False Presence of the Kingdom

  • Year 1963
  • Type Book
  • Genre ecclesiology
  • Tradition Reformed
  • Original language French

For For readers who know The Presence of the Kingdom and want Ellul's critique of the churches' social activism; not a first book on Ellul.

Should I read this?

For the general reader
3 of 5 worth your time
For the researcher
3 of 5 worth your time
Difficulty
2 of 5 moderate

A short critique of the churches' ways of being 'present' in politics and society, written as a sequel to The Presence of the Kingdom.

How it proceeds
  • Philosophic 2 of 5
  • Scriptural 3 of 5
  • Experiential 1 of 5
  • Sociological 4 of 5
  • Historical 2 of 5

Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.

A short book published in 1963 by Les Bergers et les Mages, the Reformed Church's publishing house, and translated by C. Edward Hopkin as False Presence of the Kingdom (Seabury, 1972). It returns to the theme of Ellul's 1948 Présence au monde moderne from the other side: where that book called Christians to a true presence in the world, this one criticises what he saw as false forms of it in the churches of the 1960s, in their engagement with politics and society. It belongs with his other writings on the church and politics.

Catalog IDW.T5JGD0.F

Edition details and descriptions on this page were compiled with the aid of AI research tools. Readers are encouraged to verify specifics (publisher, translator, edition year) against the originating source before purchase or citation.