Theology, Ethics, and Technology in the Work of Jacques Ellul and Paul Virilio examines biographical and textual connections between sociologist-theologian Jacques Ellul and philosopher-phenomenologist Paul Virilio. Through an examination of their embeddedness in the socio-historical context of postwar France, Michael Morelli identifies a relationship between these critics of technology that bears the marks of a nascent theological tradition. He shows from various vantage points how Ellul and Virilio’s nascent tradition exposes technology as modernity’s primary idol; and, how these thinkers use multiple disciplines—including history, sociology, philosophy, phenomenology, theology, and ethics—to resist the perilous consequences of the modern world’s worship of power and the kinds of technologies this misdirected worship produces. Jacques Ellul’s death in 1994 and Paul Virilio’s death in 2018 may have prevented the maturation of this nascent theological tradition, but this book will aid in this tradition’s ripening through the presentation of an illuminating way to read these two unique, prophetic intellectuals.

The hermeneutic contribution of the French theologian and sociologist Jacques Ellul is given new prominence in this striking collection of essays, revealing him to be one of the twentieth century's most creative and insightful interpreters of the Bible. With a breadth of contributors ranging from established biblical scholars and theologians to pastoral practitioners, from top Ellul scholars to emerging voices - and including six first-time English translations of Ellul's own articles - this volume not only provides a detailed overview of Ellul's biblical approach but also constitutes a crucial moment in Ellul's theological reception. The essays gathered here represent a clear demonstration that the full potential of Ellul's theological interpretation of Scripture to rejuvenate and reconfigure contemporary biblical hermeneutics has yet to be seen.

In the mid-twentieth century, a certain idea of technology emerged in the work of many influential political theorists: a critical, catastrophic concept of technology, entangled with the apocalyptic fears fuelled by two all-consuming world wars and the looming nuclear threat. Drawing on the work of theorists such as Hannah Arendt, Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger and Herbert Marcuse, Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought explores the critical idea of technology as both a response to a dramatically changing world, and a radical political critique of Cold War liberalism.

Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland and Word examines the significance of the desert from biblical, theological, and ethical perspectives. This is achieved primarily through the publication of Jacques Ellul's recently discovered, newly translated essay, which considers the theology of the desert. Prefaced by an enlightening introduction, and five incendiary essays which critically reflect on Ellul's work, this volume offers a fresh, provocative insight into Jacques Ellul's writing. Illuminating the relevance of Ellul's work for our present, Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland and Word offers readers an encounter with a new, revitalising biblical word.

Millennials and Gen Zers have been characterized as individualistic capitalist consumers, as politically unengaged and spiritually selfish, or only interested in identity politics. This edited collection, by bringing together younger generations of theologians, activists, campaigners, artists, and those working in politics, academia, the church, economics, or community work, offers a new narrative of justice- one that is globally aware and actively intersectional. Bringing together powerful young voices with a wealth of contextually grounded experiences of faith and justice, spreading over Mexico, India, Nagaland, Germany, Wales, Ecuador, South Africa, Palestine, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Scotland, England and the Pacific, the chapters in this book imagine daring new possibilities. Together the chapters reveal a generation who face a burning, politically and religiously right-leaning, egotistical world, and who know clearly that the legacies of Empire, which continue white hegemony, patriarchy, heterosexuality, normalized cisgender identities, the class war, colonial debts, Western epistemology, and ecological extraction, must be overcome and replaced by a transnational solidarity of resistance and reimagination.

A quick scan of any newsstand is enough to confirm the widespread preoccupation with technological change. As a myriad of articles and advertisements demonstrate, not only are we preoccupied with technology, but we are bombarded with numerous reminders that the cutting edge is in constant motion. Most often the underlying assumption of Christians is that we have no choice but to find ways to cope with the latest and greatest. Indeed, it is often assumed that the church has no choice but to find ways to cope with its new technological context. This book does not make the same assumptions. Building on the work of Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, it argues that the practices of the church make it possible for Christians to conscientiously engage technology. This happens when we recognize that marks of the church such as patience, vulnerability, and servanthood can put technological ideals such as speed, control, and efficiency in their proper place. In the course of grappling with three examples of morally formative technologies--automobiles, genetically modified food, and the Internet--this book goes beyond Yoder's thought by emphasizing that the church also plays a crucial role in our moral formation.

Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) was Professor of the History and Sociology of Institutions at the University of Bordeaux. A sociologist, historian, and Protestant lay theologian, Ellul is primarily known for his writings on technology, propaganda, and Christian anarchism. He influenced a wide array of thinkers including Ivan Illich, William Stringfellow, Thomas Merton, Paul Virilio, and Neil Postman. In this book, Jacob Van Vleet and Jacob Marques Rollison guide readers through Ellul’s most influential theological and sociological writings. By understanding Ellul’s primary works, readers will be able to clearly grasp his social theory and theological ethics, profiting from his deep insight and prophetic wisdom.

We are living through a digital revolution which already touches every area of life and will continue to shape the future in as yet unforeseen ways. Digital technologies are an ordinary part of daily life, and yet they also present an unprecedented challenge to Christians to articulate a biblical, theological framework to navigate times of rapid change. The work of the French theologian Jacques Ellul is a theological time-bomb primed for times like these. Accounts of Ellul's career often divide off his sociology and theology, but this book argues that Ellul conceived a single project of bringing technology into confrontation with the Word of God, tackling the phenomenon he named technique, the pursuit of maximal power and efficiency implicit in the technological enterprise, with a profound depth of biblical and ethical insight. Centering himself on the apocalypse or revelation of Jesus Christ in history, Ellul offers a monumental, timely (though far from flawless) contribution to contemporary ethical debates about the uses and abuses of technologies. His work blazes a trail that Christians and all concerned for the future would do well to follow, as we avoid both the naivety of "technological neutrality" and the dread of "technological determinism."

Traces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.

The author explores the work of major thinkers and cultural movements that have grappled with the complex relationship between technology, politics and culture. Subjects such as the Internet, cloning, warfare, fascism and Virtual Reality are placed within a broad theoretical context which explores how humanity might, through technology, establish a more ethical relationship with the world. Examining the philosophy of writers such as Heidegger, Benjamin, Lyotard, Virilio, and Zizek, and cultural movements such as Italian Futurism, this book marks a timely intervention in critical theory debates. The broad scope of the book will be of vital interest to those in the fields of philosophy, critical theory, cultural studies, politics and communications.