Offers a definitive study of both the life and thought of the French Reformed thinker Jacques Ellul (1912-1994). Last century, the extensive writing of French Reformed lay theologian and social critic Jacques Ellul (1912-94) shed a disturbing light on western society and challenged Christians to be faithful to God ’s word by resisting the world. This major study draws on both published and unpublished material to provide the only available introduction to Ellul ’s life and thought as a whole. Within the context of a detailed biography, it offers an original interpretation of both Ellul ’s theological ethics and his personalist-inspired sociological analysis of our contemporary crisis of civilization. Detailed case studies of his writings on violence, law, the state and politics then demonstrates that this prophetic Christian thinker remains of great significance for both the church and the world at the start of a new century.