Quotes from book
The Meaning of the City

The Meaning of the City
Jacques Ellul Original title Sans feu ni lieu , Signification biblique de la Grande Ville (French, 1975)

The Meaning of the City is a theological essay by Jacques Ellul which recounts the story of the city in the Bible and seeks to explain the city's biblical significance.

Jacques Ellul photo

“The city is not just a collection of ramparts with houses, but also a a spiritual power. … It is capable of directing and changing a man's spiritual life. It brings its power to bear in him and changes his life.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 9

Jacques Ellul photo

“The social group which the city represents is so strong that it draws men into sin which is hardly personal to them, but from which they cannot dissociate themselves even if they so desire. Individual virtues are engulfed by the sin of the city.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 67

Jacques Ellul photo

“"Righteous Abel," says Matthew [23:34-45]. What luck! So there is a righteous race! No such thing: Abel dies leaving no children, a fact full of meaning. He is unable to transmit his righteousness.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 7

Jacques Ellul photo

“The first builder of a city was Cain.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 1

Jacques Ellul photo

“Cain is completely dissatisfied with the security granted to him by God, and so he searches out his own security. … He will satisfy his desire for eternity by producing children, and he will satisfy his desire for security by creating a place belonging to him, a city.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), pp. 4-5

Jacques Ellul photo

“Man's power is first of all the result of hardening his heart against God: man affirms that he is strong, conquers the world, and builds cities.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 10

Jacques Ellul photo

“Cain has built a city. For God's Eden he substitutes his own, for the goal given to his life by God, he substitutes a goal chosen by himself.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 5

Jacques Ellul photo

“Cain is not the city and Abel is not the country; but the relationship between them also illuminates … the relationship between the city and the country. … The city was, from the day of its creation, incapable, because of the motives behind its construction, of any other destiny than that of killing the country, where God put man to enable him to life his life as best he could.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 8

Jacques Ellul photo

“The Scriptures … tell us what man wanted to do when he created the city, what he was hoping to conquer, what he thought to establish. And this narrative of the origin of the city is essential, for we see there in its purest state, and expressed simply, the feelings of the builders. Such feelings are no longer evident in our modern day when the prodigious complexity of the world hides the simple plans of the never-changing human heart.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 7

Jacques Ellul photo

“Urban civilization is warring civilization.”

Jacques Ellul book The Meaning of the City

Source: The Meaning of the City (1951), p. 13

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