Unidade na diversidade: investigação fenomenológica de experiências de encontro inter-religioso

Abstract

Nowadays, the inter-religious interaction is a central and urgent challenge. In this study we aim to investigate the factors which constitute the inter-religious encounter as well as its dynamic characteristic just like it is evidenced by the experience of those who have come to experience unit in relation to a religious otherness. In order to grasp the characteristic dynamism of the experience of inter-religious context in its complexity and vitality, we adopted the Phenomenology (Husserl and Stein) as a theoretical-methodological proposal. Therefore, we presented the concepts of culture and religion, the way the subjectivity constitutes itself in the relation to the otherness, the constitution of the experience of encounter evidencing its basis for the inter-religious dialogue. We made explicit the possible configurations of the inter-religious relations in the modern world setting, discussing multiculturalism and the proposal of the politically correct. We evidenced the centrality of the experience and of the social relation for the comprehension of the inter-religious encounter. Finally, we took the peculiarity of the Brazilian reality and its potentiality to facilitate the inter-religious factors as a theme. As a methodological procedure, we conducted semi-structured phenomenological interview with six subjects selected intentionally so as to collect their histories of inter-religious relations. We analyzed the data phenomenologically bringing out the experience of the person, their own way to elaborate their relations with themselves, with the other, with the Absolute and especially with the religious otherness. Throughout the analysis of the experience of each person, we recognized essential elements from the constitution of the experience of inter-religious encounter. On the impact with religious otherness, the person becomes aware of a happening, picks a provocation, experiences a correspondence, engages personally, verifies what was found with what is significant, reworks the identity of self, states what is radically most corresponding, recognizes the value of self, of the other, of life and of the Absolute, experiences a realization of self, elaborates more extensively, wishes a continuity, experiences gratitude. Thus, we could capture the process of mutual constitution subject-world, describe nuances of the religious and inter-religious experience, evidence the centrality of the event to the constitution of the encounter, present the relationship as foundation of unit in difference, discuss the possibilities and challenges of inter-religious relations in contemporary world and present how Brazilian culture facilitates the inter-religious encounter event. Therefore, we collected the value of the inter-religious encounter as capable of breaking barriers, evoke elaborations, enable the experience of unit in diversity, evidence the value of otherness, self-realize the person, structure the inter-religious relation in terms of mutual understanding and enrichment.