Religion as Anthropotechnics: On Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life (2009)

This chapter presents the theory of religion of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk. Its most fundamental parts are the ideas of humans as self-training animals and of religion as a form of exercise. This directs our attention to how religions use various techniques to secure the continual engagement of their members and keep religions alive over time. Sloterdijk sees religion as a cultural immune system that must be exercised so as not to disappear and continual training and improvement are part of the background for cultural change. Finally, the article touches upon Sloterdijk’s theorizing on religious zeal, religious poetry, and exaggeration measures, before it discusses the theory’s scope and utility in dialogue with other theories of religion.