Foucault, Geneology, Religion

Undergraduate / Graduate

Toward the end of his life, Michel Foucault turned to religion-not for solace, but for the sources of modern subjectivity and selfhood. Religion itself, however, is not his subject, nor is the religious subject his concern. What use, then, is his work on religion, and what use has religious studies made of it? Beginning with some of Foucault's most influential works on the genealogy of the subject and Christianity's role within it, this course examines his methods and the concepts they have generated. Engaging some of Foucault's own scholarly sources, as well as critical work on his use of them, his treatment of primary texts, and the scope and limit of his discussion of Christianity, this course will then move to examine how his theories of power, biopolitics, and governmentality have influenced the study of religion across traditions and geographic contexts. Reading religious studies scholarship in history, intellectual history, anthropology, and cultural theory, we will examine Foucault's uneven but pervasive influence across the field, questioning religion's role in forming some of his key concepts, and tracing the use of those concepts as tools in the continuing study of religion.