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Perspectives on Our Age: Jacques Ellul Speaks on His Life and Work
Originally broadcast on CBC Radio's Ideas as a series of interviews, Ellul's first-person approach here makes his ideas accessible to readers looking for new ways of understanding our society. Perspectives on Our Age also gives unique new insight into Ellul's life, his work, and the origins and development of his beliefs and theories.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Jacques Ellul
118 books457 followersBaptised Catholic, Ellul became an atheist and Marxist at 19, and a Christian of the Reformed Church at 22. During his Marxist days, he was a member of the French Communist Party. During World War II, he fought with the French Underground against the Nazi occupation of France.
Educated at the Universities of Bordeaux and Paris, he taught Sociology and the History of Law at the Universities of Strausbourg and Montpellier. In 1946 he returned to Bordeaux where he lived, wrote, served as Mayor, and taught until his death in 1994.
In the 40 books and hundreds of articles Ellul wrote in his lifetime, his dominant theme was always the threat to human freedom posed by modern technology. His tenor and methodology is objective and scholarly, and the perspective is a sociological one. Few of his books are overtly political -- even though they deal directly with political phenomena -- and several of his books, including "Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes" and "The Technological Society" are required reading in many graduate communication curricula.
Ellul was also a respected and serious Christian theologian whose 1948 work, "The Presence of the Kingdom," makes explicit a dual theme inherent, though subtly stated, in all of his writing, a sort of yin and yang of modern technological society: sin and sacramentality.
Educated at the Universities of Bordeaux and Paris, he taught Sociology and the History of Law at the Universities of Strausbourg and Montpellier. In 1946 he returned to Bordeaux where he lived, wrote, served as Mayor, and taught until his death in 1994.
In the 40 books and hundreds of articles Ellul wrote in his lifetime, his dominant theme was always the threat to human freedom posed by modern technology. His tenor and methodology is objective and scholarly, and the perspective is a sociological one. Few of his books are overtly political -- even though they deal directly with political phenomena -- and several of his books, including "Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes" and "The Technological Society" are required reading in many graduate communication curricula.
Ellul was also a respected and serious Christian theologian whose 1948 work, "The Presence of the Kingdom," makes explicit a dual theme inherent, though subtly stated, in all of his writing, a sort of yin and yang of modern technological society: sin and sacramentality.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 29, 2021
This book, the only one by Jacques Ellul in English at the main Montreal public library, was my first attempt to read this author that I have heard so much about. It was not quite what I expected, based as it is off some interviews from the 80's. Nevertheless, it was thought-provoking and displayed that originality of thought for which he is famous.
Here are some rather scattered thoughts on what struck me about the book.
I was surprised to find that Marx was a major influence on him throughout his life. He eventually rejected the Communist cause due to his interactions with their groups, and what he saw as their departure from Marx's thought. He speaks of "a revolutionary tendency in me." He said it was Marx who "convinced me that people in the various historical situations they find themselves, have a revolutionary function in regard to their society."
Next was Marx's emphasis on the poor, but in this paragraph he claims that "Marx was not opposed to the family. He himself started a family and was a good father who married off his daughters and so on." This is patently false, and certainly hinders my ability to take at face value his evaluation of Marx. See Paul Johnson's book "Intellectuals" for a rather more sombre view of Marx's family life. It was not pretty. Ellul's takeaway from all this however is his decision to side with those who are poor (in the sense of alienation), the 'excluded' such as the aged, the unfit, the fringes.
Ellul eventually rejected Marx's atheism. He was disappointed however by the religious authorities that he turned to for answers to his questions, such as the local pastor. He embraced an intellectual attitude where he did not look to anyone to explain things to him but sought out solutions to problems questions that he had. This would certainly encourage originality of thought.
Turning to his conversion to Christianity, Ellul says that the Bible offered answers to his existential questions, such as the meaning of life, death, and love. The Bible gave answers on a different level than Marx had. "I was converted - not by someone, nor can I say I converted myself. It is a very personal story, but I will say that it was a very brutal and very sudden conversion. I became a Christian and I was obliged to profess myself a Christian in 1932. From that moment on, I lived through the conflict and the contradiction between what became the center of my life - this faith, this reference to the Bible, which I henceforth read from a different perspective - and what I knew of Marx and did not wish to abandon. For I did not see why I should have to give up the things that Marx said about society and explained about economy and injustice in the world. I saw no reason to reject them just because I was now a Christian."
It seems that he lived the rest of his intellectual life with these two sources of authority, Marx and the Bible, refusing to let go of either one, nor to create two domains, one material and one spiritual, but forged on in some kind of dialectic holding the two together in a kind of "permanent contradiction". Fascinating,
He joined the reformed Church in France, which was only faintly Calvinist at that time. But it led him to read Calvin, who he found very interesting for his "rigour, intransigence, and total use of the Scriptures." He went through a Calvin phase but then moved on to Barth. Indeed, Calvin was completely eclipsed by Karl Barth.
When World War 2 arrived, he was dismissed from his teaching role, his father was arrested, and his wife was in danger of being arrested. So he joined the Resistance. After the war, he tried to influence change in the French reformed Church for 15 years, but failed due to the "traditionalism of Christians," and the "indifference toward change." His verdict: "Once a movement becomes an institution, it is lost." I can only say that, given the nature of the far-reaching changes he had in mind, it seems to me that the mechanism of that institution protected it from being radically redefined. But I don't know enough about the details of it all to say whether that was for the good or not.
Ellul then tried to change the study of theology: "I kept trying to find what would be possible for a Christian who analyzes society with the apparatus of Marx's thinking."
As I said, I was surprised to find so much Marx in Ellul's intellectual biography. Given the way Marxist categories have so profoundly infected and poisoned so much of Western (especially North-American) intellectual life, and the allergic reaction that the name Marx now triggers in many, it certainly seems to me that Ellul will not gain many friends or eager ears in my circles.
But now we move on to his seminal insights into technology and 'technique'. In studying the modern world he came to see that technique, as defined by him, had a similar or greater explanatory power than did capital in the works of Marx for the 19th century.
Distinguishing technique from technology, or from machinery, Ellul points out the common theme of efficiency, what we now know as 'hacks' or the relentless pursuit of ever greater efficiency in every sphere and domain of our lives, including our minds, our sleep, our bodies, our meetings, our organizations, our transportation, our schedules, our athletics, our psychology, etc ad infinitum. "This expansion of technique to human groups, to human life, is one of the essential characteristics of our world."
This seems to me to be precisely right. Ellul is helpful in exposing how technology and 'technique' have a kind of internal logic and telos which override whatever human aims we claim for the technology we invent. It remains the case that someone comes along, builds on what has been done so far, and finds ever better ways of applying technology to more of life, revolutionizing sphere after sphere of human life to conform to this overriding principle of efficiency and inter-connectivity.
It is important to be clear-eyed about this reality and to take stock of our relationship with technology. We must never believe the lie that we merely use technology like a tool. Instead, technology shapes us more deeply than we usually like to recognize. And this process shows no sign of slowing down - indeed the rate of acceleration is increasing. Instead of being carried along in the powerful current, we must ask hard questions about how much technology we should really embrace in our lives, and ask how much of that technology is actually leading to human flourishing.
But to answer that question, one needs to have a definition of humanity, of the good, and therefore of what the 'good life' is.
Here are some rather scattered thoughts on what struck me about the book.
I was surprised to find that Marx was a major influence on him throughout his life. He eventually rejected the Communist cause due to his interactions with their groups, and what he saw as their departure from Marx's thought. He speaks of "a revolutionary tendency in me." He said it was Marx who "convinced me that people in the various historical situations they find themselves, have a revolutionary function in regard to their society."
Next was Marx's emphasis on the poor, but in this paragraph he claims that "Marx was not opposed to the family. He himself started a family and was a good father who married off his daughters and so on." This is patently false, and certainly hinders my ability to take at face value his evaluation of Marx. See Paul Johnson's book "Intellectuals" for a rather more sombre view of Marx's family life. It was not pretty. Ellul's takeaway from all this however is his decision to side with those who are poor (in the sense of alienation), the 'excluded' such as the aged, the unfit, the fringes.
Ellul eventually rejected Marx's atheism. He was disappointed however by the religious authorities that he turned to for answers to his questions, such as the local pastor. He embraced an intellectual attitude where he did not look to anyone to explain things to him but sought out solutions to problems questions that he had. This would certainly encourage originality of thought.
Turning to his conversion to Christianity, Ellul says that the Bible offered answers to his existential questions, such as the meaning of life, death, and love. The Bible gave answers on a different level than Marx had. "I was converted - not by someone, nor can I say I converted myself. It is a very personal story, but I will say that it was a very brutal and very sudden conversion. I became a Christian and I was obliged to profess myself a Christian in 1932. From that moment on, I lived through the conflict and the contradiction between what became the center of my life - this faith, this reference to the Bible, which I henceforth read from a different perspective - and what I knew of Marx and did not wish to abandon. For I did not see why I should have to give up the things that Marx said about society and explained about economy and injustice in the world. I saw no reason to reject them just because I was now a Christian."
It seems that he lived the rest of his intellectual life with these two sources of authority, Marx and the Bible, refusing to let go of either one, nor to create two domains, one material and one spiritual, but forged on in some kind of dialectic holding the two together in a kind of "permanent contradiction". Fascinating,
He joined the reformed Church in France, which was only faintly Calvinist at that time. But it led him to read Calvin, who he found very interesting for his "rigour, intransigence, and total use of the Scriptures." He went through a Calvin phase but then moved on to Barth. Indeed, Calvin was completely eclipsed by Karl Barth.
When World War 2 arrived, he was dismissed from his teaching role, his father was arrested, and his wife was in danger of being arrested. So he joined the Resistance. After the war, he tried to influence change in the French reformed Church for 15 years, but failed due to the "traditionalism of Christians," and the "indifference toward change." His verdict: "Once a movement becomes an institution, it is lost." I can only say that, given the nature of the far-reaching changes he had in mind, it seems to me that the mechanism of that institution protected it from being radically redefined. But I don't know enough about the details of it all to say whether that was for the good or not.
Ellul then tried to change the study of theology: "I kept trying to find what would be possible for a Christian who analyzes society with the apparatus of Marx's thinking."
As I said, I was surprised to find so much Marx in Ellul's intellectual biography. Given the way Marxist categories have so profoundly infected and poisoned so much of Western (especially North-American) intellectual life, and the allergic reaction that the name Marx now triggers in many, it certainly seems to me that Ellul will not gain many friends or eager ears in my circles.
But now we move on to his seminal insights into technology and 'technique'. In studying the modern world he came to see that technique, as defined by him, had a similar or greater explanatory power than did capital in the works of Marx for the 19th century.
Distinguishing technique from technology, or from machinery, Ellul points out the common theme of efficiency, what we now know as 'hacks' or the relentless pursuit of ever greater efficiency in every sphere and domain of our lives, including our minds, our sleep, our bodies, our meetings, our organizations, our transportation, our schedules, our athletics, our psychology, etc ad infinitum. "This expansion of technique to human groups, to human life, is one of the essential characteristics of our world."
This seems to me to be precisely right. Ellul is helpful in exposing how technology and 'technique' have a kind of internal logic and telos which override whatever human aims we claim for the technology we invent. It remains the case that someone comes along, builds on what has been done so far, and finds ever better ways of applying technology to more of life, revolutionizing sphere after sphere of human life to conform to this overriding principle of efficiency and inter-connectivity.
It is important to be clear-eyed about this reality and to take stock of our relationship with technology. We must never believe the lie that we merely use technology like a tool. Instead, technology shapes us more deeply than we usually like to recognize. And this process shows no sign of slowing down - indeed the rate of acceleration is increasing. Instead of being carried along in the powerful current, we must ask hard questions about how much technology we should really embrace in our lives, and ask how much of that technology is actually leading to human flourishing.
But to answer that question, one needs to have a definition of humanity, of the good, and therefore of what the 'good life' is.
February 1, 2015
This is an excellent, brief introduction to Jacques Ellul's life and his analysis of technology, society and the Christian Revelation. This book is divided into four short sections, the first being a fascinating biographical sketch of Ellul, the middle two being an exploration of how technology has radically altered our society and the last section being a reflection on how Christians should live in light of the Christian Revelation and the technological society. Ellul advocates living as "mutants," as those who USE technology but who are not OF technology. Marx's influence on Ellul also comes out in these short essays.
April 3, 2010
Four short chapters, one of biography, the other three short summaries of his ideas on technology, history, and faith. Insightful, provocative, and I wish I could ask him questions and to explain further. Hopefully more comments later.
April 24, 2025
full transparency -- I haven't entirely finished this, it's just driving me crazy to have like 3 books that are more or less idle but "I promise I'll finish this one day guys" filed under Reading... One of those books that has stayed in peripheries like schoolbags and such such that I have never sat and read a solid 20 out of it. I don't want to say I'm the better for it, but despite it's readability, it is something to mull over thoroughly thoroughly -- it's also the only book of philosophy where I'm not only lightly agreeing at each step of the induction, I'm enthusiastically agreeing. This has substantially impacted my thinking, like, on the level of "Orality and Literacy" (and I will never shut up about the authority of text in the secondary orality). it's just very good. good thoughts. very important and if nothing else, gives a rational root to my hatred of the faustian bargain of the west and the avoidable unsurmountable hubris of climate change (just 15 years guys!!!!!) and the only thing that keeps us civilized is rationalizing these reptilian feelings (not trying to open a can of worms, trying to practice aphorisms). really recommend for anyone who feels like Ted K in these trying times but wants a bit of framework to breathe in. after all, not to go there (I don't think Canada has the budget for that many informants, hi!), but Luigi's hubris is that he thought his act was the first honest confrontation -- and all good history teaches us is the grand annoyance of Eternal Recurrence (who were those two Italian-American tterroristts that were executed 105 years prior to him?). Jacques Ellul is a deep comfort to me that I'm not alone in the negative evaluation of efficiency et al and its sad inevitability, especially in the face of climate change when of course why would we unite? We NEED more Speed Cameras in the suburbs! A pandemic of problem solvers in a world desperate for theory builders... And I'm not even Christian!
June 30, 2017
Jacques Ellul is an interesting thinker in the realm of technology, society and propaganda. While most of his works are rather dense, this little book is a small overview of his ideas. His concept that technology, once released, takes on a life of its own (sort of like Frankenstein) is fascinating. It is a bit like Pandora's Box...once the contents are released, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to put them back into the box. This book is also autobiographical. It will help the reader to learn where the man came from, and the development of his ideas over the span of his life.
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December 13, 2020I feel as though this particular book of theory is a little too advanced for me right now. I think I need to read Marx before I can really understand Ellul's critique of some of Marx's ideas, especially when it comes to religion. I have Capital on the way so with that being said, I will not be rating this book until I am able to re-read it after finishing all three volumes of Capital. I did finish it, but I got too lost at times to really take it i.
January 30, 2021
This is the second book by Jacques Ellul that I have read in the last month after a lifetime of not noticeably encountering his writings. His views regarding his life, our age, present, future, faith & religion were quite fascinating. On top of that you two appendices to try and resolve misunderstandings. I will continue to look for more of his work and hope to own a hard copy at some point for easy reference.
August 19, 2022
There is a very real possibility that I am just not smart enough to grapple with Ellul's ideas, but I found it hard to wrap my head around the concept of the three milieus. It's difficult to tell if there's some profound thinking at play here or whether Ellul is just a master of obfuscation through the use of jargon.
March 9, 2021
I read this for a class, Ellul has some interesting thoughts that I think can be translated into 2021 (although some rather controversial opinions)
November 22, 2015
Our prof told us this book would be a short and relatively easy read, although I remained skeptical. The last philosophical book we had to read for the course gave me a rather hard time, and was a burden to read. However, as soon as I began “Perspectives on our Age” I managed to get into it rather quickly and stay with the consistent flow throughout.
I liked many of Ellul’s points, and agreed with him on most things. The writing was clear and to-the-point, to put it simply, and that’s what I like when it comes to the more philosophical themes. It doesn’t help when writers try to be wordy or flowery, or repeat the same thing dozens of times in order to make their point come across. Yes, Ellul had a clear love for the word “milieu”, which would cluster in passages throughout the book, and he clearly loved the term technique to the point where sometimes I felt a bit dizzy from his layered explanations that would force me to pause and resurface before continuing to read. But I found these to be very minor issues that didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book. He makes some very valid points, some quite obvious that should be quite apparent today, and others that I didn’t know or think about before. It was a worthwhile and thought-provoking read that I enjoyed, and a great introduction to a writer that I probably never would’ve heard of otherwise if it wasn’t for my university course.
I liked many of Ellul’s points, and agreed with him on most things. The writing was clear and to-the-point, to put it simply, and that’s what I like when it comes to the more philosophical themes. It doesn’t help when writers try to be wordy or flowery, or repeat the same thing dozens of times in order to make their point come across. Yes, Ellul had a clear love for the word “milieu”, which would cluster in passages throughout the book, and he clearly loved the term technique to the point where sometimes I felt a bit dizzy from his layered explanations that would force me to pause and resurface before continuing to read. But I found these to be very minor issues that didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book. He makes some very valid points, some quite obvious that should be quite apparent today, and others that I didn’t know or think about before. It was a worthwhile and thought-provoking read that I enjoyed, and a great introduction to a writer that I probably never would’ve heard of otherwise if it wasn’t for my university course.
May 16, 2010
Ellul is one of those thinkers who I never agree with quite as much as I hope to (a little like Ivan Illich), but whose thought nonetheless always energizes me, inspiring many new questions and encouraging me to continue to read more of his work. Perspectives on Our Age may finally move me to read his The Technological Society, which I've sort of always meant to read anyhow.
April 2, 2014
a great, concise look at a few of the main points in the work of Jacques Ellul by Ellul himself. this book starts with a short autobiography, depicting his trajectory and ends with a couple of dynamic essays by Willem Vanderburg on the subject of technique and so on.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews