York: Random House, 1964), 79.
  2. Marlin, Randal. (2002) Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, p. 34.