The Meaning of the City [Paperback]

Jacques Ellul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 16, 1970

Jacques Ellul, a member of the Law Faculty at the University of Bordeaux, is increasingly being recognized as a brilliant and penetrating commentator on the relationship between theology and sociology. In The Meaning of the City he presents what he finds in the Bible — a sophisticated, coherent theology of the city fully applicable to today’s urbanized society. / Ellul believes that the city symbolizes the supreme work of man — and, as such, represents man’s ultimate rejection of God. Therefore it is the city, where lies man’s rebellious heart, that must be reformed. The author stresses the fact that the Bible does not find man’s fulfillment in a return to an idyllic Eden, but points rather to a life of communion with the Savior in the city transfigured. / The Meaning of the City, says John Wilkinson in his introductory essay to the book, is the “theological counterpoint” to Ellul’s Technological Society, a work that analyzed the phenomenon of the autonomous and totally manipulative post-industrial world. Ellul takes issue with those who idealistically plan new urban environments for man, as though man alone can negate the inherent diabolism of the city. For Ellul, the history of the city from the times of Cain and Nimrod through to Babylon and Jerusalem reveals a tendency to destroy the human being for the sake of human works. Nevertheless, continuing the theme of the tension between two realities that characterizes all his works, Ellul sees God as electing the city as itself an instrument of grace for the believer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jacques Ellul (1912–’1994), a French sociologist and lay theologian, was professor emeritus of law and of the history and sociology of institutions at the University of Bordeaux. He wrote more than forty books, including The Technological Society, The Humiliation of the Word, and The Technological Bluff.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (July 16, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802815553
• ISBN-13: 978-0802815552
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,109,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prophetic and Compelling, April 5, 2000

By 

Terry Cornett (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meaning of the City (Paperback)

In this remarkable piece of original theology, Ellul convincingly argues that the city exists as a theological category in Biblical thought. True to his own dialectical approach, he contends that the city is simultaneously an instrument of human rebellion and also a Divinely elected instrument of hope for humanity. This is a prophetic, compelling and ultimately hopeful foundation for a theology with which to engage the modern phenomena of urbanization.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Shout (that) Re-echoes Through Scripture From Beginning to End"-Jacques Ellul, September 27, 2005

By 

Scamp Lumm "Littlesorrel/christian zionist" (Perseus-Pisces cluster, ~100Mpc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Meaning of the City (Paperback)

"COME OUT OF BABYLON (Rome), MY PEOPLE". Revelation 18, Daniel 2

This book is so beautiful. It's the first book I've read by Jacques Ellul. If all of his other books are similarly written, I'm totally sold on them. This book is the best book I've ever read by a christian author. It's very substantive, and you can tell throughout each and every page, that the author is steeped in biblical understanding and wisdom. Babylon doesn't exist anymore, though within 100 miles from Baghdad, Babylon is a symbol for all that is wrong with human civilization. So what does Babylon symbolize? What is it about this type of city that G-d despises, and how can the city please G-d? The leaving of the city is also symbolic; getting out of the mob is no easy matter, though physically still in the city, one's previously good mob friends will more than likely kill you when you get out (my thoughts). So the leaving I believe, though Ellul does not directly say it is spiritual, symbolic.

My favorite chapter is the first, "The Builders", where Ellul speaks mostly about the first half dozen chapters of Genesis and how the first city was built by the first murderer, Cain, who killed his brother Abel. G-d told Cain that his brother's cries were heard by Him. Once Cain realizes his grave wrongdoing, G-d offers him protection by 'setting a mark' on him. Yet Cain seemingly takes no stock of this act of grace by G-d, and determined to secure eternity for himself, builds a city, and begets children. The city without G-d's presence and without citizens who acknowledge His sovereignty has a spiritual power of its own which draws people into everything the city has to offer, all of which is destructive and becomes a place, as Nahum, the Hebrew prophet cries, 'a bloody city, full of lies and distortions, no end of victims'. Yet G-d sanctified Jerusalem, an ordinary pagan city, by His presence, when King David captured the city for the jews. And this was the place where G-d redeemed mankind for all of our sins, potentially, if one truly gets out of these evil networks found among people who inhabit cities. The last chapters deal with the New Jerusalem described in books like Revelation and Ezekiel. This book, I believe, sounds the warning found in Ezekiel 33 from the watchman who sees the enemy coming and must alert the cities' inhabitants of G-d's coming judgment because it is clear from scripture that He will punish those (maybe not in this lifetime, but surely in the life to come) who twist the truth, who exalt themselves, who trample upon the livelihood of people, and those who foster all manner of deceivableness. This is a book that I got from the library, and is long overdue. One day I will buy this book to have on hand, its contents very valuable.

Jacques Ellul is a French protestant lawyer and sociologist by profession, protestant christian by faith. His life, I'm discovering, unique. He was involved with the French underground during WWII and after the war defended in court people who would have killed him because they were treated so mercilessly afterwards in breach of law. He's written many books in his lifetime. He died in 1994 at the age of 82, his life spanning both world wars in France. Once he became a christian in his twenties, he became enamored with Karl Barth's writings/theology and became a member of the Reformed Church. I'd love to read a biography about him. This book, I absolutely adore. He dedicated this book to his son Simon who died while he was writing it.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece!, June 15, 2006

By 

Christopher C. Smith (Citrus Heights, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Meaning of the City (Paperback)

Jacques Ellul is a master of prose and of theology. He beautifully weaves together themes from across the canon to produce a set of insights that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Highly recommended!