Jacque Ellul blends politics, theology, history, and exposition in
this analysis of the relationship between political anarchy and
biblical faith. While he clarifies the views of each and how they can
be related, his aim is not to proselytize either anarchists into
Christianity or Christians into anarchy. On the one hand, suggests
Ellul, anarchists need to understand that much of their criticism of
Christianity applies only to the form of religion that developed, not
to biblical faith. Christians, on the other hand, need to look at the
biblical texts and not reject anarchy as a political option, for it
seems closest to biblical thinking. After charting the background of
his own interest in the subject, Ellul defines what he means by
anarchy: the nonviolent repudiation of authority. He goes on to look
at the Bible as the source of anarchy (in the sense of nondomination,
not disorder), working through Old Testament history, Jesus'
ministry, and finally the early church's view of power as reflected
in the New Testament writings.
"With the verve and the gift of
trenchant simplification to which we have been accustomed, Ellul lays
bare the fallacy that Christianity should normally be the ally of
civil authority." -- John Howard Yoder
Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), a French
sociologist and lay theologian, was Professor Emeritus of Law and of
the History and Sociology of Institutions at the University of
Bordeaux. He wrote more than forty books, including The Technological
Society, The Humiliation of the Word, and Technological Bluff.
