Islam et judéo-christianisme: texte inédit

by Jacques Ellul

Ces textes inédits de Jacques Ellul, « qu’il faut lire comme un testament » précise Alain Besançon dans sa préface, ont été publiés dans la collection Intervention philosophique. Le premier, resté à l''état de brouillon au moment de sa mort, est une analyse d''une grande richesse des rapports entre islam et judéo-christianisme sur le plan religieux. Partant de trois principes censés attester la parenté de l''islam et du christianisme, il montre que théologiquement il n''en est rien, que ces « trois piliers du conformisme » (fils d''Abraham, monothéisme, religions du Livre), établissent en réalité des rapprochements abusifs masquant une différence fondamentale. « La ressemblance des mots cachent totalement les oppositions, à la fois du sens et de l''être ». Le deuxième texte préfaçait l''édition anglaise du livre de Bat Ye''or sur le problème du dhimmi, celui qui vit dans une société musulmane sans être musulman, avec un statut spécial de protégé, une situation arbitraire contraire au principe des droits de l''homme et analysait l''importance de cette étude « très honnête, peu polémique et aussi objective qu ''il est possible ».

Genres: Theology

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2004

About the author

Baptised 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.

Reviews

[Hartman Out · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conclusion pertinente: " ... il y a des ressemblances de mots entre la Révélation biblique et l'islam qui cachent la différence fondamentale .... les oppositions à la fois du Sens et de l'Être." (p. 91)

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Common Idea #1: We are all children of Abraham

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all descended from the sons of Abraham. Ellul questions this claim. Yes, Ishmael is a biological son of Abraham, but he is not the child of the covenant. Ishmael has been blessed, but it is a temporal, not a covenant blessing.

Isaac on the other hand is the child of blessing, of promise. He is Abraham’s sole bearer of “the heritage, covenant, and promise”. So, to claim we are all children of Abraham doesn’t mean much.
Furthermore, the NT makes it clear that those who are the true descendants of Abraham are those who do good works. The physical relationship may be true for Islam, but it was also true for the Pharisees, yet they were still denounced as false children of Abraham. What matters is the spiritual relationship, marked by good works, not physical relationship.

Common Idea #2 Monotheism

There may be some value in asserting that Jews, Christians, and Muslims share agreement on what is God. But when we consider “who is God?”, then the perceived commonalities disappear. And “who is God” is a far more important question to answer than merely “what is God.”

Ellul also points out that much of Islam rejects that Christianity is monotheistic. The trinity is a polytheistic belief, not a monotheistic belief. Our monotheism is very different from Islam’s because of the trinity, the incarnation, and love.

Jesus is ultimately who we say God is. And in our understandings of Jesus, we see a sharp diversion as well. Islam records Jesus doing three miracles, but they are all miracles of power, and none of them are done from love. Furthermore, they depict Jesus doing signs to help people believe in him, something contrary to the way he is portrayed in the gospels.

The most significant difference between Christians and Muslims about Jesus is regarding the crucifixion though. Islam claims not Jesus, but another was crucified in his place. Yet this belief is precisely counter to the Christian understanding where Christ took our place.

Common Idea #3 Religions of the Book

Other religions are based on a book besides Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (think Hitler’s Germany or Mao’s China), so that isn’t itself enough of a point of commonality.

There are many differences between the Bible and the Koran. They have very different origins. The Koran came from one author via direct inspiration. The Bible came from many different writers across thousands of years.

The manner of inspiration is important. Since the Koran is the direct, dictated, inspired word of Allah, it must be read in Arabic and can’t be translated. The Bible is written through humans (though it is inspired), and as such can be translated over and over again in different languages and cultures. What happens is that the Word of God comes to a prophet, who then writes it down as faithfully again. The Bible only truly speaks with God’s voice when it is translated faithfully into our own native tongue. Then it once again becomes the Word of God.

When we consider the Bible’s depiction of God and the Koran’s depiction of God, a huge gulf is opened up between the two. Allah is arbitrary, does not love, and cannot relate to humans. YHWH, by contrast, is only known through relationship, loves deeply, and is constant.

Ellul concludes by acknowledging that there are similarities in words, but when we look closer at what these words mean, the similarities disappear.

The Influence of Islam

This essay was originally part of Ellul’s earlier work, The Subversion of Christianity.

Preface to The Dhimmi

In this preface to Bat Ye’or’s work, Ellul argues passionately for the scholarly nature of her book, and also provides us with a summary of her argument. In brief, that the Muslim world has not evolved in its attitude toward those non-Muslims, dhimmi, living in their midst. They are consistently second-rank people with only granted rights.

Foreward to the Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam

In this shorter foreward, Ellul writes about Bat Ye’or’s new book on jihad. His analysis is more concise, less polemical, and more complex than the previous section. Having read neither book I can’t say whether the prefaces were good representations of the works or not.

Review

This book is a mixed bag. The first half contained some interesting insights by Ellul in his comparison between Christianity and Islam. It also contains some fascinating theology on the priority of relationship for Christianity.

The latter half of the book is underwhelming. I’ve already read Ellul’s The Subversion of Christianity, so that essay, while interesting, didn’t give me anything I hadn’t already read. The two introductions to Bat Ye’or’s works would most likely be more interesting if I were to read those books.

So overall, as can be typical for Ellul, there is some fantastic stuff, some eyebrow raising stuff, and some mediocre stuff. There wasn’t enough genuine insights to elevate this book beyond three stars however.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by a French Protestant theologian, and looks at the relationship between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It was written in the early 1990s, and was left unfinished at the time of the author's death. As always, the author makes some interesting points, but overall, I didn't really like the book. He wants to emphasize the differences between the monotheistic faiths, which is fine, but he falls in to the trap that many other authors have of comparing his own faith at its best to other faiths at their worst. Also, he mocks contemporary Europeans for their concern for refugees/immigrants, and their efforts to make amends for misdeeds during the colonial period (despite strongly acknowledging that those misdeeds existed). He complains about European self-hatred, something which he seems to have in common with contemporary anti-immigrant parties. Interestingly, he doesn't understand the need for immigrant labor in aging societies, and seems unaware of demographic changes that were already well underway at the time of his writing. He considers the idea that Muslims could become Christians to be absurd, which I found ironic, as I picked up two books by Middle Eastern Christian converts at the library at the same time that I picked this book up. The writer is a Reformed Protestant, and he shows his rather narrow sectarian leanings (even arguing that Catholics are not proper Christians), which I think color his views of minority religions.

[Fefe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libretto molto breve che mostra in modo convincente come le religioni Islam e Cristianesimo non possono essere ricondotte ad un unico Dio. L'autore prende in considerazione tre considerazioni sulla loro affinità, spesso ripetute superficialmente, e le decostruisce. Ho trovato preziosa la riflessione sulla Bibbia, in rapporto al Corano. Infatti, da quale autorità rivestiamo questi testi dipendono anche precise posizioni teologiche. La Bibbia, a differenza del Corano, è scritta da uomini che interpretano un messaggio ricevuto da Dio. L'uomo non è ricevitore passivo della Rivelazione, mero amanuense: nella religione cristiana è l'interlocutore privilegiato dell'Onnipotente, pienamente coinvolto nel confronto con il Creatore e investito da Lui di un compito missionario.
La Bibbia... il racconto dell'uomo in lotta con Dio, nel bene e nel male.

[Valentín Serrano García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un texto interesante, pues Ellul era, además de un gran teórico de la técnica, un buen teólogo. Pero debe saberse que hay mucho sesgo en su perspectiva y una clara intención partidista.
Asumiendo esta premisa, da sobre lo que pensar.

[Jess Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellul explique très bien la non-compréhension des chrétiens (ou plutôt des occidentaux ?) de l'islam et de son rapport au christianisme et des erreurs de certains éléments de langage très répandu.

[Vagabond of Letters, DLitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of essays - one star and five, piercing insight and vile heresy, sometimes in the same paragraph. Nevertheless interesting, and not truly three stars, but both one, and five.