Beyond Critique: Foucault's Genealogical Analysis of Christian Technologies of the Self

ABSTRACT This article examines a neglected dimension of Michel Foucault's later work by focusing on his genealogical analysis of Christian technologies of the self. While Foucault's analysis of Christian technologies of power and Greco‐Roman technologies of the self has attracted considerable scholarly interest, his examination of Christian technologies of the self has received far less attention. By tracing Foucault's investigation of these Christian practices and their modern continuities, this study aims to better understand his late ethical turn and his overall stance toward Christianity. It argues that neither Christian nor Greco‐Roman technologies of the self should be reduced to simplistic critiques or solutions. Rather, both constitute historical conditions through which Foucault investigates the practice of freedom, thereby providing a valuable framework for rethinking our historical ontology of ourselves.