Truth, Reality and the Ten Commandments: Not for Theology Alone

Abstract

The purpose of this paper (much of which appeared in a different form in Landgraf 2003) is to construct a reading of the Ten Commandments in terms of Jacques Ellul’s thought in order to facilitate the understanding of his thought as a whole, both theological and sociological. For the most part, this is not an exposition of Ellul’s statements about each commandment but a construction based on his statements about what it means to be human and what keeps societies from being destroyed from within by vicious circles of power. In the space allotted I must paint in broad strokes for entire chapters could be written about each heading here. My thesis is that Ellul’s conception of the space within which life is possible can be delineated by the Ten Commandments, paraphrased in terms relating to his understanding of the orders of truth and reality, and that the outcome of obedience to the commandments so paraphrased is that reality is kept open to truth. A side result is that Ellul’s arguments about the autonomy of technique depend on his belief that fallen human beings have an innate desire to possess reality.