In the quiet sanctuaries of parish churches, priests stand as shepherds of Christian discipleship—a call to follow Christ through community, moral formation, and spiritual growth. Yet, in today’s world, this ancient vocation is fraught with profound anxieties. Drawing from Michel Foucault’s analysis of disciplinary societies and Gilles Deleuze’s vision of emerging “societies of control,” modern society presents a tidal wave of challenges that erode traditional religious authority and reshape human subjectivity. Priests, tasked with guiding sheep toward authentic freedom, find themselves navigating a landscape where power operates not through overt discipline but through subtle, pervasive modulation. This study explores these anxieties, rooted in philosophical shifts and pastoral realities, and their impact on fostering authentic discipleship.
Foucault’s Disciplinary Legacy: The Church in a World of Enclosures
Michel Foucault described modern societies as “disciplinary,” emerging in the 18th and 19th centuries and peaking in the early 20th. These societies function through enclosed institutions—prisons, factories, schools, hospitals—that mould individuals into docile, productive subjects via surveillance, normalization, and hierarchical power. The panopticon, a metaphor for constant observation inducing self-discipline, exemplifies this: people internalize control, behaving as if being always watched.
For Christianity, this framework resonates deeply. Foucault examined “pastoral power,” the Church’s historical role in governing souls through confession, guidance, and moral vigilance—a form of biopolitics managing life and conduct. In disciplinary societies, the parish priest embodied this: a figure of authority in the confessional or pulpit, disciplining believers toward virtue. Yet, as society secularizes, this model breeds anxiety for priests. The Church, once a central enclosure, now competes with state and market institutions that co-opt disciplinary mechanisms for secular ends.
Priests report feeling overwhelmed by this erosion. In consumeristic cultures, parishioners approach faith transactionally, seeking personal fulfillment over communal commitment. Occupational stress studies reveal clergy grappling with burnout, exacerbated by individualistic societies where doctrine is seen as oppressive rather than liberating. Some priests reflect on seminary training’s inadequacy, noting it fosters ideals mismatched with parish realities, leading to emotional isolation and dictatorial tendencies. In Foucauldian terms, priests’ anxiety stems from their role in a decaying disciplinary apparatus, where power-knowledge that once aligned with faith now fragments under secular scrutiny.
The Shift to Deleuzian Societies of Control: Endless Modulation and Spiritual Erosion
Gilles Deleuze, building on Foucault, argued that disciplinary societies are giving way to “societies of control.” Here, control is not confined to enclosures but flows that continuously move through networks, technology, and capitalism. Individuals are no longer moulded in fixed moulds but modulated like waves—tracked via data, indebted economically, and shaped by perpetual assessment. Deleuze warned of “electronic collars” and debt as mechanisms binding people in fluid, inescapable control.
This transition amplifies priests’ anxieties in leading discipleship. In control societies, freedom is illusory; algorithms and surveillance produce subjects who self-regulate without walls. Christianity’s call to discipleship—radical freedom in Christ, communal bonds, and resistance to worldly powers—clashes with this. Priests fear technology’s intrusion: social media fragments attention, turning faith into consumable content rather than transformative practice. Some analyses note how normalization pathologizes spiritual experiences, labeling them as delusions in a rationalist regime.
Public discourse echoes this: priests lament poor catechization in large parishes, where bureaucratic processes replace personal formation. In Deleuzian control, repetitive rituals risk becoming mechanisms of submission, akin to totalitarian conditioning, rather than elevations of the spirit. Thinkers critique religion as social control, mirroring Deleuze’s concerns that faith could be co-opted into modulating behaviors for societal stability. Priests’ anxiety peaks here: how to foster authentic discipleship when society modulates desires toward individualism, and digital distraction?
Pastoral Anxieties: From Overwork to Existential Doubt
These philosophical shifts manifest in tangible pastoral struggles. Surveys highlight clergy stress from declining vocations, aging congregations, and cultural irrelevance. In Foucauldian-disciplinary remnants, priests feel the weight of maintaining doctrinal discipline amid secular pushback; in Deleuzian control, they battle invisible forces like algorithmic echo chambers that undermine community.
Fear emerges as discipleship’s enemy: societal anxieties—economic precarity, political division—make believers hesitant to commit fully to Christ. Priests in traditional parishes emphasize accountability over comfort, yet face resistance from those seeking affirmation in a control-modulated world. Seminary critiques reveal that formation is ill-suited for this: priests enter ministry unprepared for emotional demands, leading to isolation.
Moreover, Christianity’s historical complicity in control—through colonial missions or gender norms—fuels self-doubt. In a post-Christian West, priests act as “pilgrims and priests,” witnessing in secular spaces, but anxiety arises from blending in rather than resisting control’s flow.
Discipleship as Resistance: Pathways Amid Anxiety
Christian discipleship, at its core, counters control societies. Jesus’ community of apostles was missionary, not enclosed—echoing Deleuze’s call for counter-conduct against modulation. Priests can reimagine leadership: emphasizing lay involvement to distribute power, fostering resilient communities against digital isolation.
Yet, anxieties persist. True spirituality liberates, not enslaves—priests must discern when rituals resist or reinforce control. Resources for trauma and crisis aid clergy, but systemic revolution is needed: rethinking seminaries, embracing vulnerability.
Faith in the Flux
Parish priests’ anxieties reflect a profound tension: leading discipleship in a Foucauldian world morphing into Deleuzian control. As enclosures dissolve into networks, faith’s call to freedom clashes with modulation’s grip. Yet, herein lies hope—Christianity has historically resisted empires. By confronting these anxieties, priests can guide believers toward authentic liberation, turning the tide through communal witness and divine grace. In this evolving society, discipleship remains a radical act of defiance.
