Jacques Ellul on Politics Technology and Christianity: Conversations with Patrick Troude-Chastenet (Jacques Ellul Legacy)

The Final Interviews Before Jacques Ellul Died Jacques Ellul on Politics Technology and Christianity is the best and most satisfying set of interviews ever carried out with Jacques Ellul and we are most fortunate to have this rich legacy of thought now available to a broader audience. Patrick Chastenet knew Ellul personally as well as intellectually. His questions display a rare balance of respect boldness and insight that perhaps no one else could have achieved. Chastenet elicits Elluls thoughts in Elluls voice and refuses to edit or re-organize the text in any way that would diminish the realism and authenticity of the conversation. Chastenet truly takes the reader into Elluls salon for a rare and wonderful experience. David W. Gill President of the International Jacques Ellul Society Patrick Chastenets interviews are a must read for anyone interested in Jacques Ellul or in issues pertaining to modern France. This book is full of important insights into an impressive range of issues from technology and ecology to theology. Professor Joyce Hanks University of Scranton Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) was Professor of the History of Institutions at the University of Bordeaux France from the end of World War II until his retirement in 1980. He is best known for his brilliant path-finding analysis of our world in The Technological Society (original French edition 1954) and many other writings such as The Technological System The Technological Bluff and The Political Illusion. Ellul was also a powerful lay voice for a renewed and reformed Christian theology and ethics. Many of his Christian writings such as Presence of the Kingdom Living Faith and Hope in Time of Abandonment continue to challenge and inspire. For more information visit www.ellul.org the web site of the International Jacques Ellul Society. Patrick Troude-Chastenet is Professor of Political Science at the University of Poitiers. He studied with Professor Ellul at the Institute for Political Studies University of Bordeaux 1974-76. He is author of an introduction to Elluls thought Lire Ellul: Introduction a loeuvre socio-politique de Jacques Ellul (1992) and editor of two anthologies on Elluls thought: Sur Jacques Ellul: Un penseur de notre temps (1994) and a forthcoming collection from the international colloquium at Poitiers October 2004 entitled Jacques Ellul: Libre examen dune pensee sans frontieres. Chastenet is the founding president of LAssociation Internationale Jacques Ellul (www.jacques-ellul.org) and founding editor of the annual Cahiers Jacques Ellul. The interviews in the present volume were conducted over a fourteen-year period 1981-1994 and were originally published as Entretiens avec Jacques Ellul (1994).