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Religion and Culture
Postmodern theorist Michel Foucault is best known for his work on "power/ knowledge," and on the regulation of sexuality in modern society. Yet throughout his life, Foucault was continually concerned with Christianity, other spiritual movements and religious traditions, and the death of God, and these themes and materials scattered are throughout his many writings.
Religion and Culture collects for the first time this important thinker's work on religion, religious experience, and society. Here are classic essays such as 'The Battle for 'Chastity," alongside those that have been less widely read in English or in French. Selections are arranged in three groupings: 'Madness, Religion and the Avant-Garde'; 'Religions, Politics and the East'; and 'Christianity, Sexuality and the Self: Fragments of an Unpublished Volume'.
Ranging from Foucault's earliest studies of madness to 'Confessions of the Flesh,' the unpublished fourth volume of his "History of Sexuality, his final thoughts on early Christianity, Religion and Culture makes Foucault's work an indispensable part of contemporary religious thought, while also making an important link between religious studies and cultural studies.
Religion and Culture collects for the first time this important thinker's work on religion, religious experience, and society. Here are classic essays such as 'The Battle for 'Chastity," alongside those that have been less widely read in English or in French. Selections are arranged in three groupings: 'Madness, Religion and the Avant-Garde'; 'Religions, Politics and the East'; and 'Christianity, Sexuality and the Self: Fragments of an Unpublished Volume'.
Ranging from Foucault's earliest studies of madness to 'Confessions of the Flesh,' the unpublished fourth volume of his "History of Sexuality, his final thoughts on early Christianity, Religion and Culture makes Foucault's work an indispensable part of contemporary religious thought, while also making an important link between religious studies and cultural studies.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 1999
About the author
Michel Foucault
783 books6,699 followersPaul-Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationships between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels. His thought has influenced academics, especially those working in communication studies, anthropology, psychology, sociology, criminology, cultural studies, literary theory, feminism, Marxism and critical theory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser, and at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he earned degrees in philosophy and psychology. After several years as a cultural diplomat abroad, he returned to France and published his first major book, The History of Madness (1961). After obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he produced The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966), publications that displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism, from which he later distanced himself. These first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique Foucault was developing called "archaeology".
From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France, where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. Foucault subsequently published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969). In 1970, Foucault was admitted to the Collège de France, a membership he retained until his death. He also became active in several left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights abuses and for penal reform. Foucault later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), in which he developed archaeological and genealogical methods that emphasized the role that power plays in society.
Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS; he became the first public figure in France to die from complications of the disease. His partner Daniel Defert founded the AIDES charity in his memory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser, and at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he earned degrees in philosophy and psychology. After several years as a cultural diplomat abroad, he returned to France and published his first major book, The History of Madness (1961). After obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he produced The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966), publications that displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism, from which he later distanced himself. These first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique Foucault was developing called "archaeology".
From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France, where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. Foucault subsequently published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969). In 1970, Foucault was admitted to the Collège de France, a membership he retained until his death. He also became active in several left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights abuses and for penal reform. Foucault later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), in which he developed archaeological and genealogical methods that emphasized the role that power plays in society.
Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS; he became the first public figure in France to die from complications of the disease. His partner Daniel Defert founded the AIDES charity in his memory.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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March 8, 2026kind of random collection of lectures, interviews, and essays by foucault. they’re all good in their own right, idk together presented as a book.
introduction by carrette might have been good in the late 90s but rings flat today. the final essay by mark vernon is pretty good tho
introduction by carrette might have been good in the late 90s but rings flat today. the final essay by mark vernon is pretty good tho
May 3, 2020
Religion and culture is a subject too wide to compile different writings and talks on them. It leaves the impression of chaotic and unrelated topics chosen for this compilation, without thematic links between them.
That being said, the book still gave a useful insinght in Foucault’s views on religion.
That being said, the book still gave a useful insinght in Foucault’s views on religion.
March 6, 2022
There are some good/interesting essays here, but overall the compilation is a little outdated with the publication of the lectures series and Confessions of the Flesh.
June 23, 2008
Foucault’s focus directly falls upon the pastoral power and the hermeneutics of the self which all developed within Christian ideology and practices. Through the Christian confession, implemented by the early church, a new form of knowledge is created through the confessor’s repeated analysis of their own individual sins and their actions are influenced by the knowledge that they will later have to confess each sin they commit. Foucault applies his routine critical approach to religion, primarily early Christianity, in much the same manner as he analyzed the prison system, sexuality, psychiatry, and the medical institution.
Foucault, who is commonly criticized for being a poor historian with bad sources who creates ideas from insufficient data, is commended for his use of scholarly sources when describing the roots of early sexuality within developing Christianity unlike when he was rifling through “obscure disciplinary codes of the 1800”.Criticism of his later works on sexuality and, vicariously, his work on the confession and pastoral power depict his work as respected and well-researched, which truly makes one ponder on how much more he could’ve affected thought had he not passed away.
Foucault recognizes Christianity as an ultimate power structure which imposes an obligation on its followers to accept its dogma, its sacred text and, most importantly, its authority as truth through confession and the pastoral power. People willingly submit to this much in the same way they submit to governmental and medical authority. Foucault doesn’t seek to understand why this phenomenon occurs just that it does.
Foucault, who is commonly criticized for being a poor historian with bad sources who creates ideas from insufficient data, is commended for his use of scholarly sources when describing the roots of early sexuality within developing Christianity unlike when he was rifling through “obscure disciplinary codes of the 1800”.Criticism of his later works on sexuality and, vicariously, his work on the confession and pastoral power depict his work as respected and well-researched, which truly makes one ponder on how much more he could’ve affected thought had he not passed away.
Foucault recognizes Christianity as an ultimate power structure which imposes an obligation on its followers to accept its dogma, its sacred text and, most importantly, its authority as truth through confession and the pastoral power. People willingly submit to this much in the same way they submit to governmental and medical authority. Foucault doesn’t seek to understand why this phenomenon occurs just that it does.
August 5, 2017
This is a helpful compilation of Foucault's thoughts on religion. Essays, interviews, university talks...It's organized historically. I still think it's more useful to read his lectures in their entirety rather the extracting specific themes, as occurs in the later parts of this book.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews