JACQUES ELLUL: AN INTRODUCTION

If someone were to ask us to describe ourselves using a string of nouns, we would probably respond with an answer including our sex, age, profession, position in a family, hobbies, etc. And sometimes those descriptors might seem to be in conflict with one another or at least not quite fit together in a single person. For example, I could describe myself as a chemist, inventor, painter and amateur Bible scholar. To some people's viewpoint, those pursuits might seem to be incompatible with one another.

It is just as hard to characterize in easy terms a Christian author that most of you have probably never heard of before: Jacques Ellul. He was a leader in the French resistance during WWII and later a professor of history and sociology who died in 1994. Some terms that he used to describe himself or that others have attached to him include: Bible commentator, Calvinist, philosopher, existentialist, socialist, anarchist, and universalist. Despite his lack of solid evangelical credentials, or perhaps because of that fact, several of his books are definitely worth considering.

Most of his books in one way or another warn the reader against the evils of political power, economic power, materialism, technology, nationalism and scientism. And thus, Ellul is probably best known for his sociological and theological writings, the most well known of which include The Technological Bluff, The Subversion of Christianity, and Money & Power. But I have personally gotten the most out of his Bible commentaries listed below. That is not to say that I agree with everything he says, but he always has a unique slant on every text that he tackles.

The Politics of God & The Politics of Man (II Kings)

Here the author zeroes in on the stories of seven major characters, both good and bad, found in II Kings. As Geoffrey Bromiley says in his introduction to the book, “It is not an academic work in the accepted sense. Although based on biblical passages, it is not a scientific commentary...It simply consists of readings and meditations in the Second Book of Kings...it is doubtful whether any academic work could present a more authentically radical discussion of theology and politics than what we have with such deceptive simplicity in these pages.” This book is definitely worth reading.

The Judgment of Jonah

If you think that the Book of Jonah is just an interesting, if somewhat improbable, fable, then you need to read this book by Ellul. Although he does cover all the events in Jonah's career that we are told about, he does it through a lens that seriously treats Jonah as a type of Christ, as stated in texts such as Matthew 12:39-41.

If You Are the Son of God: the Suffering and Temptations of Jesus

Part One of this interesting 100-page essay starts with Isaiah's prophecy of the coming Suffering Servant and demonstrates how Jesus experienced suffering in his life. Part Two starts with the temptations by Satan in the wilderness and reviews the Gospel accounts showing the continuation of these three types of temptations to which he was subjected throughout the rest of his life. Ellul manages to cover a lot of biblical ground in very few pages.

The Meaning of the City

Ellul traces the concept of human civilization as typified by the city all through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in order to demonstrate that God took an institution originally designed by mankind to make him self-sufficient apart from Him and eventually blessed it (in the concept of the cities of refuge, see Numbers 25) and transformed it entirely into the final image of God's dwelling place with man on a renewed earth (Revelation 20-21).

What I especially liked about this book, besides his actual ideas, was his approach to Scripture by taking one simple concept or theme and tracing its occurrence throughout the whole Bible to look for trends that reveal God's working in human history. When it appeared in English in 1970, Time magazine said it was “Perhaps the most important theological book of the year.”

An Unjust God? (Romans 9-11)

This slim volume tackles these three difficult chapters by Paul dealing with the future of Israel. Whether you are a dispensationalist who feels that all of God's plan for humanity revolves around the ethnic Jews or a successionist who feels that Israel's role as God's people has been totally supplanted by the church, you will find your ideas challenged by the the concepts in this book.

Apocalypse (The Book of Revelation)

I would not pick up this book to read if you are looking for insights into the exact details and timing of end-time events. Instead Ellul takes what has been called an Idealist approach to Revelation. Thus, he treats the sometime bizarre events in the book as symbols of forces operating throughout time that act in opposition to God and His people. He is certainly not the first author to discuss Revelation in those terms, but he is one of the best. It is another one of my favorite books by Ellul.

In summary, if you are tired of reading only devotional study guides on the Bible or have begun to feel that scholarly commentaries are too mired down in detail to deal with larger issues, you might give the above books a try.