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Title: The Humiliation of the Word by Jacques Ellul, Joyce Main Hanks ISBN: 0-8028-0069-6 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Thinking Person's Guide to Media Influence
Comment: After reading the other reviews I must add a few comments.
First, you can't blame the author for lack of clarity. If you blame anyone, blame the translator. This book is translated from French and most translations are cumbersome.
Second, Jacques Ellul is a Luddite (read his "The Technological Society" and you'll see what I mean) so his conclusions are going to be anti-techonology.
Having said all that, this book challenges the assumptions of our image-driven society whether you agree with the author's conclusions or not. Jacques Ellul is a Christian but missed one important point on the image vs. word debate. And that is this: "The Word became flesh..." The Word by divine mandate became an image of God in the flesh. Also, man is made in the image of God. But Jacques Ellul is a great thinker and always provokes thought outside the traditional box.
This is a great book and deserves reading and re-reading for any writer in our image-driven society.
Aloha, Glenn
Rating: 1
Summary: Hard to Follow
Comment: The review by Sharilee is a good summary, but I found Ellul's actual presentation to be extremely wordy and obscure. There is much to be said on this topic, but I don't think he said it at all clearly or well. My advice is to browse this book in a library before investing in your own copy.
Rating: 4
Summary: Brilliant
Comment: In this book, Ellul makes a strong distinction between the "word" and the "image" as a method of perceiving and making sense of the world. He claims that the "image" has been elevated in our society beyond its original purpose and capability. The "image" is limited to the material world, to the practical and cannot probe the depths of human experience, to go beyond the surface of reality. Therefore a society based on image will be a shallow society, incapable of find ing deep truths.
He contrasts the limitations of the image with the strengths of the "word." The word, which has been humiliated in today's world, that is, lowered in status, demeaned, is capable of conveying truth and complexities that the image cannot. The word, because it is flexible and open to interpretation, is an instrument of communication and negotiation.
Ellul takes this argument and applies it to several different areas of technology and communication.
I agree wholeheartedly with his basic premise, although not with all of his applications. Sometimes his categorizations are a little unclear and confusing but overall he makes a very strong argument. He is absolutely brilliant in the way that he is able to analyze the very fundamental structure of the way we communicate and function as a society. He attacks the postmodern mindset by showing that they have a disdain for thinking and the intellect itself.
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Title: The Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul, Geoffrey W. Bromiley ISBN: 0802800491 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Politics of God and the Politics of Man by Jacques Ellul ISBN: 0802814425 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: June, 1972 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Propaganda by Jacques Ellul ISBN: 0394718747 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 January, 1973 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul ISBN: 0394703901 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 October, 1967 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Anarchy and Christianity by Jacques Ellul, Geoffrey W. Bromiley ISBN: 0802804950 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: July, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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