The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of
Sexuality, Volume 4: Confe... more The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) thirty-four years after his death highlights and complicates the relevance of Christian texts—notably from the second through fifth centuries—to Foucault’s forms of critical analysis between 1974 and 1984, as his interests migrate from monastic disciplines to pastoral power to governmentality to the care of the self. What begins as suspicion towards confession as a tool of Catholic power anticipating modern psychoanalysis becomes a critical genealogy of subjectivity from western antiquity to modernity. To frame Foucault’s dynamic engagement with forms of Christianity, I establish three stages over his last decade as he moves from diagnosing mechanisms of power to analyzing ethics as care of the self. Tracing Foucault’s textual and critical developments enables better analysis of Confessions of the Flesh and affirms methodological possibilities in the study of religion today.
Sites of the Ascetic Self illuminates Cassian’s historical and textual analyses through engagemen... more Sites of the Ascetic Self illuminates Cassian’s historical and textual analyses through engagement with contemporary theoretical debates, developing conceptions of ethics, agency, and subjectivity from queer and feminist theories to illuminate (in a perhaps unlikely way) the attention to embodied, affective, and inter-relational sites of Cassian’s ascetic “self.”
Michel Foucault’s readings of Cassian as anticipating modern subjectivity vis-à-vis attention to obedience, submission, and self-renunciation are particularly important. The 2018 posthumous publication of Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (and the 2021 translation, History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) features Foucault’s reading of Cassian, alongside other early Christian authors, highlighting the need to understand Cassian and better situate Cassian’s texts. Instead of Foucault’s focus on interiority and confession, Sites engages Cassian’s ethics as contributing to contemporary reframings of religion as practice-centered, sharing methodological innovations with scholarship in the philosophy of religion that foregrounds the work of the body, the emotions, and inter-sociality, alongside the role of critical reflection.
With a focus on the lived experience and practical ethics of Cassian, I argue for constructions of ethics in asceticism as a lens to both critique and deepen our understanding of constructions of power—following the critical moves that Foucault himself develops. By challenging modern assumptions about Cassian’s asceticism, Sites of the Ascetic Self proposes a new way to think about questions of ethics, subjectivity, and ethical agency in the study of religion today.
In an archived draft at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Foucault describes two questions ha... more In an archived draft at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Foucault describes two questions haunting him since 1963: "Why are we obliged to tell the truth about ourselves? Which truth?" Foucault poses these two questions in 1980...
Reaching for Perfection: Studies on the Means and Goals of Ascetical Practices, 2022
Volume from 2019 symposium at KU Leuven
Edited by Verheyden J., Roskam G., Heirman A., Leemans J... more Volume from 2019 symposium at KU Leuven
Edited by Verheyden J., Roskam G., Heirman A., Leemans J.
Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 329
Foucault's published works have long recognized the influence of the historian of late antiquity,... more Foucault's published works have long recognized the influence of the historian of late antiquity, Peter Brown. With the 2018 publication of Foucault's draft of Les Aveux de la chair (Confessions of the Flesh) bearing no mention of Brown, the depth of this influence requires further elaboration. Despite Brown not appearing in the "Index of Modern Authors," Confessions of the Flesh reflects Foucault's debt to Brown for his readings of Augustine of Hippo and his conceptualizations of sexuality and subjectivity. Analyzing archival evidence alongside biographical narratives helps us better understand Brown's vital influence as Foucault was shifting his History of Sexuality project, his archival practices, and his genealogy of subjectivity. Appreciating the textual and conceptual engagement between Foucault and Brown thus illuminates not only Confessions of the Flesh as Volume 4 in the History of Sexuality series but also the conceptual and methodological developments of both scholars in their disciplinary intersections.
The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confe... more The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) thirty-four years after his death highlights and complicates the relevance of Christian texts—notably from the second through fifth centuries—to Foucault’s forms of critical analysis between 1974 and 1984, as his interests migrate from monastic disciplines to pastoral power to governmentality to the care of the self. What begins as suspicion towards confession as a tool of Catholic power anticipating modern psychoanalysis becomes a critical genealogy of subjectivity from western antiquity to modernity. To frame Foucault’s dynamic engagement with forms of Christianity, I establish three stages over his last decade as he moves from diagnosing mechanisms of power to analyzing ethics as care of the self. Tracing Foucault’s textual and critical developments enables better analysis of Confessions of the Flesh and affirms methodological possibilities in the study of religio...
The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of
Sexuality, Volume 4: Confe... more The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) thirty-four years after his death highlights and complicates the relevance of Christian texts—notably from the second through fifth centuries—to Foucault’s forms of critical analysis between 1974 and 1984, as his interests migrate from monastic disciplines to pastoral power to governmentality to the care of the self. What begins as suspicion towards confession as a tool of Catholic power anticipating modern psychoanalysis becomes a critical genealogy of subjectivity from western antiquity to modernity. To frame Foucault’s dynamic engagement with forms of Christianity, I establish three stages over his last decade as he moves from diagnosing mechanisms of power to analyzing ethics as care of the self. Tracing Foucault’s textual and critical developments enables better analysis of Confessions of the Flesh and affirms methodological possibilities in the study of religion today.
Sites of the Ascetic Self illuminates Cassian’s historical and textual analyses through engagemen... more Sites of the Ascetic Self illuminates Cassian’s historical and textual analyses through engagement with contemporary theoretical debates, developing conceptions of ethics, agency, and subjectivity from queer and feminist theories to illuminate (in a perhaps unlikely way) the attention to embodied, affective, and inter-relational sites of Cassian’s ascetic “self.”
Michel Foucault’s readings of Cassian as anticipating modern subjectivity vis-à-vis attention to obedience, submission, and self-renunciation are particularly important. The 2018 posthumous publication of Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (and the 2021 translation, History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) features Foucault’s reading of Cassian, alongside other early Christian authors, highlighting the need to understand Cassian and better situate Cassian’s texts. Instead of Foucault’s focus on interiority and confession, Sites engages Cassian’s ethics as contributing to contemporary reframings of religion as practice-centered, sharing methodological innovations with scholarship in the philosophy of religion that foregrounds the work of the body, the emotions, and inter-sociality, alongside the role of critical reflection.
With a focus on the lived experience and practical ethics of Cassian, I argue for constructions of ethics in asceticism as a lens to both critique and deepen our understanding of constructions of power—following the critical moves that Foucault himself develops. By challenging modern assumptions about Cassian’s asceticism, Sites of the Ascetic Self proposes a new way to think about questions of ethics, subjectivity, and ethical agency in the study of religion today.
In an archived draft at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Foucault describes two questions ha... more In an archived draft at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Foucault describes two questions haunting him since 1963: "Why are we obliged to tell the truth about ourselves? Which truth?" Foucault poses these two questions in 1980...
Reaching for Perfection: Studies on the Means and Goals of Ascetical Practices, 2022
Volume from 2019 symposium at KU Leuven
Edited by Verheyden J., Roskam G., Heirman A., Leemans J... more Volume from 2019 symposium at KU Leuven
Edited by Verheyden J., Roskam G., Heirman A., Leemans J.
Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 329
Foucault's published works have long recognized the influence of the historian of late antiquity,... more Foucault's published works have long recognized the influence of the historian of late antiquity, Peter Brown. With the 2018 publication of Foucault's draft of Les Aveux de la chair (Confessions of the Flesh) bearing no mention of Brown, the depth of this influence requires further elaboration. Despite Brown not appearing in the "Index of Modern Authors," Confessions of the Flesh reflects Foucault's debt to Brown for his readings of Augustine of Hippo and his conceptualizations of sexuality and subjectivity. Analyzing archival evidence alongside biographical narratives helps us better understand Brown's vital influence as Foucault was shifting his History of Sexuality project, his archival practices, and his genealogy of subjectivity. Appreciating the textual and conceptual engagement between Foucault and Brown thus illuminates not only Confessions of the Flesh as Volume 4 in the History of Sexuality series but also the conceptual and methodological developments of both scholars in their disciplinary intersections.
The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confe... more The publication of Michel Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) thirty-four years after his death highlights and complicates the relevance of Christian texts—notably from the second through fifth centuries—to Foucault’s forms of critical analysis between 1974 and 1984, as his interests migrate from monastic disciplines to pastoral power to governmentality to the care of the self. What begins as suspicion towards confession as a tool of Catholic power anticipating modern psychoanalysis becomes a critical genealogy of subjectivity from western antiquity to modernity. To frame Foucault’s dynamic engagement with forms of Christianity, I establish three stages over his last decade as he moves from diagnosing mechanisms of power to analyzing ethics as care of the self. Tracing Foucault’s textual and critical developments enables better analysis of Confessions of the Flesh and affirms methodological possibilities in the study of religio...
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Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) thirty-four years after his
death highlights and complicates the relevance of Christian texts—notably
from the second through fifth centuries—to Foucault’s forms of
critical analysis between 1974 and 1984, as his interests migrate from
monastic disciplines to pastoral power to governmentality to the care of
the self. What begins as suspicion towards confession as a tool of Catholic
power anticipating modern psychoanalysis becomes a critical genealogy
of subjectivity from western antiquity to modernity. To frame Foucault’s
dynamic engagement with forms of Christianity, I establish three stages
over his last decade as he moves from diagnosing mechanisms of power
to analyzing ethics as care of the self. Tracing Foucault’s textual and critical developments enables better analysis of Confessions of the Flesh and affirms methodological possibilities in the study of religion today.
Michel Foucault’s readings of Cassian as anticipating modern subjectivity vis-à-vis attention to obedience, submission, and self-renunciation are particularly important. The 2018 posthumous publication of Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (and the 2021 translation, History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) features Foucault’s reading of Cassian, alongside other early Christian authors, highlighting the need to understand Cassian and better situate Cassian’s texts. Instead of Foucault’s focus on interiority and confession, Sites engages Cassian’s ethics as contributing to contemporary reframings of religion as practice-centered, sharing methodological innovations with scholarship in the philosophy of religion that foregrounds the work of the body, the emotions, and inter-sociality, alongside the role of critical reflection.
With a focus on the lived experience and practical ethics of Cassian, I argue for constructions of ethics in asceticism as a lens to both critique and deepen our understanding of constructions of power—following the critical moves that Foucault himself develops. By challenging modern assumptions about Cassian’s asceticism, Sites of the Ascetic Self proposes a new way to think about questions of ethics, subjectivity, and ethical agency in the study of religion today.
Papers
Edited by Verheyden J., Roskam G., Heirman A., Leemans J.
Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 329
Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) thirty-four years after his
death highlights and complicates the relevance of Christian texts—notably
from the second through fifth centuries—to Foucault’s forms of
critical analysis between 1974 and 1984, as his interests migrate from
monastic disciplines to pastoral power to governmentality to the care of
the self. What begins as suspicion towards confession as a tool of Catholic
power anticipating modern psychoanalysis becomes a critical genealogy
of subjectivity from western antiquity to modernity. To frame Foucault’s
dynamic engagement with forms of Christianity, I establish three stages
over his last decade as he moves from diagnosing mechanisms of power
to analyzing ethics as care of the self. Tracing Foucault’s textual and critical developments enables better analysis of Confessions of the Flesh and affirms methodological possibilities in the study of religion today.
Michel Foucault’s readings of Cassian as anticipating modern subjectivity vis-à-vis attention to obedience, submission, and self-renunciation are particularly important. The 2018 posthumous publication of Foucault’s Les Aveux de la chair (and the 2021 translation, History of Sexuality, Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh) features Foucault’s reading of Cassian, alongside other early Christian authors, highlighting the need to understand Cassian and better situate Cassian’s texts. Instead of Foucault’s focus on interiority and confession, Sites engages Cassian’s ethics as contributing to contemporary reframings of religion as practice-centered, sharing methodological innovations with scholarship in the philosophy of religion that foregrounds the work of the body, the emotions, and inter-sociality, alongside the role of critical reflection.
With a focus on the lived experience and practical ethics of Cassian, I argue for constructions of ethics in asceticism as a lens to both critique and deepen our understanding of constructions of power—following the critical moves that Foucault himself develops. By challenging modern assumptions about Cassian’s asceticism, Sites of the Ascetic Self proposes a new way to think about questions of ethics, subjectivity, and ethical agency in the study of religion today.
Edited by Verheyden J., Roskam G., Heirman A., Leemans J.
Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 329