Conference 2026
The Humiliated Word in a Time of Crisis
Help us to spread the word: Download 11×17 conference poster
Dates and Location
July 14-16, 2026
The conference begins at noon on July 14 and runs to the late afternoon on July 16. The conference sessions will be held at Madeleva Hall, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, 46556.
Information for arriving by air, car, bus, or train (saintmarys.edu/admission-aid/visit-campus/maps-directions)
Free parking is provided next to Madeleva and in nearby parking lots. Parking map
Madeleva Hall is wheelchair accessible. Accessibility map (https://www.saintmarys.edu/admission-aid/visit-campus/maps-directions/accessibility)
Registration
IJES member rate: $250 (or $400 for member + spouse)
If you encounter any problems registering, please email us at ijes@ellul.org.
Meals
The following meals are included in your conference registration fee:
July 14 lunch, supper
July 15 breakfast, lunch
July 16 breakfast, lunch
These meals, other than the July 14 supper, will be held at the dining hall, Saint Mary’s College. Cards at each station will state the dietary restrictions. There will also be a selection of gluten-free items.
Dining hall hours:
Breakfast 7:30am to 8:30am
Lunch 11:30am to 1:15pm
Supper 4:30pm to 6:30pm
The evening meal on July 14 will be held at Foley’s on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The meal and one alcoholic beverage is included in your conference registration fee. A “cash bar” (accepts credit cards only) will be available if you want additional beverages.
Distance between Foley’s and Madeleva Hall: 25-minute walk, 10-minute drive.
Parking: TBD
Accommodations
The conference registration fee does not cover your accommodations. Please make your own arrangements as soon as possible, since room availability will be limited. Here are some options.
Program
We have accepted about thirty conference papers. The program will be posted here when available. Our keynote speaker will be Professor Timothy O’Malley, University of Notre Dame.
Conference Description
What is the word’s status today? In a time marked by division and polarization over politics, medicine, science, culture, or even what it means to be human, often words are weaponized and truth buried under lies.
Confronted by such circumstances, what would it look like to attune ourselves to the conditions of spoken and written words today? What challenges and possibilities might emerge if we take the word seriously, even imaginatively and hopefully, today and in the future?
The 2026 International Jacques Ellul Society Conference explores these and related questions through engagement with themes developed in and beyond Jacques Ellul’s 1981 book The Humiliation of the Word. Humiliation is a creative sociological, theological, and personal meditation on the place of language in the late twentieth-century West, written during a time of deep cultural upheaval, technological change, and political tension. For this reason, many readers rank Humiliation as a piece of Ellul’s most profound sociology, most mature theology, and most poetic prose. Furthermore, it is a distinct contribution to and central text for the field of media ecology.
But if this text is so significant, what did Ellul say within it that makes it so resonant? Although there are many ways to answer this question, a short form answer can be given here: Ellul uses this text to show us that the humble fragility of the spoken word is humanity’s most sure path toward freedom, truth, and peace. In this sense, Ellul makes an ambitious and hopeful claim for the power of the word in a time when the word seems to be powerless.