This project aims to enlarge understanding of Ellul’s dilemma of the ethical Christian communicator through a hermeneutic exploration of his intentionally un-paradigmatic treatment of technology as the determining factor in the formation of contemporary structural realities, a claim central to Ellul’s theory of technological society. It attends to the question of why, over the course of more than 50 books and over 1,000 articles, Ellul has refused to expound upon this claim as an overarching theoretical construct. As a contribution to the field of communication ethics from Ellul’s Christocentric perspective, this work also explicates the importance of what has become widely recognized as Ellul’s “dialectic method” of social analysis from the standpoint of rhetorical interruption, pointing to the absence of phenomenological distance as the most significant barrier to human relations in contemporary society.
","abstract_html":"<p>This project aims to enlarge understanding of Ellul’s dilemma of the ethical Christian communicator through a hermeneutic exploration of his intentionally un-paradigmatic treatment of technology as the determining factor in the formation of contemporary structural realities, a claim central to Ellul’s theory of technological society. It attends to the question of why, over the course of more than 50 books and over 1,000 articles, Ellul has refused to expound upon this claim as an overarching theoretical construct. As a contribution to the field of communication ethics from Ellul’s Christocentric perspective, this work also explicates the importance of what has become widely recognized as Ellul’s “dialectic method” of social analysis from the standpoint of rhetorical interruption, pointing to the absence of phenomenological distance as the most significant barrier to human relations in contemporary society.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Pabis, Marianne"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"Immediate Access","degree_discipline":"Communication and Rhetorical Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ronald C. Arnett","Janie Harden Fritz","Patricia Arneson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-05-11T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-05-11T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:09:20Z","subjects":["being vs. doing","response vs. reaction","givenness","formation","consciousness","embodiment","Christianity","Ethics in Religion","Philosophy of Language","Philosophy of Mind","Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion","Rhetoric"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1434","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ronald C. Arnett","Janie Harden Fritz","Patricia Arneson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Pabis, Marianne"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-05-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Communication and Rhetorical Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Immediate Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["being vs. doing","response vs. reaction","givenness","formation","consciousness","embodiment","Christianity","Ethics in Religion","Philosophy of Language","Philosophy of Mind","Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion","Rhetoric"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1434"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This project aims to enlarge understanding of Ellul’s dilemma of the ethical Christian communicator through a hermeneutic exploration of his intentionally un-paradigmatic treatment of technology as the determining factor in the formation of contemporary structural realities, a claim central to Ellul’s theory of technological society. It attends to the question of why, over the course of more than 50 books and over 1,000 articles, Ellul has refused to expound upon this claim as an overarching theoretical construct. As a contribution to the field of communication ethics from Ellul’s Christocentric perspective, this work also explicates the importance of what has become widely recognized as Ellul’s “dialectic method” of social analysis from the standpoint of rhetorical interruption, pointing to the absence of phenomenological distance as the most significant barrier to human relations in contemporary society.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Communication Ethics: Ellul's Complexity of Form"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ronald C. Arnett","Janie Harden Fritz","Patricia Arneson"],"dc:creator":["Pabis, Marianne"],"dc:date.available":["2018-05-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This project aims to enlarge understanding of Ellul’s dilemma of the ethical Christian communicator through a hermeneutic exploration of his intentionally un-paradigmatic treatment of technology as the determining factor in the formation of contemporary structural realities, a claim central to Ellul’s theory of technological society. It attends to the question of why, over the course of more than 50 books and over 1,000 articles, Ellul has refused to expound upon this claim as an overarching theoretical construct. As a contribution to the field of communication ethics from Ellul’s Christocentric perspective, this work also explicates the importance of what has become widely recognized as Ellul’s “dialectic method” of social analysis from the standpoint of rhetorical interruption, pointing to the absence of phenomenological distance as the most significant barrier to human relations in contemporary society.
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