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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
Life
Religion
Extraordinary
Faith
Civilization
Christian
Meaning
Force
Understood
Lost
View
Live
Views
Important
Prayer
Explosive
Thing
Point
Explosives

More quotes by Jacques Ellul

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Because of the myth of progress, it is much easier to sell a man an electric razor than a straight-edged one.
Jacques Ellul
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It is the multiplication of men who are exluded from working which provokes war. We ought at least to bear this in mind when we boast of the continual decrease in human participation in technical operations.
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Philosophy which asserts that human experience repeats itself is ineffectual.
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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The fact of knowing how to read is nothing, the whole point is knowing what to read.
Jacques Ellul
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The Holy Spirit alone can do this, the Holy Spirit alone can establish this link with one's neighbor.
Jacques Ellul
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Our civilization is first and foremost a civilization of means in the reality of modern life, the means, it would seem, are more important than the ends.
Jacques Ellul
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The most favorable moment to seize a man and influence him is when he is alone in the mass. It is at this point that propaganda can be most effective.
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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Journalistic content is a technical complex expressly intended to adapt man to the machine.
Jacques Ellul
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Belief is reassuring. People who live in the world of belief feel safe. On the contrary, faith is forever placing us on the razor's edge.
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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In sum, thought and reflection have been rendered thoroughly pointless by the circumstances in which modern men and women live and act.
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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Propaganda begins when dialogue ends.
Jacques Ellul
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Human life as a whole is not inundated by technique. It has room for activities that are not rationally or systematically ordered. But the collision between spontaneous activities and technique is catastrophic for the spontaneous activities.
Jacques Ellul
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The individual who is the servant of technique must be completely unconscious of himself.
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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The propagandist must utilize all of the technical means at his disposal - the press, radio, TV, movies, posters, meetings, door-to-door canvassing...There is no propaganda as long as one makes use, in a sporadic fashion and at random, of a newspaper article here, a poster or radio program there.
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