L’opérativité du concept de non-puissance chez Jacques Ellul dans le contexte de la crise écologique.

Details

Supervisors

Bourgine, Benoît

Faculty

Faculté de théologie et d'étude des religions

Degree label

Master [120] en théologie, à finalité approfondie

Abstract

enFaced with the ecological crisis, the thought of Jacques Ellul is frequently invoked for his early analysis of the technological system, yet most often severed from its theological dimension — one nevertheless inseparable from his work. This thesis examines, in this context, the operativity of the Ellulian concept of non-power: the capacity to act and the deliberate choice not to act. Drawing on a diachronic reading of the corpus and on an unpublished interview with Frédéric Rognon, it argues that non-power possesses a genuine operativity, distinct from measurable effectiveness, and that it grounds a kenotic anthropocentrism regenerated in Christ — theologically more robust, and ethically better able to found human responsibility, than the prevailing biocentric and ecocentric models. By means of an analogy inspired by Lacoste and Balthasar, the study establishes that non-power is the mode under which divine omnipotence gives itself to be perceived by the finite creature: God does not renounce his omnipotence but reveals it sub contrario on the cross. This theological foundation makes it possible to re-establish the human vocation as a stewardship in the service of creation. Non-power then unfolds according to a threefold operativity — manifesting the true human being, establishing limits, and providing a criterion of discernment — which the conclusion rereads in the light of the three offices of Christ. The concept thus appears not merely as an ethics, but as a category traversing several theological disciplines, among them anthropology, christology, and fundamental theology.