Political Illusion and Reality: Engaging the Prophetic Insights of Jacques Ellul - Paperback

by David W. Gill (Editor), David Lovekin (Editor)

Are all governments--east and west, Muslim and secular, authoritarian and constitutional, Republican and Democratic--fundamentally the same, all of them under the extraordinary, growing power of "technique" and bureaucracy? Is all politics, then, just an illusory affair of lies, deception, propaganda, partisan passions, and chaos on the surface of government and party? In his vast and penetrating writings, Bordeaux sociologist Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) points in those directions. Political Illusion and Reality is a collection of twenty-three essays on Ellul's political thought. Veteran as well as younger Ellul scholars, political leaders, activists, and pastors, discuss aspects of Ellul's thought as they relate to their own fields of study and political experience. Beginning with his 1936 essay "Fascism, Son of Liberalism," translated and published here in English for the first time, Ellul and these authors will provoke readers to think some new thoughts about politics and government, and think more deeply about the main issues we face in our politically divided and troubled times.

Author Biography

David W. Gill recently retired after forty years as a business school and seminary professor of ethics. He is the author of seven books and the founding president of the International Jacques Ellul Society.



David Lovekin is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Hastings College (Nebraska). He is author of Technique, Discourse, and Consciousness: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Jacques Ellul.