Patterns and figures Book

Foucault's focus directly falls upon the pastoral power and the hermeneutics of the self which all developed within Christian ideology and practices. Through the Christian confession, implemented by the early church, a new form of knowledge is created through the confessor's repeated analysis of their own individual sins and their actions are influenced by the knowledge that they will later have to confess each sin they commit. Foucault applies his routine critical approach to religion, primarily early Christianity, in much the same manner as he analyzed the prison system, sexuality, psychiatry, and the medical institution.

Foucault, who is commonly criticized for being a poor historian with bad sources who creates ideas from insufficient data, is commended for his use of scholarly sources when describing the roots of early sexuality within developing Christianity unlike when he was rifling through "obscure disciplinary codes of the 1800".Criticism of his later works on sexuality and, vicariously, his work on the confession and pastoral power depict his work as respected and well-researched, which truly makes one ponder on how much more he could've affected thought had he not passed away.

Foucault recognizes Christianity as an ultimate power structure which imposes an obligation on its followers to accept its dogma, its sacred text and, most importantly, its authority as truth through confession and the pastoral power. People willingly submit to this much in the same way they submit to governmental and medical authority. Foucault doesn't seek to understand why this phenomenon occurs just that it does.