Between “spiritual empowerment” and the “eco-spirituality”: a study of Seicho-no-Ie do Brasil

Abstract

This paper investigates contemporary nuances of the religious identity of supporters of Seicho-no-Ie (House of Growth in English). It considers two conspicuous aspects of this identity: "spiritual empowerment" and eco-spirituality. Both are perceived as consequences of the impact of late modernity on the religious imagination of contemporary woman and man. The data we used were collected from the Seicho-no-Ie’s supporters of the city of Goiania, State of Goiás, in 2015, and from religious publications with which we had contact. This study is congruous with the discussions that understand new religions and spiritualties as responses to modern social and cultural contingencies, in particular the approaches of Lorne L. Dawson (2004; 2006) and Christopher Partridge (2005). Both of these authors draw attention to the importance of sociological understanding of the new religions and alternative spiritualities as a specific phenomenon of contemporaneity that should not be reduced to comprehensive schemes that trivialize this kind of religious sensitivity.

Keywords

• Seicho-no-Ie, Novas Religiões, Espiritualidades Alternativas, Modernidade Tardia