Ciências da Religião e Teologia como área autônoma: reconfiguração do debate epistemológico, novos desafios e perspectivas para o estudo das (não) religiões e da(s) espiritualidade(s)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to reflect on the area of Religious Studies and Theology in its post autonomy context as an area of evaluation of CAPES - Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel. In the first moment, I will try to update the epistemological debate that has a long tradition in the Area, showing that the well-known discussion about the “double s” of the term Religious Studies/Science(s) of Religion(s) exhausts, on the one hand, and needs to reinvent itself, on the other, or still needs to reinstate itself in other terms that concerns the consolidation of the area as Religious Studies “and” Theology. In a second moment, I will try to think about some of the challenges that are imposed in this consolidation process, considering possible paths focusing on two issues: the "object" and the theoretical-methodological perspectives. I will try propositional exercises related to the movements that we can make in this consolidation process. In the end, I hope, with this text, to provoke more dialogues within the young Autonomous Area, and still collaborate for those who arrive, as the experience in the classroom and the circulation in events of related fields show that the Area still proves to be quite unknown or misunderstood by the peers, especially if we consider the regional diversity in our parents.