The True Radical

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By Jacques Ellul on January 1, 2010 ,

The True Radical

JACQUES ELLUL is a distinguished lay theologian of the Reformed Church of France and a professor of law and government at the University of Bordeaux. He is also a social critic who has earned a wide hearing for his warnings that modern technology has eroded moral values. He is among a group of social observers who contend that the pursuit of better means for solving man 's problems has become an end in itself, a force out of control, an idolatrous influence that pervades every aspect of Western life and threatens even the supremacy of prayer in the life of the average Christian. The following article is adapted from his book Prayer and Modern Man, in which he presents his case that the god of this age—self-escalating technical progress—cannot truly change men and society. He cries out for a return to dependence on the efficacy of God in a wilderness of abortive human action that he believes is sending Western culture into moral oblivion. At times, Ellul's language seems strong, even strange to the ear that is unaccustomed to hearing exhortations to pray for the salvation of an entire society. But as you read, consider Ellul 's passion for moving thoughtful men and women back to absolute dependence on God as the one who alone has power to lift our energies out of the mire of "useful " but prayer less activism. . .

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Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul, Professor, (1912–1994) sociologist and theologian earned his doctorate in 1936 with a thesis titled “The History and Legal Nature of the Mancipium”. Ellul taught at the Faculty of Law in Montpellier. He held national office in the Reformed Church of France until 1970. He is the author of almost a thousand articles and close to fifty books which were translated into more than twelve languages. These include The Technological Society, the first volume of his trilogy on the subject, Living Faith and Hope in Time of Abandonment. His five-volume History of Institutions has been used by generations of French university students.

 

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