ABSTRACT
This second instalment in the genealogy of critique explores the process of the appropriation of the originary conceptual constellation of critique by Christian theology and the subsequent employment of the former for the sake of the development of the paradigm of pastoral power. It demonstrates how in the guise of the sacralisation of the critical archè, the originary truth-imperative outlined in Chapter 1 becomes redirected from the task of the construction of the critical self towards the project of the fashioning of the obedient subject. In this, it focuses on the ontological consequences of sacramentalisation, showing how it leads to the notion of effects eclipsing that of the truth value. It also reflects upon the advent of the practices of biblical criticism, considering the conceptual consequences of the process of the consecration of truth for critique. It contends that in becoming subordinated to reason, critique is divorced from the radical imperative to social change and fundamentally re-orientated towards the project of the maintenance of the dominant power.
