FOUCAULT'S INTERPRETATION OF CHRISTIAN SELF AND ASKESIS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

The publication of Foucault's 1980 course Du gouvernement des. vivants in 2012 (translated into English in 2014) gives us the full picture of his original interpretation of the historical novelty of Christianity in relation to "the regimes of truth", self; subjectivity, spiritual practices, and governmentality. One year before, Ph. Chevallier had published an impressive exegetical work: Michel Foucault et le christianisme. In my study, I draw on a few of his suggestions, while also addressing a number of questions regarding precisely what key elements of Christian spirituality this otherwise brilliant Foucauldian interpretation is forced to leave aside. For instance: How new the relation to the truth in the context of "second penance" really is? The whole idea of "renouncing the self' can be properly understood without drawing an explicit distinction between person and individual? Isn't Foucault actually missing the essential dimension of Christian confession, that of being a relationship of love?