Luther and Biopower: Rethinking the Reformation with Foucault
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.i36.7228Nøgleord:
Michel Foucault, the Reformation, biopolitics, disciplinary power, Martin Luther, LutheranismResumé
In this article, we propose an alternative Foucauldian reading of Martin Luther’s thought and early Lutheranism. Michel Foucault did not mention the Reformation often, although he saw it as an amplification of pastoral power and the governing of people’s everyday lives. We aim to fill the gap in his analysis by outlining the disciplinary and biopolitical aspects in Luther and early Lutheranism. Therefore, we also contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the birth of biopolitics, which, we argue, predates Foucault’s periodisation. Our approach to tackling these questions is three-pronged. First, we establish the context by highlighting a few Reformation-era examples of the conceptual opposite of biopower, namely, sovereign power. Second, we scrutinise the disciplinary aspects of early Lutheranism, underscoring the fact that disciplinary institutions appear to subject people to new models of behaviour. Third, we describe the biopolitical undercurrents in Luther’s thought and its early reception. We argue that the reformer’s views on issues such as marriage and poor relief appear to carry a biopolitical significance before the alleged birth of biopolitics.
Referencer
Agamben, Giorgio, Homo Sacer. Sovereign Power and Bare Life [1995]. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
Agamben, Giorgio, The Kingdom and the Glory. For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government [2007]. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011.
Backman, Jussi, "Self-Care and Total Care: The Twofold Return of Care in Twentieth-century Thought," International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 81:3 (2020), 275-291. https://doi.org/10.1080/21692327.2020.1786301
Barker, Chris, "Foucault's Anarchaeology of Christianity: Understanding Confession as a Basic Form of Obedience," Philosophy & Social Criticism 0:0, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/01914537231184489
Bente, F., Triglot Concordia, The Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. St Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.
Braeckman, Antoon, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Governmentality: An Unwritten Chapter in Foucault's Genealogy of the Modern State," Critical Horizons 23:2 (2022), 134-156. https://doi.org/10.1080/14409917.2022.2081414
Bugenhagen, Johann, Wye man die / so zu der Ehe greyffen / Eynleitet zu Wittenberg. Wittenberg: n.p., 1524.
Di Carlo, Andrea, "Early Modern Masters of Suspicion," PhD diss., University College Cork, 2022.
Fontana, Alessandro, and Mauro Bertani, "Situating the Lectures" [1997] in "Society Must Be Defended": Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976, by Michel Foucault, trans. Da-vid Macey, ed. Alessandro Fontana and Mauro Bertani, 273-298. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Foucault, Michel, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979, trans. Graham Burchell, ed. Michel Senellart. New York: Picador, 2008.
Foucault, Michel, "Christianity and Confession," in About the Beginning of the Hermeneutics of the Self: Lectures at Dartmouth College, trans Graham Burchell, 52-92. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Foucault, Michel, Confessions of the Flesh. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 4 [2018], trans. Robert Hurley, ed. Frederic Gros. New York: Pantheon Books, 2021.
Foucault, Michel, The Courage of Truth (The Government of Self and Others II): Lectures at the Collège de France 1983-1984 [2008], trans. Graham Burchell, ed. Frédéric Gros. Basing-stoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison [1975], trans. Alan Sheridan. New York, Pantheon Books, 1977.
Foucault, Michel, "Discussion of 'Truth and Subjectivity,'" in About the Beginning of the Hermeneutics of the Self: Lectures at Dartmouth College, trans. Graham Burchell, 93-126. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, An Introduction [1976], trans. Robert Hur-ley. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
Foucault, Michel, Madness and Civilization. A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason [1961], trans. Richard Howard, ed. David Cooper. London and New York: Routledge, 1989.
Foucault, Michel, "Omnes et Singulatim: Towards a Criticism of 'Political Reason'" [1979], in The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, Vol. II, ed. Sterling M. McMurrin, 225-254. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1981.
Foucault, Michel, On the Government of the Living: Lectures at the Collège de France 1979-1980 [2012], trans. Arnold I. Davidson, ed. Michel Senellart. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Foucault, Michel, Psychiatric Power: Lectures at the Collège de France 1973-1974 [2003], trans. Graham Burchell, ed. Arnold I. Davidson. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2006.
Foucault, Michel, The Punitive Society: Lectures at the Collège de France 1973-1974 [2013], trans. Graham Burchell, ed. Bernard Harcourt. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Foucault, Michel, Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977-1978 [2004], trans. Graham Burchell, ed. Arnold I. Davidson. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Foucault, Michel, "Society Must Be Defended": Lectures at the Collège de France 1975-1976 [1997], trans. David Macey, ed. Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador, 2003.
Foucault, Michel, "The Subject and Power," Critical Inquiry 8:4 (1982), 777-795. https://doi.org/10.1086/448181
Foucault, Michel, Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1975.
Foucault, Michel, Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling. The Function of the Avowal in Justice, trans. Stephen W. Sawyer, ed. Fabienne Brion and Bernard Harcourt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226922089.001.0001
Le Goff, Jacques, Saint Francis of Assisi [1999]. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
Johnston, Victoria, "Machiavelli's Conception of Religion and its Relevance to his Political Philosophy in The Prince," Ipso Facto. The Carleton Journal of Interdisciplinary Humanities 1 (2022), 51-58. https://ojs.library.carleton.ca/index.php/ipso/article/view/3808
Koerner, Leo Joseph, The Reformation of the Image. Islington: Reaktion Books, 2004.
Lindberg, Carter, The European Reformations. 2nd ed. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell 2009. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444315776
Lindholm, Samuel, Jean Bodin and Biopolitics Before the Biopolitical Era. London and New York: Routledge, 2024. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003391944
Lunefield, Martin, "Pedagogy of Fear: Making the Secret-Jew Visible at the Public Autos de Fe of the Spanish Royal Inquisition," Shofar. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 18:3 (2000), 77-92. https://doi.org/10.1353/sho.2000.0024
Luther, Martin, The Large Catechism of Martin Luther. Philadelphia: United Lutheran Publi-cation Society, 2018.
Luther, Martin, Luther's Works. American Edition, Vol. 36. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959.
Luther, Martin, Luther's Works, Vol. 44, The Christian in Society I. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966.
Luther, Martin, Luther's Works, Vol. 45, The Christian in Society II. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1962.
Luther, Martin, Works of Martin Luther. The Philadelphia Edition, Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1915.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, The Prince [1532]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
McKeown, John, God's Babies. Natalism and Bible Interpretation in Modern America. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2014. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0048
McKeown, John, "Receptions of Israelite Nation-building: Modern Protestant Natalism and Martin Luther," Dialog 49 (2010), 133-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6385.2010.00517.x
Miles, Margaret R., The Word Made Flesh. A History of Christian Thought. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
Noble, Bonnie, "The Wittenberg Altarpiece and the Image of Identity," Reformation 11:1 (2006), 79-129. https://doi.org/10.1558/refm.v11.79
Ojakangas, Mika, "Lutheranism and Nordic Bio-politics," Retfærd 38:3/150 (2015), 5-23.
Ojakangas, Mika, On the Greek Origins of Biopolitics. A Reinterpretation of the History of Biopower. London and New York: Routledge, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315620237
Ojakangas, Mika, "Impossible Dialogue on Bio-power: Agamben and Foucault," Foucault Studies 2 (2005), 5-28. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i2.856
Ozment, Steven E., When Fathers Ruled. Family Life in Reformation Europe. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1983.
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, NAF 28730, Box 88.
Prozorov, Sergei, "When Did Biopolitics Begin?: Actuality and Potentiality in Historical Events," European Journal of Social Theory 25:4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310221077198
Saraiva, António José, The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536-1765 [1969]. Leiden: Brill, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047400868
Sköld, Peter, "The Birth of Population Statistics in Sweden," The History of the Family 9:1 (2004), 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hisfam.2001.10.001
Strohl, Jane E., "Luther on Marriage, Sexuality, and the Family," in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology, ed. Robert Kolb, Irene Dingel and L'ubomír Batka, 370-382. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199604708.013.046
Tilli, Jouni, "Preaching as Master's Discourse: A Foucauldian Interpretation of Lutheran Pastoral Power," Critical Research on Religion 7:2 (2019), 113-129. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303219848059
Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism and Other Writings [1904]. London: Penguin, 2002.
Winter, Yves, Machiavelli and the Orders of Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108635578
Wolgast, Eike, "Luther's Treatment of Political and Societal Life," in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology, ed. Robert Kolb, Irene Dingel, and L'ubomír Batka, 397-413. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199604708.013.025
Downloads
Publiceret
Citation/Eksport
Nummer
Sektion
Licens
Dette værk er under følgende licens Creative Commons Navngivelse – Ikke-kommerciel – Ingen Bearbejdede Værker (by-nc-nd).
Authors retain copyright to their work, but assign the right of the first publication to Foucault Studies. The work is subject to a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, but despite these restrictions, authors can take for granted that Foucault Studies will permit articles published in Foucault Studies to be translated or reprinted in another format such as a book providing a full reference is made to Foucault Studies as the original place of publication.
