A New Reading of Jacques Ellul: Presence and Communication in the Postmodern World

(Hardback)

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This book presents an original and dynamic reading of the twentieth-century French sociologist and theological ethicist Jacques Ellul. Adopting Elluls use of presence as a hermeneutical key to understanding his work, it examines the origins of Elluls approach to presence in his readings of Kierkegaard and the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, highlights the central structural role of presence in Elluls theological ethics, and elucidates a crucial turning point in Elluls theology following a personal crisis in Elluls faith and life. Drawing from numerous unpublished and untranslated texts, Jacob Marques Rollison argues that this crisis involves confrontation with a critique of presence manifest in Elluls reading of and engagement with Michel Foucault. Marques Rollison distills Elluls sociological critiques and theological responses to this crisis, presenting Elluls evolving theology against the background of major shifts in French intellectual life. In doing so, the author simultaneously calls for renewed engagement with Elluls prophetic thought, critically appraises Elluls dialectical theology and Marxist inheritances, and develops a robustly Protestant approach to theological communication ethics for our time.

Reviews

Jacob Rollison has woven together numerous strands in the study of Elluls writings, presenting a fresh, welcomed challenge to postmodernist trends that devalue the role of language in todays world. Anyone interested in a theologically-informed ethics of communication will profit greatly from this engaging book. -- Ted Lewis, Executive Director for the International Jacques Ellul Society

Author Bio

Jacob Rollison is on the board of directors of the International Jacques Ellul Society.