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For in a civilization which has lost the meaning of life, the most important thing a Christian can do is to live, and life, understood from the point of view of faith, has an extraordinary explosive force.

Jacques Ellul

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Jacques Ellul
Age: 82 †
Born: 1912
Born: January 6
Died: 1994
Died: May 19
French Resistance Fighter
Philosopher
Sociologist
Theologian
University Teacher
Writer
Bordèu
Force
Understood
Lost
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Live
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Important
Prayer
Explosive
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Explosives
Life
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Extraordinary
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More quotes by Jacques Ellul

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The will of the world is always a will to death, a will to suicide. We must not accept this suicide, and we must so act that it cannot take place.
Jacques Ellul
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Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.
Jacques Ellul
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Science brings to the light of day everything man had believed sacred. Technique takes possession of it and enslaves it.
Jacques Ellul
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Thinking has become a superfluous exercise... purely internal, without compelling force, more or less a game.
Jacques Ellul
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Almost always, it is the conviction that 'I am right' or 'my cause is the cause of justice' that triggers violence. That is, ...the moment propaganda does its work, violence is unleashed. And violence can be reduced by countering this propaganda.
Jacques Ellul
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Philosophy which asserts that human experience repeats itself is ineffectual.
Jacques Ellul
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When there is propaganda, we are no longer able to evaluate certain questions, or even to discuss them
Jacques Ellul
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I describe a world with no exit, convinced that God accompanies man throughout his history.
Jacques Ellul
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The fact of knowing how to read is nothing, the whole point is knowing what to read.
Jacques Ellul
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There are different forms of anarchy and different currents in it. I must, first say very simply what anarchy I have in view. By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence.
Jacques Ellul
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(Propaganda) proceeds by psychological manipulations, character modifications, by creation of stereotypes useful when the time comes - The two great routes that this sub-propaganda takes are the conditioned reflex and the myth
Jacques Ellul
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It is not true that the perfection of police power is the result of the state's Machiavellianism or of some transitory influence. The whole structure of society implies it, of necessity. The more we mobilize the forces of nature, the more must we mobilize men and the more do we require order.
Jacques Ellul
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To the ideal of high consumption and the downgrading of spiritual values corresponds a conception of injustice that centers exclusively on the problem of consumption and equality in consumption cannot be achieved except by violence.
Jacques Ellul
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It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.
Jacques Ellul
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Propaganda does not aim to elevate man, but to make him serve.
Jacques Ellul
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We have to admit that there is an immeasurable distance between all that we read in the Bible and the practice of the Church and of Christians.
Jacques Ellul
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All human language draws its nature and value from the fact that it both comes from the Word of God and is chosen by God to manifest himself. But this relationship is secret and incomprehensible, beyond the bounds of reason and analysis.
Jacques Ellul
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Everyone has been taught that technique is an application of science.... This traditional view is radically false. It takes into account only a single category of science and only a short period of time
Jacques Ellul
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Again I want to emphasize that the study of propaganda must be conducted within the context of a technological society. Propaganda is called upon to solve problems created by technology, to play on maladjustments, and to integrate the individual into a technological world.
Jacques Ellul
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Am I a pessimist? Not at all. I am convinced that the history of the human race, no matter how tragic, will ultimately lead to the Kingdom of God. I am convinced that all the works of humankind will be reintegrated in the work of God, and that each of us, no matter how sinful, will ultimately be saved.
Jacques Ellul