Céu, inferno e purgatório: representações espíritas do além
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Data
2007-11-08
Autores
Silva, Fábio Luiz da [UNESP]
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Editor
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Resumo
A crença na existência da vida após a morte é uma das mais fundamentais da humanidade. Ao longo da história, várias representações desse além foram difundidas pelas mais diversas religiões. A modernidade fez pensar que tal crença fosse típica apenas das sociedades mergulhadas no religioso e que a sociedade contemporânea tivesse reduzido o além a uma metáfora qualquer. Não foi isso que aconteceu. Apesar de o céu ter se tornado profano, lugar para a ciência, o céu religioso sobrevive. Para demonstrar isto, analisamos as representações espíritas do além, principalmente a partir da obra “Nosso Lar”, de Francisco Cândido Xavier. A pesquisa se inicia com a constatação da transformação do céu sagrado em céu profano, na visão de Allan Kardec sobre o mundo dos mortos, e concluímos ela ser menos estruturada que a versão brasileira. Em seguida, reafirmamos o que outros estudiosos já haviam percebido: o Espiritismo brasileiro enfatizou muito mais o aspecto religioso da doutrina, reproduzindo em forma de conflito entre grupos, a contradição básica formulada pela proposta de Kardec de conciliar religião e ciência. Assim, defendemos que houve desde o início da sua história, a assimilação de elementos do universo católico, propiciando uma doutrina bem familiar à cultura brasileira, o que colaborou para a legitimação do Espiritismo no Brasil. Essa característica é bem visível nas narrações e descrições do além contidas nas obras de Chico Xavier, o que lhe garantiu a identificação com público a quem esses livros se destinam.
The existence of life after death is one of the most fundamental beliefs of mankind. Throughout history, many representations of afterlife got spread by many different religions. Modern times made us believe that such belief was typical only of very religious societies and that contemporary society had reduced the concept of afterlife to a mere metaphor. That was not what happened. Although heaven has become profane and a subject for science, religious heaven survives. To demonstrate this, we analyze afterlife representations used by Spiritists, based mainly on the work “The Astral City”, from Francisco Cândido Xavier. We verify the transformation of sacred heaven into profane heaven, using the vision of Allan Kardec about the world of the dead, and concluded that this vision is less structured than the Brazilian version. Following that, we reaffirm what other studies had already found: Brazilian Spiritism has emphasized the religious aspect of the doctrine a lot more, reproducing the basic contradiction formulated by Kardec’s proposal of conciliating religion and science in the shape of conflicts between groups. Therefore, we defend that Spiritism in Brazil, since the beginning, assimilated elements of the catholic universe, resulting in a quite familiar doctrine to Brazilian culture which collaborated to its legitimization in the country. This characteristic is quite visible in the narratives and descriptions of afterlife in the works of Chico Xavier, which guaranteed an identification of the public towards his books.
The existence of life after death is one of the most fundamental beliefs of mankind. Throughout history, many representations of afterlife got spread by many different religions. Modern times made us believe that such belief was typical only of very religious societies and that contemporary society had reduced the concept of afterlife to a mere metaphor. That was not what happened. Although heaven has become profane and a subject for science, religious heaven survives. To demonstrate this, we analyze afterlife representations used by Spiritists, based mainly on the work “The Astral City”, from Francisco Cândido Xavier. We verify the transformation of sacred heaven into profane heaven, using the vision of Allan Kardec about the world of the dead, and concluded that this vision is less structured than the Brazilian version. Following that, we reaffirm what other studies had already found: Brazilian Spiritism has emphasized the religious aspect of the doctrine a lot more, reproducing the basic contradiction formulated by Kardec’s proposal of conciliating religion and science in the shape of conflicts between groups. Therefore, we defend that Spiritism in Brazil, since the beginning, assimilated elements of the catholic universe, resulting in a quite familiar doctrine to Brazilian culture which collaborated to its legitimization in the country. This characteristic is quite visible in the narratives and descriptions of afterlife in the works of Chico Xavier, which guaranteed an identification of the public towards his books.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Xavier, Francisco Cândido, 1910-2002, Espiritismo, Mediunidade, Religião, Spiritism, Afterlife, Religion
Como citar
SILVA, Fábio Luiz da. Céu, inferno e purgatório: representações espíritas do além. 2007. 169 f. Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis, 2007.