The Ethics of Freedom

Jacques Ellul

Eerdmans, 1976 - Religion - 517 pages

"Freedom, writes Ellul in his preface to this provocative new work, "is the location and condition and arena of all Christian ethics." Freedom is the ethical aspect of hope—not hope in a sense of wishful thinking or a vague confidence that things will turn out all right, but hope as a creative human response to what God has done for us. Hope and freedom are possible because of the resurrection of Christ, which did away with that necessity in the order of things whose ultimate expression is death. God's decisive act in Christ is the "already" of the ethics of freedom; there is also another side to it: the challenge that God's kingdom is not yet realized fully. Because of what God did in Christ, the Christian, once booked for death, is destined for life. This is an about-face so radical that next to it the agents of change on which so many pin their hopes today—"new politics," clever economics, technical wizardry, violence—show themselves as illusory and ineffectual. But if the freedom which Christ brings is radical, it is by no means to be confused with either capriciousness or autonomy. Biblical freedom is freedom for God, which expresses itself in obedience. It is marked by prayer, by confession, by reading Scripture as a summons to life. Like it or not, Ellul says, we are implicated in the world. Our freedom is not absolute or intrinsic. And that means that the ethics of freedom cannot be a series of easy answers. Confronted by the practical questions treated in Part IV of the present volume—questions of politics, revolution, violence, sex, money—this kind of ethics does not respond with an elaborate code of specifics. Instead it elucidates the relations to society, men, and things that freedom implies, and it gives precise articulation to the problems that arise. In the words of the French title of Book 1, freedom is a flame—and in the final analysis there can be no final analysis. Yet the penetrating challenge posed to cotemporary clichés, which has come to be a hallmark of Ellul's writings, marks this as a major contribution from a leading theological thinker."-Publisher.

Contents

• Introduction: 11
• General Bibliography: 20
• The Freedom of Christ and the Emancipation of Man: 51

About the author

Jacques Ellul, historian, theologian, and sociologist, is one of the foremost and widely known contemporary critics of modern technological society. Born in Bordeaux, France, Ellul received a doctorate in the history of law and social science in 1936 from the University of Bordeaux. In 1947 he was appointed professor of social history at the University of Bordeaux, remaining there until his retirement in 1980. Although influenced strongly by his early reading of the Bible Marx, Ellul has been unable to synthesize Marxist doctrine with Christianity. These readings and experiences have influenced his later philosophy and writing. Ellul has taught and written extensively in his areas of specialization - Roman law, the history and sociology of institutions, Marxism, propaganda, and technique in society. He also served in the French Resistance during World War II, worked as a lay pastor, and has been active with various theological organizations, including the World Council of Churches. In addition, Ellul has been active in the environmental movement and has worked to prevent juvenile delinquency and violence. Since 1969, he has been editor of Foi et Vie (Faith and Life). Although retired as a teacher, Ellul has continued writing. One of his writing projects is an autobiography to be published after his death. Ellul has provided a sociopolitical as well as a theological analysis of contemporary society in more than 40 books and 800 articles. The Technological Society (1954) established Ellul as a social critic. The book has had a major impact on the collective consciousness of a society just beginning to recognize the central role and force of technology. Here Ellul develops the notion of "technique," a concept much broader than technology: "Technique is the totality of methods rationally arrived at." In Ellul's view, technology in this sense tends to become all-encompassing. His subsequent books, especially The Political Illusion (1965) and Propaganda (1962), further develop and refine elements of this central theme. This "trilogy" of books reflects Ellul's desire to alert readers to the dangers of technological determinism and thereby help them transcend it. Because of a dialectical approach separating his sociopolitical and theological studies, Ellul has often been criticized as overly pessimistic in his sociologically based writings. His theological works, however, provide a more positive perspective and counterpoint to his sociological work. Most notable are The Politics of God and the Politics of Man (1966), The Meaning of the City (1970), and especially The Ethics of Freedom (1973). The main body of Ellul's sociopolitical critique of technical society is reflected by The Technological Society, The Political Illusion, Propaganda, and The Technological System. Among his other works are Autopsy of Revolution (1969), which questions what kind of revolution is realistically possible, The Humiliation of the Word (1981), which expands upon the concept of "human techniques", and The Technological Bluff (1990), which discusses the state of contemporary society, especially in regard to such technologies as computers and genetic engineering and the progressive "discourse" that surrounds their societal incorporation.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Ethics of Freedom
• Author: Jacques Ellul
• Publisher: Eerdmans, 1976
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jun 11, 2009
• ISBN: 0802834728, 9780802834720
• Length: 517 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / Ethics & Moral Teaching; Religion / Christian Theology / General; Religion / Theology