Foucault and Religion: Spiritual Corporality and Political Spirituality (Hardcover)

by Jeremy Carrette (Author) "The legacy of Foucault continues to take many twists and turns since his death..." (more)
Key Phrases: mystical archaeology, political spirituality, religious immanence, Tel Quel, Marquis de Sade, Andrea Dworkin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Jeremy Carrette's book opens new vistas in the dialogue between cultural criticism and religious thinking. His recovery of this forgotten religious strand in Foucault's writing enables us to better understand why some of Foucault's ideas have suffered such misinterpretation. While a major contribution to Foucault studies, Carrette's real achievement is to have performed a reading of Foucault in the spirit of Foucault and not from the limited perspective of an academic discipline. In rescuing Foucault's exercises in reconciling the bodily and the spiritual, Carrette's study advances the contemporary transformation in the field of religious understanding. He shows us Foucault's religious questions but his greatest success is that, in doing so, Carrette gives new excitement and urgency to our own." -- James Bernauer, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College

..Carrette outlines Foucault's problematizing of religion in a coherent, careful manner... The author demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of the material... his clear writing style makes this text approachable for anyone in the humanities or social sciences.
–Elizabeth King Keenan Religious Studies Review

..Carrette outlines Foucaults problematizing of religion in a coherent, careful manner... The author demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of the material... his clear writing style makes this text approachable for anyone in the humanities or social sciences.
–Elizabeth King Keenan Religious Studies Review

Carrette's insightful work is indispensible for anyone considering the religious dimension not inly in Foucault's work, but in contemporary literature, philosophy, and culture. Carrette's concern with religion after Foucauly is a thoughtful reflection for a hyper-critical world that has increasingly neglected and parodied religious practice..
–Edvard Lorkovic, Philosophy in Review

Carrettes insightful work is indispensible for anyone considering the religious dimension not inly in Foucaults work, but in contemporary literature, philosophy, and culture. Carrettes concern with religion after Foucauly is a thoughtful reflection for a hyper-critical world that has increasingly neglected and parodied religious practice..
–Edvard Lorkovic, Philosophy in Review

Jeremy Carrette explores the hitherto neglected religious aspects of the 20th century thinker....
–Church Times

The gems of this text are 1. Carrette's attention to the intellectual context of the avant-garde and surrealism that informed Foucault's early work; 2. Carrette's thorough immersion in the entirety of Foucault's works, which provides him with a key insight into the transition that Carrette describes as the move from spiritual corporality to political spirituality; and 3. Carrette's careful delineation of the location Foucault maintained in relation to religious discourses, neither skeptic in the humanist sense, nor postmodern mystic..
–Mary Keller, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

The gems of this text are 1. Carrettes attention to the intellectual context of the avant-garde and surrealism that informed Foucaults early work; 2. Carrettes thorough immersion in the entirety of Foucaults works, which provides him with a key insight into the transition that Carrette describes as the move from spiritual corporality to political spirituality; and 3. Carrettes careful delineation of the location Foucault maintained in relation to religious discourses, neither skeptic in the humanist sense, nor postmodern mystic..
–Mary Keller, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

[Carrette's] approach...expertly presents Foucault's ideas while illuminating the influence of religious beliefs in their absence as well as in their manifest practices.
–Religious Studies Review

[Carrettes] approach...expertly presents Foucaults ideas while illuminating the influence of religious beliefs in their absence as well as in their manifest practices.
–Religious Studies Review

Product Description
Foucault and Religion seeks to unearth a new dimension of Foucault scholarship. Renowned Foucault scholar Jeremy Carrette reveals not simply how Foucault's work can be applied to religion but how a religious question at the heart of Foucault's own work offers a radical challenge to religious ideas. Carrette argues that Foucault offers a twofold critique of Christianity by bringing the body and sexuality into religious practice and exploring a political spirituality of the self. This first major commentary on Foucault and religion opens up the diverse religious questions the philosopher raises in his work, and sheds new light on how Foucault challenges religious thinking and transforms religious understanding.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415202590
• ISBN-13: 978-0415202596
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,201,078 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)