Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) was a French sociologist, philosopher, and theologian, but his main profession was teaching law at the University of Bordeaux. He held strong views about the nature of government as antithetical to Christian faith, and is counted among the 20th century Christian anarchists.

Anarchy and Christianity is a short work presenting the essentials of Ellul’s political philosophy with respect to Scripture. It reads in a scholarly manner, especially with his references to historical and textual criticism and the assumption that the reader knows something about Marxian class theory, historical theological traditions, and even a bit of Greek. One must be prepared to encounter someone distant from the American evangelical theology that we are so familiar with. I’d be hard-pressed to say he is a “theological liberal,” but he is different. Despite the qualms I have with certain elements of Ellul’s thought, I found the book to be a very enjoyable read and it enlivened Scriptures that I had not paid due attention in the past. Since it isn’t that long, I think anyone can gain a lot from reading this book.

The book contains three main parts, plus an appendix for further thoughts. First, Ellul includes a personal introduction to demonstrate why the political question of anarchy is still important to the church today. He begins: “The question I am posing is the more difficult because fixed opinions have long since been reached on both sides and have never been subjected to the least examination.” If anything, the question is not settled (not even with him). He reveals some of his personal history, including his time participating in Marxist movements before converting to Christianity. Even though he admired Marx, he was also very familiar with Proudhon (“Liberty is the mother, not the daughter, of order.”) and therefore never really considered himself a strict Marxist/communist even while sympathetic to the ideas.

Part 1 is entitled “Anarchy from a Christian Standpoint” and outlines what anarchy actually is, describes why he considers himself and anarchist, and answers some anarchist objections to Christianity. To Ellul, the essential element of anarchy is not the caricature of a bomb-throwing revolter but a rejection of violence and aggression as a means of accomplishing political goals. “No matter what the motivation, however, I am against violence and aggression. I am against it on two levels. The first is simply tactical… My second reason is obviously a Christian one. Biblically, love is the way, not violence.” Ellul then addresses the charge of non-Christian anarchists that Christianity itself is antithetical to freedom, even going so far as to address briefly the “problem of evil.”

I love this paragraph where he defends the position that God is the great liberator:

But why freedom? If we accept that God is love, and that it is human beings who are to respond to this love, the explanation is simple. Love cannot be forced, ordered, or made obligatory. It is necessarily free. If God liberates, it is because he expects and hopes that we will come to know him and love him. He cannot lead us to do so by terrorizing us.

The subject of Part 2 is “The Bible as the Source of Anarchy,” where Ellul shows via what he calls a “naïve reading” of the Bible that typical interpretations of pro-state Christians are wrongheaded. He surveys both the Old and New Testaments, answering a variety of questions that seemingly pro-state Scriptures bring to the forefront. Without giving too much away, he addresses 1 Samuel, the Prophets, the teachings of Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Revelation. Some of his interpretations are what I expected, others are quite surprising. I will leave it to you to discover and enjoy.

In summary, Ellul’s work is quality material for the Christian libertarian. His chief flaw – and this flaw is certainly not trivial from my point of view – is a lack of understanding about the free market as the great vehicle of practicing freedom. I think it very likely that he is caricaturing corporatism as capitalism, but nevertheless a steadier free market principle would be help bolster his ideas to contemporary libertarians of all backgrounds. But most importantly, he gives an thought-provoking case that the State is from any point of view the enemy of freedom and of God.

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Anarchy and Christianity

Well, I have a special treat for you in today’s podcast. Gil Guillory is an engineer, independent scholar, and an entrepreneur who has been developing a business plan for providing security services as a startup company. He graciously agreed to explain his ideas in an interview with me a while back, and we finally were able to match our schedules and chat via Skype.

Now, this isn’t directly a theological topic, but pay attention when Gil talks about connecting charitable agencies, such as churches, with individuals who need help. There is a real, tangible benefit to private security because it is always more personal than typical police. And given just how corrupt many police have become, it is high time to seek out alternatives.

I have met some very decent police officers in the past, but even they have told me how awful things are becoming in law enforcement. I would encourage any truly good officers to seek out people like Gil and join him in this noble venture. Listen to what he has to say and think about it…

I hope you enjoy this fascinating talk. (It’s just under 20 minutes long, and sorry about the difference in volume between Gil and I…) Feel free to comment here with questions. If we get enough, perhaps Gil will agree to do a second talk where we address them!

Right click here to download the entire audio file. [20 minutes, mp3]

Visit Gil’s GooglePages Site.

Read Gil’s LRC Articles, especially Tax Funded Policing is Socialism.

UPDATE: Many thanks to Manuel from the LewRockwell.com blog for linking to this, welcome to LRC readers once again! Please keep sharing it, folks, the Stumbles, Diggs, and retweets are very much appreciated!

Also, I noticed that for some reason the “title” of the podcast when you play it is And Your Bird Can Sing. Oops! It is nice intro music, though, wouldn’t you say? Great guitar…

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Podcast on Private Security with Gil Guillory

A Look at the Jury System and Our Participation in It — Graham Dugas observes that being on a jury can be a great check on the State. This piece very much challenged my previous understanding of being on a jury, and I highly recommend reading it. Especially of interest is his explanation of the “How many Jews are here?” question that we sometimes wonder how we would answer, had we been asked in Nazi Germany.

Anarchy and Chaos in Black Communities — My internet buddy Rob Wicks explains in this very short article that anarchy, which is not chaos but the absence of government force, is not to be feared. Well done, Wicks!

On Theonomy — @Silent0 alerted me to this article on Twitter. It’s pretty long, but an interesting read about God using the State to enact Biblical law – which is theonomy. I don’t agree with the concept for a multitude of reasons, but if you’re interested in this long-standing debate you’ll want to read this.

And here’s a fun comic as well…

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Sunday Article Linkage

Well, strictly speaking one must say no; the term was hardly around at the time. But in the following quote, he seems fairly clear that he is, philosophically, opposed to centralized power in a way that resembles modern libertarianism. Apparently he wrote this to his son in a letter.

My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs) – or to ‘unconstitutional’ monarchy . . . Anyway, the proper study of man is anything but man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity. And at least it is done only to a small group of men who know who their master is. The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers. And so on down the line. But, of course, the fatal weakness of all that — after all only the fatal weakness of all good things in a bad corrupt unnatural world — is that it works and has worked only when all the world is messing along in the same good old inefficient human way.

How interesting… Comments from the Tolkien-lovers around here? What do you think this indicates about him? Is there any other evidence out there about his political leanings? Did this have anything to do with his Christian beliefs? How do you think he might have reacted to the libertarians of today? Oh, so many questions!

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Was J.R.R. Tolkien a Libertarian?