Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 35:2 (Jun 1992)
Article: Jesus, Anarchy And Marx: The Theological And Political Contours Of Ellulism
Author: Michael E. Bauman

JETS 35:2 (June 1992) p. 199

Jesus, Anarchy And Marx: The Theological
And Political Contours Of Ellulism

Michael Bauman*

Where there is no law, there is no freedom.

—John Locke

Rabbi Hananiah, prefect of the priests, says: Do thou pray for the welfare of the empire, because were it not for the fear that it inspires, every man would eat his neighbor alive.

—The Mishna

It is simply true that he who pauses to choose the right word will find out what he means to mean, and he who can’t will make it clear to his reader that he is ignorant and thoughtless.

—Richard Mitchell, The Gift of Fire

Why, then, do men cease to be Communists? One answer is: Very few do.

—Whittaker Chambers, Witness

Theologians quickly discover that death and taxes do not exhaust the list of life’s inevitabilities. Not only do we die and pay; we think1 —however well or however poorly. Because such considerations are foundational and pervasive, among the things we cannot avoid thinking about are our relationship to the transcendent, if any, and our relationship to our neighbor, whether near or far away. That is, human nature and human relationships being what they now are, human existence is inescapably theological and political. Thus the question is never whether or not we will have a theology or a political ideology but whether or not the theology and the political ideology we have are any good.

I am convinced that Ellulism—the theology and politics of Jacques Ellul—is seriously defective. It is nevertheless widely held and respected among evangelicals. The burden of this essay, therefore, is to bring its flaws to view and thereby to explain why I believe about it as I do. My agenda will be threefold: (1) to expose its exegetical shortcomings, (2) to

*Michael Bauman is associate professor of theology and culture at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI 49242.

JETS 35:2 (June 1992) p. 200

reveal its political and philosophical inadequacies, and (3) to trace its ideological roots back to their source.

I. Biblical Anarchism?

According to Ellul, the gospel should not be tied to any prevalent political or economic ideology. To do so, he says, is to degenerate Christianity, which “was originally an anti-ideology.”2 To do so also entails a dangerous conformity to the world, which Ellul sees as a transgression against our freedom in Christ.3 But Christianity is not the p...