From progress to spiritual evolution: a contribution of spiritist codification to interreligious dialogue. 2018. Dissertation (Master degree) - Post-graduate Program in Religious Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG

Abstract

The Spiritist Doctrine, codified in France in the nineteenth century, has among its main postulates the belief in a single God, in the immortality of the soul, in the plurality of the inhabited worlds, in the communicability between spirits and in reincarnation. From light blows to spinning tables in the parisian halls, the phenomenon, in the first moments, was received with disbelief or frivolity from those who participated in the meetings. Even the study carried out by the pedagogue Hippolyte-Léon Denizard Rivail, it was not imagined that such events would suffer direct action of Spirits. The teacher Rivail, under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec, was the main organizer, systematizer and codifier of the Spiritist Doctrine. Oriented by the Spirits, published several books on spiritism, among them The Book of the Spirits, that is the object of this study. Spiritist codification arises in a historical period in which philosophical and scientific thought were deeply influenced by the ideals of rationalism and positivism, as well as by the evolutionist model. The word "evolution", taken from the fascination it had in the nineteenth century, due to the idea of modernity, is central to spiritism. The aim of this research is to investigate the sense of evolution presented in the works codified by Allan Kardec, especially in the Book of Spirits, and how this understanding can contribute to interreligious dialogue. Part of the hypothesis that, for the Spiritist Doctrine, evolution is central in the life of the human being insofar as it enables changes in human behavior. Evolving implies an invitation to get out of yourself to seek the next. Religious pluralism challenges people and religions to live the responsibility of understanding the other and their beliefs as an attribute of freedom and choice. In this horizon of evolution, interreligious dialogue becomes an essential principle for spiritual advancement. It represents an increase in our ability to listen and share. The method of approach of this study was the hypothetico-deductive and of the bibliographical research, through the consultation of books and psychographic texts. Through the Spiritist Codification, especially in the Spirits' Book, a factor in the direction of evolution will be sought which may favor an understanding of otherness and religious worldviews, opening the way to varied dialogues. Finally, it can be said that Codification, because of its universalist content, the process of moral regeneration of the human being and openness to religions, can contribute, with great gains, to constructions of inter-religious dialogues.