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126-464: The Brotherhood Church is a Christian anarchist and pacifist community. An intentional community with Quaker origins has been located at Stapleton , near Pontefract, Yorkshire , since 1921. The church can be traced back to 1887 when a Congregationalist minister called John Bruce Wallace started a magazine called " The Brotherhood " in Limavady , Northern Ireland . Wallace was influenced by

252-521: A Voltarian deist by conviction; born in Malta of an Italo-Maltese father and Serb mother). As a teenager he wanted to be a naval officer but his father made him study law. He married Yvette Lensvelt in 1937. Ellul was educated at the universities of Bordeaux and Paris . In World War II , he was a leader in the French resistance . For his efforts to save Jews he was awarded the title Righteous among

378-407: A " just war ", some theologians argue that it's permissible for Christians to serve the state and wield the sword. Christian anarchists do not share these interpretations of Romans 13 but still recognize it as "a very embarrassing passage." Christian anarchists and pacifists such as Jacques Ellul and Vernard Eller do not attempt to overthrow the state given Romans 13 and Jesus' command to turn

504-731: A 1980s Christian anarchist magazine, revived in 2006 by Keith Hebden as a blog and bi-annual magazine; Libera Catholick Union founded in 1988 and re-organized in 2019; Jesus Radicals founded by Mennonites in 2000; Lost Religion of Jesus created in 2005; Christian Anarchists created in 2006; The Mormon Worker , a blog and newspaper, founded in 2007 to promote Mormonism , anarchism and pacifism; and Academics and Students Interested in Religious Anarchism (ASIRA) founded by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos in 2008. Critics of Christian anarchism include both Christians and anarchists. Christians often cite Romans 13 as evidence that

630-607: A Christian could choose to join a movement for justice, but in doing so, must admit that this fight for justice is necessarily, and at the same time, a fight against all forms of freedom. While social justice provides a guarantee against the risk of bondage, it simultaneously subjects a life to necessities. Ellul believed that when a Christian decides to act it must be in a way that is specifically Christian. "Christians must never identify themselves with this or that political or economic movement. Rather, they must bring to social movements what they alone can provide. Only so can they signalize

756-462: A choice or a judgment in other areas or on other subjects. Thus the mechanisms of modern information induce a sort of hypnosis in the individual, who cannot get out of the field that has been laid out for him by the information". "It is not true that he can choose freely with regard to what is presented to him as the truth. And because rational propaganda thus creates an irrational situation, it remains, above all, propaganda—that is, an inner control over

882-406: A decentralizing of the relation, to an extreme relativizing of everything political, to an anti-ideology, to a questioning of all that claims either power or dominion (in other words, of all things political), and finally, if we may use a modern term, to a kind of "anarchism" (so long as we do not relate the term to the anarchist teaching of the nineteenth century)." As Patrick Chastenet put it, Ellul

1008-509: A deep grief following the 16 April 1991 death of his wife, Yvette. He died three years later, on 19 May 1994 in Pessac . While Ellul was primarily a sociologist who focused on discussions of technology, he saw his theological work as an essential aspect of his career. He began publishing theological discussions early, with such books as The Presence of the Kingdom (1948). Although a son of

1134-463: A few pages in The Ethics of Freedom and in more detail within his later work, Anarchy & Christianity . Although he does admit that anarchy does not seem to be a direct expression of Christian freedom, he concludes that the absolute power he sees within the current (as of 1991) nation-state can only be responded to with an absolute negative position (i.e. anarchy). He states that his intention

1260-754: A following among adherents of more ethically compatible traditions such as the Anabaptists and the house church movement . Similar political ideas to Ellul's appear in the writings of a corresponding friend of his, the American William Stringfellow , and long-time admirer Vernard Eller , author of Christian Anarchy . Ellul identified the State and political power as the Beast in the Book of Revelation . Jacques Ellul discusses anarchy on

1386-459: A given reality, itself in turn becomes the new sacred reality". In 1932, after what he describes as "a very brutal and very sudden conversion", Ellul professed himself a Christian. Ellul believes he was about 17 (1929–30) and spending the summer with some friends in Blanquefort , France. While translating Faust alone in the house, Ellul knew (without seeing or hearing anything) he was in

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1512-406: A given stage of development) in every field of human activity", it is clear that his sociological analysis focuses not on the society of machines as such, but on the society of "efficient techniques": 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. It

1638-551: A great role in his life and considered him his role model. In large measure, and especially in those of his books concerned with theological matters, Ellul restates the viewpoints held by Barth, whose polar dialectic of the Word of God , in which the Gospel both judges and renews the world, shaped Ellul's theological perspective. In Jacques Ellul: A Systemic Exposition Darrell J. Fasching claimed Ellul believed "That which desacralizes

1764-509: A group of former Ellul students. The society, which includes scholars from a variety of disciplines, is devoted to continuing Ellul's legacy and discussing the contemporary relevance and implications of his work. Jacques Ellul was born in Bordeaux , France, on January 6, 1912, to Marthe Mendes (Protestant; French-Portuguese) and Joseph Ellul (initially an Eastern Orthodox Christian , but then

1890-650: A king, and Saul became their ruler. Much of the subsequent Old Testament chronicles the Israelites trying to live with this decision. More than any other Bible source, the Sermon on the Mount is used as the basis for Christian anarchism. Alexandre Christoyannopoulos  [ fr ] explains that the Sermon perfectly illustrates Jesus's central teaching of love and forgiveness . Christian anarchists claim that

2016-701: A legacy enabled the group to relocate to a seven and a half acre smallholding at Stapleton in 1921. Another Purleigh splinter group established the Whiteway Colony in 1898, funded by a Quaker journalist. John Bruce Wallace went on to become an early resident at Letchworth in Hertfordshire where he held religious gatherings each Sunday in the Howard Hall. After the establishment of the Brotherhood Church Wallace founded

2142-470: A non-legalistic manner the traditional Christian understanding of original sin and espouses a thoroughgoing pessimism about human capabilities, a view most sharply evidenced in his The Meaning of the City . Ellul stated that one of the problems with these "new theologies" was: In consequence of the desire to make the message ( kerygma ) valid for all, to see all men as in the presence of God, to increase

2268-499: A philosopher, Ellul was trained as a sociologist, and approached the question of technology and human action from a dialectical viewpoint. His writings are frequently concerned with the emergence of a technological tyranny over humanity. As a philosopher and theologian, he further explored the religiosity of the technological society. In 2000, the International Jacques Ellul Society was founded by

2394-599: A political satire prompted by Donald Trump 's presidency, the heroine, called Angela Witney, is a member of an imagined Catholic Worker commune located in the southern English village of Ditchling , where the artist Eric Gill once lived. Numerous Christian anarchist websites , social networking sites , forums , electronic mailing lists and blogs have emerged on the internet over the last few years. These include: The AnarchoChristian Podcast and Website , Biblical Anarchy: Obey God Rather Than Men, The Libertarian Christian Institute, started by Norman Horn, A Pinch of Salt ,

2520-471: A prophetic message, difficult for many of his contemporaries to embrace. The Catholic Worker Movement has consistently protested against war and violence for over seven decades. Many of the leading figures in the movement have been both anarchists and pacifists, as Ammon Hennacy explains: Christian Anarchism is based upon the answer of Jesus to the Pharisees when Jesus said that he without sin should be

2646-574: A radical Christianity against the economic distress that followed the Civil War and against the inequality that the grandees of the New Model Army seemed intent on preserving. In 1649–1650, the Diggers squatted on stretches of common land in southern England and attempted to set up communities based on work on the land and the sharing of goods. The communities failed following a crackdown by

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2772-524: A radical confusion between religions as human phenomena and the unique claims of the Christian faith, which are not predicated upon human achievement or moral integrity whatsoever. In the Bible, however, we find a God who escapes us totally, whom we absolutely cannot influence, or dominate, much less punish; a God who reveals Himself when He wants to reveal Himself, a God who is very often in a place where He

2898-671: Is "with god, without master". Ellul states in Violence that idealism serves to justify the use of violence, including: ... there is generous idealism of so many young men who risk imprisonment or death rather than participate in a war they condemn only because they idealize and whitewash their country's enemy. Those young men are heroes and fools both. They are repelled by the violence they see—the massive, enormous violence that cries to heaven. And they are right. But seeing this highly visible violence, they forthwith make lambs, saints, and martyrs of its victims. For they close their eyes to what

3024-521: Is Within You , which is considered a key Christian anarchist text. Tolstoy sought to separate Russian Orthodox Christianity, which was merged with the state , from what he believed was the true message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels, specifically in the Sermon on the Mount . He took the viewpoint that all governments that wage war and churches that in turn support those governments, are an affront to

3150-420: Is a Christian anarchist and pacifist community. The Brotherhood Church can be traced back to 1887 when a Congregationalist minister called John Bruce Wallace started a magazine called " The Brotherhood " in Limavady , Northern Ireland . An intentional community with Quaker origins has been located at Stapleton , near Pontefract, Yorkshire , since 1921. Established by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day in

3276-413: Is a fact that excessive data do not enlighten the reader or the listener; they drown him. He cannot remember them all, or coordinate them, or understand them; if he does not want to risk losing his mind, he will merely draw a general picture from them. And the more facts supplied, the more simplistic the image". Additionally, people become "caught in a web of facts they have been given. They cannot even form

3402-399: Is able to establish justice and God alone who will institute the kingdom at the end of time. He acknowledges that some have used this as an excuse to do nothing, but also points out how some death-of-God advocates use this to claim that "we ourselves must undertake to establish social justice". Ellul maintained that without a belief in the traditional Judeo-Christian conception of God, love and

3528-542: Is dictated by conformism to the modern world. So a justificatory formula is manufactured; and alas, it often turns out that theology merely amounts to a justification of the behavior of pretend-Christians. The theology of the death of God reinforces this evil tendency. It justifies a sociological impulsion. That is the kind of theology it really is, unconsciously. Nor do the marvelous intellectual operations its proponents perform with every appearance of seriousness make it less profoundly false. Ellul espouses views on salvation ,

3654-495: Is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25) and "You cannot serve both God and Mammon " (Luke 16:13). The most common challenge for anarchist theologians is interpreting Paul's Epistle to the Romans 13:1–7, in which Paul demanded obedience to governing authorities and described them as God's servants exacting punishment on wrongdoers. Romans 13:1–7 holds

3780-479: Is his. It is not a question of legitimizing taxes! It means that Caesar, having created money, is its master. That's all. Let us not forget that money, for Jesus, is the domain of Mammon , a satanic domain! Vegetarianism in the Christian tradition has a long history commencing in the first centuries of Church with the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers who abandoned the "world of men" for intimacy with

3906-561: Is no indication God has called you to clear it out of the way or get it converted for him. You can't fight an Empire without becoming like the Roman Empire; so you had better leave such matters in God's hands where they belong. Christians who interpret Romans 13 as advocating support for governing authorities are left with the difficulty of how to act under tyrants or dictators. Ernst Käsemann , in his Commentary on Romans , challenged

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4032-464: Is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's obscurantism". There are also Christians anarchists such as Leo Tolstoy and Ammon Hennacy , who favor Jesuism and do not see the need to integrate Paul's teachings into their subversive way of life. Tolstoy believed Paul was instrumental in the church's "deviation" from Jesus' teaching and practices whilst Hennacy believed "Paul spoiled

4158-473: Is not expected, a God who is truly beyond our grasp. Thus, the human religious feeling is not at all satisfied by this situation... God descends to humanity and joins us where we are. ...the presence of faith in Jesus Christ alters reality. We also believe that hope is in no way an escape into the future, but that it is an active force, now, and that love leads us to a deeper understanding of reality. Love

4284-713: Is not in order that they may save some but in order that they may be like all men. Ellul states in The Subversion of Christianity that "to proclaim the class conflict and the 'classical' revolutionary struggle is to stop at the same point as those who defend their goods and organizations. This may be useful socially but it is not at all Christian in spite of the disconcerting efforts of theologies of revolution. Revelation demands this renunciation—the renunciation of illusions, of historic hopes, of references to our own abilities or numbers or sense of justice. We are to tell people and thus to increase their awareness (the offense of

4410-455: Is not to establish an unrealistically pure anarchist society or the total destruction of the state. His initial point in Anarchy & Christianity is that he is led toward a realistic form of anarchy by his commitment to an absolute rejection of violence through the creation of alternative grassroots institutions in the manner similar to Anarcho-Syndicalism . However, Ellul does not entertain

4536-451: Is probably the most realistic possible understanding of our existence. It is not an illusion. On the contrary, it is reality itself. The Ellulian concept of technique is briefly defined within the "Notes to Reader" section of The Technological Society (1964). It is "the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity." He states here as well that

4662-442: Is sufficient and exclusive. That is, being a Christian means pledging absolute allegiance to Christ, which makes other laws redundant at best or counter to the revelation of God at worst. Despite the initial attraction of some evangelicals to his thinking because of his high view of Biblical texts (i.e., generally eschewing the historical-critical method ), this position alienated some conservative Protestants. Later, he would attract

4788-530: Is the object of both hope and fear, both fascination and dread. Once, nature was the all-encompassing environment and power upon which human beings were dependent in life and death, and so was experienced as sacred. The Reformation desacralized the church in the name of the Bible , and the Bible became the sacred book. But since then, scientism (through Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution ) and reason ( higher criticism and liberal theology ) have desacralized

4914-522: Is the solution to technique according to Ellul? The solution is to simply view technique as objects that can be useful to us and recognize it for what it is, just another thing among many others, instead of believing in technique for its own sake or that of society. If we do this we "...destroy the basis for the power technique has over humanity." Ellul identified himself as a Christian anarchist . Ellul explained his view in this way: "By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence." And, "... Jesus

5040-521: Is to ask for defeat, for it is to say intolerable things. Ellul discusses these topics in detail in his landmark work, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes . He viewed the power of the media as another example of technology exerting control over human destiny. As a mechanism of change, the media are almost invariably manipulated by special interests , whether of the market or the state. Also within Propaganda Ellul claims that "it

5166-449: Is useless, he argues, to think that a distinction can be made between technique and its use, for techniques have specific social and psychological consequences independent of human desires. There can be no room for moral considerations in their use: Not even the moral conversion of the technicians could make a difference. At best, they would cease to be good technicians. In the end, technique has only one principle, efficient ordering. What

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5292-543: Is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world. Maurin and Day were both baptized and confirmed in

5418-638: The Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. Christianity was then legalized under the Edict of Milan in 313, which hastened the Church 's transformation from a humble bottom-up sect to an authoritarian top-down organization . Christian anarchists point out that marked the beginning of the " Constantinian shift " in which Christianity gradually came to be identified with the will of the ruling elite by becoming

5544-538: The Catholic Worker Movement , many Christian anarchists are critical of Church dogma and rituals . Christian anarchists tend to wish that Christians were less preoccupied with performing rituals and preaching dogmatic theology , and more with following Jesus' teaching and practices. Jacques Ellul and Dave Andrews claim that Jesus did not intend to be the founder of an institutional religion, while Michael Elliot believes one of Jesus' intentions

5670-603: The Christian existentialism of Kierkegaard. According to Ellul, Marx and Kierkegaard were his two greatest influences, and the only two authors whose work he read in its entirety. Also, he considered Karl Barth, who was a leader of the resistance against the German state church in World War II, the greatest theologian of the 20th century. In addition to these intellectual influences, Ellul also said that his father played

5796-535: The God of Jesus Christ . Vegetarianism amongst hermits and Christian monastics in the Eastern Christian and Roman Catholic traditions remains common to this day as a means of simplifying one's life, and as a practice of asceticism . Leo Tolstoy, Ammon Hennacy, and Théodore Monod extended their belief in nonviolence and compassion to all living beings through vegetarianism. The Brotherhood Church

5922-586: The Jerusalem group described in Acts , who shared their money and labour equally and fairly among the members. Roman Montero claims that using an anthropological framework, such as that of the anarchist David Graeber, one can plausibly reconstruct the communism of the early Christian communities and that the practices were widespread, long-lasting, and substantial. Christian anarchists, such as Kevin Craig, insist that

6048-550: The Mutualist economics of Proudhon. In regards to Jesus and Anarchism he believed Jesus was not merely a socialist but anarchist and that "anarchism is the fullest and most serious form of socialism". Ellul has been credited with coining the phrase, "Think globally, act locally." He often said that he was born in Bordeaux by chance, but that it was by choice that he spent almost all his academic career there. Ellul fell into

6174-780: The Roman Empire . When requested that he swear by the emperor, Speratus, spokesperson of the Scillitan Martyrs , said in 180CE, "I recognize not the empire of this world ... because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations." In his introduction to a translation of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers , Thomas Merton describes the early monastics as "Truly in certain sense 'anarchists', and it will do no harm to think of them as such." During

6300-540: The State should be obeyed , while secular anarchists reject belief in any authority including God. The latter often denounce religious dogma through use of the slogan " no gods, no masters ". Christian anarchists often believe Romans 13 is taken out of context, emphasizing that Revelation 13 and Isaiah 13 , among other passages, are needed to fully understand the meaning of Romans 13 text. Jacques Ellul Jacques Ellul ( / ɛ ˈ l uː l / ; French: [ɛlyl] ; January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994)

6426-643: The state church of the Roman Empire and in some cases (such as the Crusades , Inquisition , and the French Wars of Religion ) a religious justification for violence. Various libertarian socialist authors have identified the written work of the English Protestant social reformer Gerrard Winstanley and the social activism of his group, the Diggers , as anticipating their line of thought. For

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6552-700: The Alpha Union Society which held many of its meetings at the recently built The Cloisters in Letchworth. In 1934, the church was demolished and now a block of flats stands on the site. The Stapleton Colony are vegetarian , grow much of their own organic food and attempt to live independently from the government . They are affiliated to the Peace Pledge Union , Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and War Resisters' International . Residents have included Len W. Gibson (1919–2007) who

6678-773: The Catholic Church and believed in the institution, thus showing it is possible to be a Christian anarchist and still choose to remain within a church. After her death, Day was proposed for sainthood by the Claretian Missionaries in 1983. Pope John Paul II granted the Archdiocese of New York permission to open Day's cause for sainthood in March 2000, calling her a Servant of God . In literature, in Michael Paraskos 's 2017 novel, Rabbitman ,

6804-519: The Catholic Worker Movement: The Catholic Worker considered itself a Christian anarchist movement. All authority came from God; and the state, having by choice distanced itself from Christian perfectionism , forfeited its ultimate authority over the citizen...Catholic Worker anarchism followed Christ as a model of nonviolent revolutionary behavior...He respected individual conscience. But he also preached

6930-697: The Christian principles of nonviolence . Although Tolstoy never actually used the term "Christian anarchism" in The Kingdom of God Is Within You , reviews of the book after its publication in 1894 appear to have coined the term. Thomas J. Hagerty , a Marxist Catholic priest turned oculist, was a primary author of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Preamble ("an injury to one is an injury to all" ). IWW members included Christian anarchists like Dorothy Day and Ammon Hennacy . Dorothy Day

7056-454: The English authorities, but a series of pamphlets by Winstanley survived, of which The New Law of Righteousness (1649) was the most important. Advocating a rational Christianity, Winstanley equated Christ with "the universal liberty" and declared the universally corrupting nature of authority. He saw "an equal privilege to share in the blessing of liberty" and detected an intimate link between

7182-406: The English translation of Tolstoy's works. Based on a letter from Tolstoy, Kenworthy was under the impression that he had exclusive rights over some of Tolstoy's texts. Aylmer Maude, on the other hand, believed the reason for the failure of the colony was due to Kenworthy's autocratic and irresponsible behaviour. In 1897 several members, some from a Quaker background, moved to Leeds . The receipt of

7308-820: The Nations by Yad Vashem in 2001. He was a layman in the Reformed Church of France and attained a high position within it as part of the National Council. Ellul was best friends with Bernard Charbonneau , who was also a writer from the Aquitaine region and a protagonist of the French personalism movement. They met through the Protestant Student Federation during the academic school year of 1929–1930. Both men acknowledged

7434-632: The Nazis. Hadn't the Nazis, out of their generosity, protested against the violence done the Sudeten Germans, the Croats, the Germans of Danzig? Hadn't they declared that they would defend the rights of the poor and the unemployed, the victims exploited by the capitalists? Their admiration of the Nazis cost those people dearly. Again, after the war, many French people sided with communism, 'the party of

7560-683: The act of resisting taxes requires physical force to withhold what a government tries to take, then it is important to submit to taxation. Ammon Hennacy, who, like Ballou also believed in nonresistance , eased his conscience by simply living below the income tax threshold . Christian anarchists do not interpret the injunction in Matthew 22:21 to " give to Caesar what is Caesar's " as advocating support for taxes, but as further advice to free oneself from material attachment . For example, Dorothy Day said if we were to give everything to God there will be nothing left for Caesar, and Jacques Ellul believed

7686-468: The anarchist historian George Woodcock , "Although (Pierre Joseph) Proudhon was the first writer to call himself an anarchist, at least two predecessors outlined systems that contain all the basic elements of anarchism. The first was Gerrard Winstanley (1609–1676), a linen draper who led the small movement of the Diggers during the Commonwealth. Winstanley and his followers protested in the name of

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7812-488: The ante-Nicene period, there were several independent sects who took a radically different approach to Christianity from that of the Proto-Orthodox Church and displayed anarchist tendencies by relying on direct revelation , rather than scripture, such as: For Christian anarchists, the moment that epitomised the degeneration of Christianity was the conversion of Emperor Constantine after his victory at

7938-584: The armed struggle for black liberation and the Lincoln administration . Ballou remained a lifelong pacifist and condemned the Civil War for fear of the eventual retaliation by white southerns on freed black Americans. Ballou's and Garrison's writings heavily influenced Leo Tolstoy , who was inspired by their lifelong commitment to abolitionism. Tolstoy wrote extensively on his burgeoning Christian anarchist principles in nonfiction books like The Kingdom of God

8064-638: The bands of the peasant armies in Germany and the New Model in England." The 19th-century Christian abolitionists Adin Ballou and William Lloyd Garrison were critical of all human governments and believed that they would be eventually supplanted by a new order in which individuals are guided solely by their love for God. Ballou and Garrison advocated Christian nonresistance to evil, as they saw Christ as

8190-505: The chosen and/or interesting poor whose condition (as a victim of capitalism or some other socialist enemy) is consistent with the socialist ideology. ... Jesus Christ has not come to establish social justice any more than he has come to establish the power of the state or the reign of money or art. Jesus Christ has come to save men, and all that matters is that men may come to know him. We are adept at finding reasons—good theological, political, or practical reasons, for camouflaging this. But

8316-410: The church dogmas did not place enough emphasis on the teachings of Jesus or Christian scripture. Ellul was also prominent in the worldwide ecumenical movement , although he later became sharply critical of the movement for what he felt were indiscriminate endorsements of political establishments. Ellul came to like Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , who convinced him that the creation of new institutions from

8442-402: The communities were centred on true love and care for one another, rather than liturgy . They also allege that the reason for the early Christians were persecuted was not that they worshipped Jesus Christ but that they refused to worship human idols claiming divine status (see Imperial cult ). Since they refused to worship the Roman Emperor , they refused to swear any oath of allegiance to

8568-631: The connections between them. This movement is invading the whole intellectual domain and also that of conscience. Ellul's commitment to scrutinize technological development is expressed as such: [W]hat is at issue here is evaluating the danger of what might happen to our humanity in the present half-century, and distinguishing between what we want to keep and what we are ready to lose, between what we can welcome as legitimate human development and what we should reject with our last ounce of strength as dehumanization. I cannot think that choices of this kind are unimportant. The sacred then, as classically defined,

8694-504: The conviction that the traditional Christian conceptions of God and humanity arise from a primitive consciousness, one that most civilized people have quite overcome. This line of thought affirmed the ethical teachings of Jesus but rejected the idea that he represented anything more than a highly accomplished human being. Ellul attacked this school, and practitioners of it such as Harvey Cox , as out of accord not with Christian doctrinal traditions, but reality itself, namely what he perceived as

8820-439: The corpus of works by the Swiss-German theologian Karl Barth and the critiques of European state Christianity made by Dane Søren Kierkegaard . Thus, some have considered him one of the more ardent expositors of dialectical theology , which was in decline elsewhere in the Western theological scene during Ellul's heyday. Much like Barth, Ellul had no use for either liberal theology (to him dominated by Enlightenment notions about

8946-617: The early 1930s, the Catholic Worker Movement is a Christian movement dedicated to nonviolence, personalism and voluntary poverty . Over 130 Catholic Worker communities exist in the United States where " houses of hospitality " care for the homeless. The Joe Hill House of hospitality (which closed in 1968) in Salt Lake City, Utah featured an enormous twelve feet by fifteen foot mural of Jesus Christ and Joe Hill . Present-day Catholic Workers include Ciaron O'Reilly , an Irish-Australian civil rights and anti-war activist. Anne Klejment, professor of history at University of St. Thomas , wrote of

9072-497: The economic, social, and political spheres. This would have stirred people up; this would have been the easy way. To declare, however, that the kingdom is not of this world, that freedom is not achieved by revolt, that rebellion serves no purpose, that there neither is nor will be any paradise on earth, that there is no social justice, that the only justice resides in God and comes from him, that we are not to look for responsibility and culpability in others but first in ourselves, all this

9198-405: The embodiment of "passive nonresistance", or nonviolent praxis against the state. They both condemned violence against southern slave owners and advocated instead for moral suasion or consistent rebukes against the institution of slavery in efforts to persuade racist southerns and indifferent northerners to the abolitionist' cause. At the outbreak of the Civil War , however, Garrison later embraced

9324-478: The enemy is really like, to his cruelty, his violence, his lies. They overlook his real intentions; they overlook the fact that he would use terrible violence if he won power. Poor young men, totally unknowing, uncomprehending, blind, perceiving only what is happening now! So they side with the enemy and countenance the enemy's violence. In France, before the Second World War, a great many people sided with

9450-412: The enemy's life, but the martyr's own life — killing others is not a testimony of love, but of anger, fear, or hatred. For Tolstoy, therefore, a true martyr to Jesus' message would neither punish nor resist (or at least not use violence to resist), but would strive to act from love, however hard, whatever the likelihood of being crucified. He would patiently learn to forgive and turn the other cheek, even at

9576-424: The first Book of Samuel ( 1 Samuel 8 ) the people of Israel wanted a king "so as to be like other nations". God declared that the people had rejected him as their king. He warned that a human king would lead to militarism , conscription and punitive taxation , and that their pleas for mercy from the king's demands would go unanswered. Samuel passed on God's warning to the Israelites but they still demanded

9702-440: The first to cast the stone, and upon the Sermon on the Mount which advises the return of good for evil and the turning of the other cheek. Therefore, when we take any part in government by voting for legislative, judicial, and executive officials, we make these men our arm by which we cast a stone and deny the Sermon on the Mount. The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism

9828-401: The following Christian anarchist response to terrorism : The path shown by Jesus is a difficult one that can only be trod by true martyrs. A " martyr ," etymologically, is he who makes himself a witness to his faith. And it is the ultimate testimony to one's faith to be ready to put it to practice even when one's very life is threatened. But the life to be sacrificed, it should be noted, is not

9954-433: The goodness of humanity and thus rendered puerile by its naïveté) or orthodox Protestantism (e.g., fundamentalism or scholastic Calvinism , both of which to him refuse to acknowledge the radical freedom of God and humanity) and maintained a roughly un-Catholic view of the Bible, theology, and the churches. One particular theological movement that aroused his ire was death of God theology . Some within this movement held

10080-484: The governing authorities or "rulers" even though they did "right." The content of Paul's letter to the Romans is also denied by Paul himself in the same letter's 12:2 verse: "Do not conform to this world's system of things, but change yourselves by using your own intellect, so that you shall understand by yourselves the good and perfect will of God." In his Epistle to the Ephesians , 6:12, Paul states: "For our struggle

10206-406: The grace of God if they show compassion to others and turn the other cheek when confronted with violence. Christian anarchists believe violence begets violence and the ends never justify the means . Many Christian anarchists practice the principles of nonviolence , nonresistance , and turning the other cheek. To illustrate how nonresistance works in practice, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos offers

10332-441: The grass roots level was the best way to create an anarchist society. He stated his view is close to that of anarcho-syndicalism , however the kind of change Ellul wanted was an evolutionary approach by means of a "... Proudhonian socialism ... by transforming the press, the media, and the economic structures ... by means of a federative cooperative approach" that would lead to an Anarchist society based on federation and

10458-407: The great influence each had on the other. By the early 1930s, Ellul's three primary sources of inspiration were Karl Marx , Søren Kierkegaard , and Karl Barth . Ellul was first introduced to the ideas of Karl Marx during an economics lecture course taught by Joseph Benzacar in 1929–30; Ellul studied Marx and became a prolific exegete of his theories. During this same period, he also came across

10584-623: The idea that all Christians in all places and all times will refrain from violence. Rather, he insisted that violence could not be reconciled with the God of Love, and thus, true freedom. A Christian that chooses the path of violence must admit that he or she is abandoning the path of freedom and committing to the way of necessity. During the Spanish Civil War Spanish anarchist friends of Ellul's soon-to-be wife came to France in search of weapons. He tried to get some for them through an old school friend of his and claimed that this

10710-499: The individual by a social force, which means that it deprives him of himself". Ellul agreed with Jules Monnerot who stated that "All individual passion leads to the suppression of all critical judgment with regard to the object of that passion". The individual who burns with desire for action but does not know what to do is a common type in our society. He wants to act for the sake of justice, peace, progress, but does not know how. If propaganda can show him this 'how' then it has won

10836-547: The institution of property and the lack of freedom. For Murray Bookchin , "In the modern world, anarchism first appeared as a movement of the peasantry and yeomanry against declining feudal institutions. In Germany its foremost spokesman during the Peasant Wars was Thomas Müntzer ; in England, Gerrard Winstanley, a leading participant in the Digger movement. The concepts held by Müntzer and Winstanley were superbly attuned to

10962-508: The interaction between religion and politics . The dominant theme of Ellul's work proved to be the threat to human freedom and religion created by modern technology . He did not seek to eliminate modern technology or technique but sought to change our perception of modern technology and technique to that of a tool rather than regulator of the status quo . Among his most influential books are The Technological Society and Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes . Considered by many

11088-441: The irreducible religiosity of the human race, a devotion that has worshiped idols such as rulers, nations , and in more recent times materialism , scientism , technology and economics . To Ellul, people use such fallen images, or powers, as a substitute for God, and are, in turn, used by them, with no possible appeal to innocence or neutrality, which, although possible theoretically, does not in fact exist. Ellul thus renovates in

11214-418: The kingdom. So far as they act like the others—even to forward social justice, equality, etc.—I say that there is no sense and nothing specifically Christian in acting like the others. In fact the political and revolutionary attitude proper to the Christian is radically different from the attitude of others; it is specifically Christian or else it is nothing." In Violence Ellul states his belief that only God

11340-762: The main from an extremely high view of God's transcendence , that God is totally free to do what God pleases. Any attempts to modify that freedom from merely human standards of righteousness and justice amount to sin , to putting oneself in God's place, which is precisely what Adam and Eve sought to do in the creation myths in Genesis . This highly unusual juxtaposition of original sin and universal salvation has repelled liberal and conservative critics and commentators alike, who charge that such views amount to antinomianism , denying that God's laws are binding upon human beings. In most of his theologically oriented writings, Ellul effectively dismisses those charges as stemming from

11466-474: The mainstream Christian interpretation of the passage in light of German Lutheran Churches using this passage to justify the Holocaust . Paul's letter to Roman Christians declares "For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong." However Christian anarchists point out an inconsistency if this text were to be taken literally and in isolation as Jesus and Paul were both executed by

11592-416: The masses. And this is why the gospel is so intolerable, intolerable to myself as I speak, as I say all this to myself and others, intolerable for readers, who can only shrug their shoulders." If the disciples had wanted their preaching to be effective, to recruit good people, to move the crowds, to launch a movement, they would have made the message more material. They would have formulated material goals in

11718-430: The message of Christ". In contrast to Eller, Hennacy and Ciaron O'Reilly advocate nonviolent civil disobedience to confront state oppression. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37), Jesus tells his followers to not swear oaths in the name of God or Man. Tolstoy, Adin Ballou and Petr Chelčický understand this to mean that Christians should never bind themselves to any oath as they may not be able to fulfil

11844-410: The minority French Reformed tradition and thus a spiritual heir of thinkers like John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli , Ellul departed substantially from Reformed doctrinal traditions, but unlike other European Protestant thinkers, utterly rejected the influence of philosophical idealism or romanticism upon his beliefs about God and human faith. In articulating his theological ideas, he mainly drew upon

11970-480: The moral goodness of the human world). This leads to concepts of progressiveness and unreserved participation with good conscience in political or scientific action. "In their idyllic world, harshness, torture, and war seem abnormal and almost incomprehensible. But it is only gross, highly visible, undeniable violence that evokes this scandalized reaction. They deny the existence of masked, secret, covert violence—insofar as this can be concealed..." Ellul's ultimate goal

12096-524: The most explicit reference to the state in the New Testament but other parallel texts include Titus 3:1, Hebrews 13:17 and 1 Peter 2:13-17. Some theologians, such as C.E.B. Cranfield , have interpreted Romans 13:1–7 to mean the Church should support the state, as God has sanctified the state to be his main tool to preserve social order. Similarly, in the case of the state being involved in

12222-431: The needs of their time – a historical period when the majority of the population lived in the countryside and when the most militant revolutionary forces came from an agrarian world. It would be painfully academic to argue whether Müntzer and Winstanley could have achieved their ideals. What is of real importance is that they spoke to their time; their anarchist concepts followed naturally from the rural society that furnished

12348-492: The other cheek. As wrath and vengeance are contrary to the Christian values of kindness and forgiveness , Ellul neither supports, nor participates in, the state. Eller articulates this position by restating the passage this way: Be clear, any of those human [authorities] are where they are only because God is allowing them to be there. They exist only at his sufferance. And if God is willing to put up with...the Roman Empire, you ought to be willing to put up with it, too. There

12474-399: The passage showed that Caesar may have rights over fiat money but not things that are made by God, as he explained: "Render unto Caesar..." in no way divides the exercise of authority into two realms....They were said in response to another matter: the payment of taxes, and the coin. The mark on the coin is that of Caesar; it is the mark of his property. Therefore give Caesar this money; it

12600-555: The poor, the proletariat.' A few years later they were stunned by the declarations of the Twentieth Communist Congress and by Moscow's suppression of the Hungarian revolt. This is the kind of idealism that must be combated and radically condemned." 3. pacifist idealism (beliefs and lifestyles which are only possible within a larger violence-based society) 4. Christian idealism (which is always concerned with

12726-421: The presence of a something so astounding, so overwhelming, which entered the very center of his being. He jumped on a bike and fled, concluding eventually that he had been in the presence of God. This experience started the conversion process which Ellul said then continued over a period of years thereafter. Although Ellul identified as a Protestant, he was critical of church authority in general because he believed

12852-523: The pursuit for justice becomes selective, for the only relation left is the horizontal one. Ellul asks how we are to define justice and claims that followers of death-of-God theology and/or philosophy clung to Matthew 25 stating that justice requires them to feed the poor. Ellul says that many European Christians rushed into socialist circles (and with this began to accept the movement's tactics of violence, propaganda, etc.) mistakenly thinking socialism would assure justice when in fact it only pursues justice for

12978-431: The real reason is that we let ourselves be impressed and dominated by the forces of the world, by the press, by public opinion, by the political game, by appeals to justice, liberty, peace, the poverty of the third world, and the Christian civilization of the west, all of which play on our inclinations and weaknesses. Modern protestants are in the main prepared to be all things to all men, like St. Paul, but unfortunately this

13104-509: The risk of death. Such would be the only way to eventually win the hearts and minds of the other camp and open up the possibilities for reconciliation in the " war on terror ." Christian anarchists such as Ammon Hennacy , Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day often advocate voluntary poverty . This can be for a variety of reasons, such as withdrawing support for government by reducing taxable income or following Jesus' teachings. Jesus appears to teach voluntary poverty when he told his disciples , "It

13230-480: The ruling classes is that of trying to blind and deaden the awareness of those whom they dominate). Renounce everything in order to be everything. Trust in no human means, for God will provide (we cannot say where, when, or how). Have confidence in his Word and not in a rational program. Enter on a way on which you will gradually find answers but with no guaranteed substance. All this is difficult, much more so than recruiting guerillas, instigating terrorism, or stirring up

13356-617: The same thing. According to Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, several of the Church Fathers ' writings suggest anarchism as God's ideal. The first Christians opposed the primacy of the state: "We must obey God as ruler rather than men" ( Acts 4:19, 5:29, 1 Corinthians 6:1-6); "Stripping the governments and the authorities bare, he exhibited them in open public as conquered, leading them in a triumphal procession by means of it." ( Colossians 2:15). Also, some early Christian communities appear to have practised anarchist communism , such as

13482-490: The scriptures, and the sciences, particularly those applied sciences that are amenable to the aims of collective economic production (be it capitalist , socialist , or communist ), have been elevated to the position of sacred in Western culture. Today, he argues, the technological society is generally held sacred. Since he defines technique as "the totality of methods rationally arrived at, and having absolute efficiency (for

13608-478: The setting of production standards, etc. And it creates an artificial system which "eliminates or subordinates the natural world." Regarding technology, instead of it being subservient to humanity, "human beings have to adapt to it, and accept total change." As an example, Ellul offered the diminished value of the humanities to a technological society. As people begin to question the value of learning ancient languages and history, they question those things which, on

13734-553: The sovereignty of God, and ethical action that appear to take a deliberately contrarian stance toward established, "mainstream" opinion. For instance, in the book What I Believe, he declared himself to be a Christian Universalist , writing "that all people from the beginning of time are saved by God in Jesus Christ , that they have all been recipients of His grace no matter what they have done." Ellul formulated this stance not from any liberal or humanistic sympathies, but in

13860-478: The state, founded on violence, contravenes the Sermon and Jesus' call to love one's enemies . The gospels tell of Jesus's temptation in the desert . For the final temptation, Jesus is taken up to a high mountain by Satan and told that if he bows down to Satan he will give him all the kingdoms of the world. Christian anarchists use this as evidence that all Earthly kingdoms and governments are ruled by Satan, otherwise they would not be Satan's to give. Jesus refuses

13986-449: The surface, do little to advance their financial and technical state. According to Ellul, this misplaced emphasis is one of the problems with modern education, as it produces a situation in which immense stress is placed on information in our schools. The focus in those schools is to prepare young people to enter the world of information, to be able to work with computers but knowing only their reasoning, their language, their combinations, and

14112-408: The temptation, choosing to serve God instead, implying that Jesus is aware of the corrupting nature of Earthly power. Christian eschatology and various Christian anarchists, such as Jacques Ellul, have identified the state and political power as the Beast in the Book of Revelation . Friedrich Nietzsche and Frank Seaver Billings criticize Christianity and anarchism by arguing that they are

14238-679: The term technique is not solely machines, technology, or a procedure used to attain an end. What many consider to be Ellul's most important work, The Technological Society (1964), was originally published in French as La Technique: L'enjeu du siècle (literally, "The Stake of the Century"). In it, Ellul set forth seven characteristics of modern technology that make efficiency a necessity: "rationality , artificiality, automatism of technical choice, self-augmentation, monism , universalism , and autonomy . The rationality of technique enforces logical and mechanical organization through division of labor,

14364-559: The universality of the lordship of Jesus Christ, to insist on the value of mankind generally (to the detriment of the Christian), to insist on the value of the world (to the detriment of the Church), one comes to the point of denying whatever can only be specifically Christian. The ultimate purpose of the whole death-of-God system is to justify a certain kind of behavior on the part of Christians in relation to society—a kind of behavior that

14490-596: The use of violence. More than any other Bible source, the Beatitudes are used as a basis for Christian anarchism. Leo Tolstoy 's The Kingdom of God Is Within You is often regarded as a key text for modern Christian anarchism. Jacques Ellul , a French philosopher and Christian anarchist, notes that the final verse of the Book of Judges ( Judges 21:25 ) states that there was no king in Israel and that "everyone did as they saw fit". Subsequently, as recorded in

14616-789: The views of Henry George and Edward Bellamy . In 1891 Wallace moved to London and took over a derelict church in Southgate Road , Hackney , naming it "The Brotherhood Church." The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party used the building in 1907 for their 5th Congress . Subsequent communities were established by a Tolstoyan named John Coleman Kenworthy in Croydon , Surrey , in 1894 and Purleigh , Essex , in 1896. Residents at Croydon and Purleigh included Aylmer and Louise Maude and Vladimir Chertkov . However, both these communities ceased shortly after they were established, as Kenworthy fell out with Chertkov and argued with Aylmer Maude over

14742-418: The will of God if they are bound to the will of a fellow-man. Tolstoy takes the view that all oaths are evil, but especially an oath of allegiance . Some Christian anarchists resist taxes in the belief that their government is engaged in immoral, unethical or destructive activities such as war , and paying taxes inevitably funds these activities, whilst others submit to taxation. Adin Ballou wrote that if

14868-471: Was a French philosopher who was very early animated by a great compassion for the exploited. She was first a socialist and then an anarchist. In 1930s, she converted to "love of Christ". During her experience, she explains that she suddenly felt that Christianity was the religion of the slaves and that she, like other slaves, could not resist adhering to it. She is considered a "Christian mystic" and an "anarchist Christian". With some notable exceptions such as

14994-606: Was a French philosopher, sociologist, lay theologian , and professor. Noted as a Christian anarchist , Ellul was a longtime Professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Bordeaux . A prolific writer, he authored more than 60 books and more than 600 articles over his lifetime, many of which discussed propaganda , the impact of technology on society , and

15120-553: Was a journalist turned social activist who became known for her social justice campaigns in defense of the poor. Alongside Peter Maurin , she founded the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933, which espoused nonviolence and hospitality for the impoverished and the downtrodden. Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II . Day's distributist economic views are very similar to Proudhon 's mutualism by which she

15246-593: Was a lifelong peace campaigner and conscientious objector . Christian anarchism Christian anarchists hold that the "Kingdom of God" is the proper expression of the relationship between God and humanity. Under the "Kingdom of God", human relationships would be characterized by horizontal organization, servant leadership , and universal compassion—not through the traditional structures of organized religion , which most Christian anarchists consider hierarchical and/or authoritarian structures. Most Christian anarchists are also pacifists who reject war, militarism, and

15372-490: Was influenced. Day also named the phrase "precarious work" based on the former anarchocommunist Léonce Crenier 's embrace of poverty . Peter Maurin's vision to transform the social order consisted of establishing urban houses of hospitality to care for the destitute, rural farming communities to teach city dwellers agrarianism and encourage a movement back to the land , and roundtable discussions in community centres to clarify thought and initiate action. Simone Weil

15498-486: Was not only a socialist but an anarchist – and I want to stress here that I regard anarchism as the fullest and most serious form of socialism." For him, this meant that nation-states , as the primary sources of violence in the modern era, should neither be praised nor feared, but continually questioned and challenged. For Ellul, human government is largely irrelevant in that the revelation of God contained in Scripture

15624-591: Was probably the one time in his life when he was sufficiently motivated to commit an act of violence. He did not go with the anarchists primarily because he had only recently met the woman that would become his wife and did not wish to leave her. Ellul states in The Subversion of Christianity that he thinks "that the biblical teaching is clear. It always contests political power. It incites to 'counterpower,' to 'positive' criticism, to an irreducible dialogue (like that between king and prophet in Israel), to antistatism, to

15750-444: Was to bypass human intermediaries and do away with priests. Christian anarchists, such as David Lipscomb , Leo Tolstoy , Ammon Hennacy , Jacques Ellul , and Dave Andrews , follow Jesus' call to not resist evil but turn the other cheek . They argue that this teaching can only imply a condemnation of the state, as the police and army hold a monopoly over the legitimate use of force . They believe freedom will only be guided by

15876-405: Was to create by evolutionary means a "...Proudhonian socialism...by transforming the press, the media, and the economic structures...by means of a federative cooperative approach..." an anarchist society based on federation and the mutualist economics of Proudhon. Ellul believed that social justice and true freedom were incompatible. He rejected any attempt to reconcile them. He believed that

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