This book examines biographical and textual connections between sociologist-theologian Jacques Ellul and philosopher-phenomenologist Paul Virilio. Through an examination of Ellul and Virilio's embeddedness in the socio-historical context of postwar France, the book identifies a relationship between these critics of technology which constitutes a nascent theological tradition. The author shows from various vantage points how Ellul and Virilio's nascent tradition exposes technology as modernity's primary idol; and, how it uses multiple disciplines-including history, sociology, philosophy, phenomenology, theology, and ethics-to resist the perilous consequences of the modern world's worship of power and the kinds of technologies this misdirected worship produces. Jacques Ellul's death in 1994 and Paul Virilio's death in 2018 may have prevented the maturation of this nascent theological tradition, but Theology, Ethics, and Technology in the work of Jacques Ellul and Paul Virilio aids this tradition's ripening through the presentation of an illuminating way to read these two unique, and at times quixotic, intellectuals.
Michael Morelli is assistant dean of undergraduate studies and assistant professor of theology, culture & ethics at Northwest College and Seminary
Chapter 1: War, Modernity, and Technology Chapter 2: The Construction of Idols Chapter 3: Combatting Myth with Myth Chapter 4: Technology's Origins Chapter 5: Power, Powers, and Technology Chapter 6: Ethics for Modern Thought, Action, and Making
Ours is a technological age. Yet critical and reflective, even responsible, thinking about technology is not abundant. Working with and from the writings of Paul Virilio and Jacques Ellul, Michael Morelli offers an incisive and important contribution to such thinking. This is a book worth reading! This is a book that illuminates not only the critical philosophy of technology but also the sociological and theological studies germane to the tradition these thinkers inhabited for their examination and interrogation of our present age--like all other before it, an age in waiting for and still learning to bear witness to Christ.--Ashley John Moyse, McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life, University of Oxford Technology as a power and a practice is often presented as the modern idol par excellence. Judging it, condemning it is not enough; we still need to build a theology that meets the expectations and challenges of believers and humans of our time. Jacques Ellul and Paul Virilio carried out this task with audacity and intelligence. Michael Morelli, in studying their work, does more than give them the intellectual place they deserve: he provides the foundations for a form of theological thought made necessary today.--Jacques Arnould, Centre national d'etudes spatiales, France Theology, Ethics, and Technology in the Work of Jacques Ellul and Paul Virilio is a ground-breaking engagement with the stark divergence in Christian assessments of technology after the Second World War. As North Americans revelled in the wealth unleashed by the industrial might that had ended the war, Christians in Europe who had seen its effects first hand found less to celebrate. In excavating the underappreciated tradition of thinking about technology in Ellul and Virilio, Michael Morelli recovers essential resources and insights for Christians desiring to critically engage the brutal efficiency of our technological present.--Brian Brock, University of Aberdeen
