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Ellul was no fatalist, nor a pessimist, according to Samuel Ebersole ("Media Determinism in CyperSpace," © 1995-2006, Regent University's School of Communication and the Arts). Rather, while he believed technology essential for human society, he believed that through divine intervention, society can be saved from the self-propelled deconstruction effected by the sacralization (what I would call "giving absolute devotion to") of technology.
Definitely, there is a technological, as in, methodical ordering, aspect to the Absolute Maximum. Genesis 1 evidences, in story fashion, this intuition, showing the Ordering Capacity of the Absolute Maximum, for this One-In-Whom-Inheres-All emerges order from chaos as Manifestation. The Emergent Capacity is in the Mind of the Divine, and this Capacity is the Word, or Christ, who is the Active-Template of the All-Potential Thought inhering in the Father, or Source. The Christ, then, continues as a process embedded in history in "comings," or Advent-as-process.
Therefore, historical progress is not in itself evil--though it is always challenging and entails potential blessing and cursing--, anymore than having a telephone is evil--which itself is technology. However, sacralization of emergents, whether it be nature, Christianity, the Bible, Science and technology, ... is a socialized form of idolatry, wherein the creature serves the creature, rather than serving the Creator.
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The Wisdom of the Hebrew Shema' speaks of the inherent Center to all Nature (Nature for sacred-by-participation in Sacredness, or God), wherein the Nature-Giver, the Sacred Itself, (nature here including all derived-nature from the One All-Potency; all from All)receives prior-absolute attention and devotion--for attention to evidences extent and quality of devotion). And, the Gospel of Christ, reaffirms the Shema', as in Mark 12.28-30 (NLT):
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.'
Therefore, the One Being Absolute is, and must be by Nature, Source of all non-absolute and, thus, all non-absolute must by nature participate in the One Who Is Absolute. Therefore, participating as derived substances in the Substance, all shares in the Sacred, for what is absolutely the Sacred cannot manifest, through Christ, the Word, anything with the trait of substantial non-sacredness.
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