| Abstract: | Michel Foucault has theorized Christianity as a discourse that combines truth and power with the development of the subjective knowledge of the self. It claims that Christianity was a historical mechanism of the production of truth about self and the modification of self through practices like confession, penitential rites, and monastic obedience. This ritual process, in turn, serves to consolidate institutional authority. Using Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical methods, the paper delves into the emergence of the categories of truth, like sin/purity and temptation/obedience. These truth categories then guide individuals’ behaviour and force them to surrender before the Christian discourses. Foucault’s theorisation has been criticised for being Eurocentric and reductionist. However, he described how religious practice is immersed in regimes of power/knowledge. This paper argues that Christianity should not be read as simply a belief system but as a discursive formation. |
