Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul
Born	January 6, 1912 Bordeaux, France
Died	May 19, 1994(1994-05-19) (aged 82) Pessac, France
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Non-conformist
Influences John Calvin, Søren Kierkegaard, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Christoph Blumhardt, Karl Barth, Nikolai Berdyaev, Max Weber,
Influenced Greg Boyd, Cornelius Castoriadis, Vernard Eller, Ivan Illich, Ted Kaczynski, Randal Marlin, Thomas Merton, William Stringfellow, Paul Virilio, Langdon Winner, John Zerzan

Jacques Ellul (French: [ɛlyl]; January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994) was a French philosopher, sociologist, lay theologian, and professor who was a noted Christian anarchist. Ellul was a longtime Professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Bordeaux. A prolific writer, he authored 58 books and more than a thousand articles over his lifetime, many of which discussed propaganda, the impact of technology on society, and the interaction between religion and politics. The dominant theme of his work proved to be the threat to human freedom and religion created by modern technology. Among his most influential books are The Technological Society and Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes.

Considered by many a philosopher, Ellul was by training a sociologist who approached the question of technology and human action from a dialectical viewpoint. His constant concern was the emergence of a technological tyranny over humanity. As a philosopher and theologian, he further explored the religiosity of the technological society. In 2000 the International Jacques Ellul Society was founded by a group of former Ellul students. The society, which includes scholars from a variety of disciplines, is devoted to continuing Ellul's legacy and discussing the contemporary relevance and implications of his work.

Jacques Ellul was born in Bordeaux, France on 6 January 1912 to Marthe Mendes (Protestant; French-Portuguese) and Joseph Ellul (initially an Orthodox Christian, but then a Voltarian deist by conviction; born in Malta of an Italo-Maltese father and Serb mother). As a teenager he wanted to be a naval officer but his father made him read law. He married Yvette Lensvelt in 1937.