11 Quotes & Sayings By Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul was born in Paris into a family of expatriates. He was an orphan when he was seven years old, and spent his youth in different places, such as Germany and the United States. He studied theology and philosophy at the universities of Nancy and Paris, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy. After working in radio and television for some time, he entered the Catholic ministry, but soon gave it up to become a political scientist at the University of Lyon Read more

His publications include: The Technological Society (1954), The New Encyclical (1959), The Subversion of Language (1960), La Technique et la pensée (1964), La Technique et ses enjeux contemporains (1966), The Technological Society Revisited (1972), The Image (1975). His most recent books are: L'Homme-machine (1979), Question de linguistique (1981), L'Abondance ou l'Abondance de l'avenir? (1982) and Les Deux Sources de la liberté: l’Esprit et la technique (1982).

No matter what God's power may be, the first aspect...
1
No matter what God's power may be, the first aspect of God is never that of the absolute Master, the Almighty. It is that of the God who puts himself on our human level and limits himself. Jacques Ellul
2
Prayer holds together the shattered fragments of creation. It makes history possible. Jacques Ellul
3
Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity. Jacques Ellul
4
For when man is faced with a curse he answers, "I'll take care of my problems." And he puts everything to work to become powerful, to keep the curse from having its effects. He creates the arts and the sciences, he raises an army, he constructs chariots, he builds cities. The spirit of might is a response to the divine curse. Jacques Ellul
5
The propagandist naturally cannot reveal the true intentions of the principal for whom he acts... That would be to submit the projects to public discussion, to the scrutiny of public opinion, and thus to prevent their success... Propaganda must serve instead as a veil for such projects, masking true intentions. Jacques Ellul
6
If man--if each one of us--abdicates his responsibilities with regard to values; if each one of us limits himself to leading a trivial existence in a technological civilization, with greater adaptation and increasing success as his sole objectives; if we do not even consider the possibility of making a stand against these determinants, then everything will happen as I have described it, and the determinates will be transformed into inevitabilities. Jacques Ellul
7
The fact of knowing how to read is nothing the whole point is knowing what to read. Jacques Ellul
8
Prayer holds together the shattered fragments of the creation. It makes history possible. Jacques Ellul
9
The Holy Spirit alone can do this, the Holy Spirit alone can establish this link with one's neighbor. Jacques Ellul
10
Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society. Jacques Ellul