Jacques EllulReseñas

An excellent overview of Ellul's life and the development of his thought. Great for anyone looking for an overview of his thinking. He says it in his own words.

Could've made the same point in 40-80 pages and with that getting your message across and not annoying your readers. With the premise the author sets, I am not sure all examples work as valid arguments, and many sound as if they're coming from a ludite.

Ellul is well known for his ideas on the technological society in which we live. He explains tension in his own life between the pressures of living in a technological age and the importance of faith as played in his life. He takes the position that if faith in Christ works itself out in the reality of daily life it can set us free in today's world.Religious

This is a study of political action and the prophetic function of religion. The author believes that all our political illusions and all our social visions and their compromising provisions are merely vain attempts to conceal the fact that the real political problem is a theological one.

A book that does a remarkably effective job of shattering illusions and calling Christians back, individually and corporately, to their real raison d'etre.

"Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes" è un libro del filosofo e sociologo francese Jacques Ellul, pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1962. Il libro è un'opera fondamentale sul tema della propaganda, che Ellul definisce come "l'insieme dei metodi impiegati da un gruppo organizzato che vuole realizzare la partecipazione attiva o passiva alle sue azioni di una massa di individui, psicologicamente unificati attraverso manipolazioni psicologiche e incorporati in un'organizzazione.

Ellul sostiene che la propaganda non è un fenomeno nuovo, ma è stata utilizzata nel corso della storia come mezzo per plasmare l'opinione pubblica e mobilitare le persone per scopi politici, sociali ed economici. Identifica tre elementi principali della propaganda: manipolazione psicologica, organizzazione e integrazione. La manipolazione psicologica implica l'uso di varie tecniche per influenzare i pensieri, le emozioni e il comportamento delle persone, come fare appello alle loro paure, desideri e pregiudizi. L'organizzazione si riferisce all'uso sistematico e coordinato della propaganda da parte di un gruppo o di un'istituzione, mentre l'integrazione si riferisce al processo di incorporazione degli individui nel gruppo o nell'ideologia promossa.

Uno dei temi chiave del libro è che la propaganda non è limitata ai regimi totalitari, ma è utilizzata anche nelle società democratiche, sebbene in una forma più sottile e sofisticata. Ellul sostiene che la propaganda moderna è più efficace che mai, grazie ai progressi della tecnologia e della comunicazione di massa, che consentono la diffusione rapida e capillare di messaggi e idee.

Nel complesso, "Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes" è un'analisi stimolante e penetrante del ruolo della propaganda nel plasmare l'opinione pubblica e influenzare il cambiamento politico e sociale. Rimane un'opera classica nel campo degli studi sulla comunicazione ed è ancora oggi ampiamente letta e citata.

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Nel libro "Propaganda: la formazione delle attitudini degli uomini", Jacques Ellul discute diversi esempi di tecniche di propaganda. Ecco alcuni esempi di tecniche di propaganda che vengono affrontate nel libro:
Semplificazione: La propaganda spesso semplifica i messaggi complessi per renderli più facili da comprendere e accettare. Questo può includere l'uso di slogan o frasi di facile memorizzazione. Manipolazione emotiva: La propaganda sfrutta le emozioni delle persone per influenzare le loro opinioni e comportamenti. Può utilizzare immagini, storie o testimonianze che evocano emozioni intense. Ripetizione: La propaganda ripete costantemente i suoi messaggi per creare familiarità e convincere le persone della loro veridicità. Questo può contribuire a plasmare le opinioni e le attitudini. Creazione di nemici: La propaganda spesso crea un nemico o un gruppo da demonizzare per suscitare paura e solidificare l'unità all'interno del proprio gruppo. Questo può essere fatto attraverso stereotipi, generalizzazioni negative o esagerazioni. Controllo dell'informazione: La propaganda può cercare di controllare l'accesso alle informazioni o di manipolare la narrazione per influenzare l'opinione pubblica. Ciò può includere la censura, la diffusione di notizie false o la manipolazione dei media. Questi sono solo alcuni esempi delle tecniche di propaganda discusse nel libro di Ellul. Il libro offre un'analisi approfondita di come la propaganda influenzi le nostre attitudini e comportamenti, e di come venga utilizzata per il controllo sociale.

propaganda all the way down

Mesmo em português continua a ser uma obra confusa, contraditória e maçuda. Pode ser inovador e importante, mas não consegue ser interessante para quem o lê. Contrariando a maioria do autores, acho que é possivel escrever a História da Propaganda sem referir Ellul. O seu contributo parece-me inferior ao de Lippmann, Bernays, Goebbels ou Orwell.

Interesting as an early analysis of technology and society, and particularly for its (now disputed) claims about technological determinism.

Livro muito interessante que se revela um bom início para o estudo da propaganda. Ao longo do livro vemos como a propaganda foi evoluindo e se tornando mais complexa, sendo ajudados nesta tarefa com a descrição no final de cada capítulo das principais características da propaganda no período em análise.
Alguns dos exemplos referidos podem suscitar alguma relutância em serem considerados propaganda, mas não o sendo, como lhe vamos chamar? Todos os exemplos citados neste livro obedecem a três critérios:
Tem origem numa estrutura organizada e unida em torno de uma ideologia ou crença;
Apelam ao emocional não ao racional;
As narrativas veiculadas são produzidas para benefício dos seus promotores ou dos clientes destes.
Só no século XX a propaganda se complexificou sendo mais difícil de definir. Mas até este momento os critérios anteriores são suficientes.
Como é tradição nos autores franceses, esta obra está muito centrada na História de França, o que neste caso é menos grave do que de costume, pois quando a França não foi iniciadora dos movimentos descritos, é deles uma boa representação.

Obra nitidamente datada, porém, como se debruça sobre o tema a partir de uma perspectiva psicológica, não está desactualizado. Tem mesmo muitas considerações interessantes, sobretudo no inicio da obra quando tipifica os vários tipos de propaganda. Parece-me que o autor cai nalgumas contradições na segunda parte, quando avança para casos mais práticos, relativamente ao que afirmara na primeira quando abordara a propaganda de modo genérico. Por exemplo, na primeira parte defende que a propaganda para ser eficiente deve ser dominante, continua e recorrer a vários meios. Na segunda parte afirma que perante várias propaganda cada cidadão escolhe a que quer seguir. Outra explicação será eu ter entendido mal e não haver contradição alguma. Em determinados momentos o livro é maçudo e a vantagem de o ter lido em inglês foi ter-me obrigado a uma leitura mais atenta, sobretudo nessas partes. É uma obra fundamental para o estudo da propaganda, apesar de datada. Pena é que o autor propositadamente não quisesse incluir outras visões da propaganda, como referir-se às técnicas de propaganda. Pena é que o autor não seja conciso sendo que o único esquema que resulta desta obra é o próprio índice.½

Cuts to the heart of how money controls our decisions; and how Christians can strip money of its sacredness to preach the gospel of forgiveness and grace.

This book was published in French in 1950, and then in English translation in 1960. The English translation had some updates.

This is a very peculiar combination of being quite dated and being almost timeless. Ellul is describing a transformation of society that has been underway since probably WW1 or so. Maybe more like 1860. The core notion is like Frederick Taylor's "One Best Way". The criterion for action is efficiency. What's lost is any depth, any recognition that efficiency is about moving quickly, without reflection on where one might or ought to be headed.

Ellul portrays our world as one where systematically measured and controlled processes build on each other and intertwine with each other, to the point where the individual person is reduced to some kind of robot. It's quite remarkable to read a book like this that is 60 or 70 years old, but as fresh as the morning dew. What he describes so thoroughly is surely the world we live in.

The book is certainly dated. For example, computers barely existed then. And in 1950 Stalin was still alive. Ellul treats Soviet Communism as a full player in the dialog of technical living.

Ellul pretty much says that our technological society has its own dynamism that is really beyond any human control. There is surely no cabal at the nucleus, steering events along the technological track. Maybe 150 years ago some steering was possible, but by now the train has its own momentum.

Another aspect of the datedness of the book is that there is very little discussion of ecological limits. Our technological train certainly looks to be headed over a cliff. That's not exactly steering, but it's a shift in dynamics all the same. Ellul doesn't really spend time on futurology. His book is about what was happening at the time. For the most part, what was happening then is happening just so much more nowadays. Actually his notion that the train cannot be steered, that helps explain why the whole climate change business is such a mess. People complain about the huge corporations that pump petroleum out of the ground, but go on pumping the refined products into their vehicles. This is the pervasive web of technology that Ellul examines in this book.

A nice little tidbit - in Joanna Macy's memoir Widening Circles, she mentions that she studied with Ellul when she was a grad student in the 1950s.

I couldn't put this book down and it is even more pertinent today as it was when published in the midst of the cold war. The writing is a bit repetitive or clumsy at times, possibly due to the translation and Ellul is a notorious technophobe but the subject matter is so thoroughly discussed and is so thought provoking that it's a MUST READ.

Surprenant, essentiel, et pourtant hérétique. Son universalisme teinte toute son exégèse et lui force à des explications vraiment fantastiques parfois, presque ruinant un commentaire que, de reste, est excellent, respectueux, soigneux de l’honneur de Dieux et rempli d’admiration pour la gloire de Christ.

Un tour de force d'Ellul, que pourrait s'appeller « La fin de l'Occident ». Pour les russofiles en vigilance, il inclue la Russie dans l'Occident, donc pas d'espoir de la côté eslave ni plus.

J'aimerais avoir vu l'approche théologique meilleur développé, mais elle est toujours présente.

Il sonne un David Paul ‘Spengler’ Goldman précoce et plus profond, probablement à cause de son trinitarianisme — Goldman est juif, ça veut dire, antitrinitarien.

Ellul is always challenging and insightful. In this book he tries to demonstrate the commonalities between Christian belief and philosophical anarchy. I think he succeeds in demonstrating some of the Bible's ambivalence toward human institutions, rulers and government. I don't buy his whole argument and would say that while he nuances some of the biblical witness he can also be reductionist.

There are some great things here in terms of how Christians relate to power and government. There is also some thoughtfulness about the rejection of violence as a Christian option.

This is a train wreck almost from the get go. One of the few books I couldn't finish.

This is a train wreck almost from the get go. One of the few books I couldn't finish.

This is my first real attempt at reading one of Ellul’s books. He is an author about whom I have heard much. I have found that he is an author worth reading.

Politique de Dieu, politiques de l’homme (to give it its original French title) is a meditation on some particular narratives in 2 Kings in the Old Testament. It was written in 1966 and so stands in a different social and cultural milieu from us. It was written by a French intellectual in a provincial university who stood vis-a-vis the technocratic, centralising state based in Paris. Despite these contextual caveats, it has a message which is very relevant to our situation.

Ellul’s meditations are on the “big picture” characters of that biblical narrative: Israelite kings, prophets and foreign warlords. It is a reason, I think, why we can be alienated from this part of the Old Testament, because these concerns with national politics can seem distant from the concerns of we “little people.” Ellul does not “spiritualise” the narrative and package it for us in an easily digestible form for our private devotional consumption. He does meditate on the big picture, and how leaders behave, on how nations and societies conduct themselves.

However, I think that citizens in democratic societies should be interested in such matters because we are a direct part of the political system. If one widens the definition of politics to mean the way that power is used, then this book has even wider application. One might particularly think about church politics.

There is much in this book that also appeals directly to the individual. In the end, Ellul is concerned about how the individual operates in a technological society. He is insistent that the church cannot participate in the power games of the state, that it cannot be co-opted or co-opt. The prophetic voice of God’s people is compromised when they try to achieve God’s ends by dishonourable means. For Ellul, the means are as important as the end.

Ellul is insistent upon the absolute freedom of God and his independence from our methods and expectations. He is also insistent upon the absolute value of human freedom. His epilogue, “A Meditation on Inutility”, is a challenge to any illusions we may have that God depends on our actions and abilities. God doesn’t need our individual actions at all. Rather than a discouragement, Ellul sees this as a thing of great hope, because it frees us from the slavery of Usefulness, the thought that the only worthwhile actions are those which must be useful towards an end. Men and women who can operate in God’s world free of the need to see any result from their actions are free to truly obey God and are free from the bondage that oppresses most of us.

Ellul is refreshingly insistent upon the centrality of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. These events are not just dogmatic talismans for him: they make a real difference to the way we act and understand the world.

Jacques Ellul was a prophetic thinker. His works come with all the messiness of the prophet. Furthermore, he is dealing with the prophetic word of God, which has various applications. Read this book to be introduced to a way of reading the Old Testament with integrity. Read this book to be confronted by the God who will achieve his ends in spite of the various obstacles we may put in his way. Read this book and think deeply about how human beings may operate in God’s world.

In 1954, Jacques Ellul published his most influential work: The Technological Society. He argues that "la technique" (the drive towards ultimate efficiency) harms humanity. The Meaning of the City can be viewed as a theological accompaniment to this work.

Ellul argues from the whole sweep of the Bible that the city represents humanity's self-alienation from God. When Cain was sent wandering, he founded a city. Babel, Babylon, Sodom, Nineveh—these all build exemplify life without God.

God, however is not content to leave humanity on its own. God chose to use Jerusalem to take "a foothold in man's world" (101). Despite God's beachhead, Jerusalem's character as a city often rose to the surface. Jesus found solace in the desert, and death in Jerusalem. Revelation refers to Jerusalem by it's parent-city: Babylon. Of course, God still used the city's rebellion for his redemptive purposes.

The Bible ends with a vision of a city that has the characteristics of a garden. God capitulates and works with humans in providing a city, but it will be a city redeemed. Creation begins in a garden and ends in a city.
The Meaning of City helped me to understand the theme of 'city' throughout scripture in a way I had never before put together. Ellul self-consciously analyses the entire Bible without getting bogged down in issues of "classical exegesis, of form criticism, of the extensive research into literary and cultural history, of the new hermeneutics, and even of the more recent studies of structuralism" (xvii).

I have mentioned my frustration with systematic theology before. Ellul has reminded me just how profitable an honest systematic approach can be. He draws out the overarching themes of the canon without twisting chapter-and-verse to fit his thesis.

The power of the Internet to make the entire world one global city makes Ellul's criticism and insight more valuable today than ever before.½

We read this book in our reading club several years ago. Ellul was a French philosopher who argues that in the 4th century the alliance of Christianity with the power of the state under Constantine essentially changed the very nature of Christianity and encouraged the development of authoritarian thinking as the church now had the power of the state to enforce orthodoxy.

Take a quick look at Jacques Ellul and the descriptors pile up: historian, thinker, sociologist, philosopher, theologian, anarchist, christian, etc. It’s clear that he’s no one-dimensional academic. Excited to get a better grasp of the thinking that has influenced and challenged 20th century Christendom (not to mention culture in general), I picked up a copy of this slim CBC publication.

In 1979, Willem H. Vanderburg was tasked by the CBC to interview Ellul for a series of radio programs. The public response to the 1979 broadcast and 1980 rebroadcast led to the publication of the interviews.

When you read this book you’ll hear Ellul’s own voice, guided by Vanderburg, one of his personal acquaintances.

***Ellul’s Early Life***

Ellul was born in the South of France to a poor family. He became enamored at an early age by Marx and developed a disdain for the capitalism. Despite this early affinity, he became disillusioned by the hypocrisy evident in the Communist Party.

In 1932, Ellul became a Christian but didn’t give up Marxism. When he read Marx’s criticisms of Christianity he learned what Christians should not be. His background in Marxism gave him the sociological tools to criticize the established Church (which is not equivalent to the body of Christ).

Academic life was a natural fit for Ellul. He became an assistant lecturer at the University of Strasbourg, but after speech urging his students to stand up to German demands, he was dismissed. He was forced to join the Resistance where he raised sheep and grew potatoes.

***Ellul and Technology***

For Ellul, there have been two great sociological shifts in human existence. The first was the movement from hunter-gatherer society to agricultural community. As this shift happened, people were ripped from their familiar milieu (direct connection to the land) to a mediated relationship in villages and towns. The second shift is the shift to our technological society.

Technology was despised by Ellul. I should be more specific—he was against “the authoritarian power that the ‘technocrats’ seek to exercise, as well as the fact that technology determines our lives without our being able to intervene or, as yet, to control it” (26). This shift to a technological society has alienated many people. The elderly, for example, are particularly vulnerable.

As the first shift moved the base of power from the best hunter-gatherer to the best politician, the second shift has moved power from the aristocracy to the technical experts (the new, true aristocracy).

In response to our technological milieu, many have sought escape in religion. This explains why religion now usually takes the form of spiritualism.

Our shift to a technological society is especially difficult for the Third World. Western culture has had centuries to make the shift. “How then can the Third World endure the shock, psychologically and sociologically, when it is asked to absorb this technological apparatus and this technological system in just a few years” (77)?

It’s clear that we cannot return to a pre-technological society. We must teach our children to live simultaneously in and against technology—”a very delicate balance” (83).

***Religion v. Faith***

In light of the extreme challenge raised by our technological society and the changes it has foisted upon humanity, Ellul found firm footing in Christian faith.

It’s important to note that Christian faith is entirely different from religion. Religion is a natural product of every society—the glue which holds society together. Christian revelation is not only dissimilar to religion, it stands in opposition to it. Following Barth, Ellul believes that God is the Wholly Other who cannot be understood unless he reveals himself to us. Where religion comes from a feeling to rise toward God, Christian revelation is God’s descent to us.

In religion, we try to use the deity. In Christian revelation (95):

"We find a God who escapes us totally, whom we absolutely cannot influence, or dominate, much less punish; a God who reveals Himself when He wants to reveal Himself, a God who is very often in a place where He is not expected and only rarely in a place where He is expected, a God who is truly beyond our grasp. Thus, the human religious feeling is not at all satisfied by this situation."

Another hallmark of religion is morality. For Ellul, Christian morality is “ultimately an antimorality” (97). While we can genuinely speak of Christian ethics, Christian revelation has no morality. Here Ellul explains the difference (97):

"Morality is a kind of catalogue of rules that one must obey. An ethics is an orientation toward life that calls upon us to develop all our possibilities."

Christian revelation offers a reality—an other—that technology can never assimilate that gives the Christian a firm footing from which to criticize the systemic influence of the technological society.

I thought this book really failed to convince me, which is a shame because I'm respectively open to and practicing the two subjects of the book. Foremost, I think I disliked his attempt to reconcile anarchy and Christianity from almost legalist interpretations of Biblical passages. It's the same technique definitively-archist Christians use to justify capitalism, authority and the like. What five or ten or thirty passages *imply* seems irrelevant to me if it doesn't match the overall philosophy of religion. That's where I felt let down by Ellul... good arguments for the interpretation of passages, but too little talk of how it fits into the core principles of Christian thought.

This is a very interesting book, and one not well know to many outside France. Ellul is one of the few philosophers who devoted much of his life to the understanding of technology as a stand-alone phenomenon. With great care, the author takes you through a detailed explanation of technology's manifestation, and how it goes on to transform the world we live in. There are different thoughts on how technology can be controlled, but in the end, Ellul feels there is no stopping it. We must simply learn to live with this thing that is both part of our human definition, and a transformative force unto itself.The writing style is fairly good, having been translated with care. However, one can not help but feel some level of awkwardness which hints to the original French manuscript. I would also advise that this book be read several times. One reading can only serve to introduce readers to the basic concepts and multitude of supporting authors that Ellul uses to both compare and contrast his ideas against.