Michael Morelli / Jacques Ellul between Barth and the Frankfurt School

The Theology Mill

Michael Morelli is assistant professor of theology, culture, and ethics at Northwest Baptist Seminary in British Columbia, Canada. Michael is also the editor of the recent Pickwick book, Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland, and Word. This volume includes the first English translation of an essay by Jacques Ellul, along with five short engagements with Ellul’s essay from current leading Ellul scholars.

PODCAST LINKS:

Jacques Ellul, Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland, and Word: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666742534/desert-wilderness-wasteland-and-word/

Wipf and Stock’s Ellul volumes: https://wipfandstock.com/search-results/?contributor=jacques-ellul&page_number=1

Michael’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mchlmorelli?lang=en

CONNECT:

Website: https://wipfandstock.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wipfandstock

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wipfandstock

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wipfandstock/

SOURCES MENTIONED:

Barth, Karl. The Epistle to the Romans.

Eliot, T. S. “The Waste Land.”

Ellul, Jacques. A Critique of the New Commonplaces.

———. Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland, and Word: A New Essay by Jacques Ellul and Five Critical Engagements.

———. The Empire of Non-Sense: Art in the Technological Society.

———. Hope in Time of Abandonment.

———. Presence in the Modern World.

———. The Technological Bluff.

———. The Theological Foundation of Law.

Ziegler, Philip G. Militant Grace: The Apocalyptic Turn and the Future of Christian Theology.

OUTLINE:

(01:42) – Chai tea, raw milk, oat milk(s), Keurig coffee

(09:27) – Roundtable: Ellul, Virilio, Marx, Barth, Kierkegaard

(13:36) – Ellul: Fiery? Austere? Curmudgeonly?

(15:57) – The French Theodor Adorno

(18:22) – French Protestant sociologist, theologian, and activist

(26:30) – A one-man Frankfurt School (and a Barthian-Kierkegaardian)

(32:16) – Technique as the new form of capital

(36:40) – Confronting the trauma of fascism

(41:39) – Freedom and the fear thereof

(45:22) – Messianic inbreaking

(48:56) – Anarchy and activism

(53:05) – Discovering Ellul (and Virilio)

(59:00) – Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland, and Word

(01:02:32) – The One who we recognize without knowing

(01:07:05) – The “desert” in Ellul

(01:11:07) – Technology and eco-theology

(01:14:27) – Where to find Michael

(01:16:07) – Future project: Ellul and cinema