Confession as a Matter of Death and Life in Foucault and Bonhoeffer

Abstract

Confession is a central practice in the life of the church. In this paper, I engage two thinkers on the nature and power of confession: Michel Foucault and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Foucault considers confession to be a means of control and domination, a technology which ultimately dehumanizes, depoliticizes, and perhaps even erases the self. Bonhoeffer considers confession to be truly liberating. However, the liberation he describes is a form of self-transcendence wherein a new creation emerges—a new self embodied by an “other-in-me.” Foucault offers an important critical perspective on the power of confession in our time but does not fully account for its enduring role in human life. I turn to Bonhoeffer whose work innovatively answers Foucault's objections. Even more, Bonhoeffer accounts for the critical role confession plays in human life. His construal ought to help us better understand why we want to confess and are seemingly compelled to do so.