Just a note to say that on July 8 the Boston Globe's Sunday "Ideas" section published my piece on Jacques Ellul, pegged to the conference celebrating the centenary of Ellul's birth. The conference, entitled "Prophet in the Technological Wilderness," started that day at Wheaton College near Chicago. I attended, and it was a joy to meet with and hear papers presented by so many knowledgeable and insightful Ellul scholars.
I would debate whether “doomdayer” is fair and accurate way to assess the man or what he was really saying. Perhaps a more serviceable headline would have been: Jacques Ellul, "technology doomsdayer" before his time.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd agree with you that technology "doomsayer" seems an odd way of describing Ellul, though I don't think it's out and out wrong. Writing headlines seems to be a difficult art.
ReplyDeleteGeez, I just looked again -- the headline does indeed read "doomsdayer." Is that a word?
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