Jacques Ellul and the Technological Bridge to Nowhere

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

Jacques Ellul, French sociologist, offers a compelling case that pursuit of technology dehumanizes and demoralizes societies. In The Presence of the Kingdom, he said, “In this terrible dance which has been unleashed…the aim of life has been forgotten, the end has been left behind. Man has set out a tremendous speed—to go nowhere.” This paper session considers the grounds and implications of Ellul’s thought, applying his work to the ubiquity of media technology worldwide.

Sub Unit

• Media Ecology Association

Chair

• Steven Reagles, Bethany Lutheran College

Individual Presentations

• Digital Media and Ellul’s Global Concentration Camp - Read Mercer Schuchardt, Wheaton College

• The Humble Rhetoric of Jacques Ellul - Calvin Troup, Duquesne University

• Keeping the Common in Community: La Technique, ‘the City,’ and other ‘Environmental’ Hazards in the Contemporary Church - Stephanie Bennett, Palm Beach Atlantic University

• Ellul in the Christian Humanist Tradition - Arthur W. Hunt, University of Tennessee, Martin

Respondent

• Peter Fallon, Roosevelt University