As comunidades eclesiais de base e as novas comunidades de vida como respostas às crises da modernidade

Abstract

Este trabalho propõe restabelecer e analisar o processo de transição entre as Comunidades Eclesiais de Base (CEBs) e as Novas Comunidades de Vida, entendidas como respostas distintas da instituição católica aos novos desafios da sociedade moderna e contemporânea no Brasil – sociedade esta entendida, nas suas especificidades e na sua forma em ser moderna. Por meio da documentação produzida pela Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (CNBB), procuramos entender como a hierarquia eclesiástica envolve ambos os movimentos religiosos sob sua tutela dogmática, institucional e hierárquica, utilizando-se, ao mesmo tempo, do seu dinamismo para atuar na sociedade hodierna. Ainda que as CEBs e as Novas Comunidades de Vida sejam lideradas por leigos e leigas, que ora desafiam, ora acolhem, o corpo de especialistas religiosos, elas acabam se revelando novos movimentos dentro de velhas estruturas. Este estudo ainda procura estabelecer as comparações do que é viver em comunidade para os dois movimentos, relembrando o tempo histórico e a atuação de cada um deles.

This research aims to investigate the aspects that define the ‘place’ of women in Brazilian’s religious context of the Assemblies of God. This demanded working with phenomena of the utmost importance in defining this event’s intricacies, which go beyond religious issues and are completely embedded in social prescriptions. Therefore, it is important to name this analysis something that permeates both universes, meaning it is an investigation that is in nature both social and religious. From the religious point of view, the Assemblies of God are considered the main focus, in an attempt to understand the main characteristics of this denomination from an analysis of content which includes some media aimed at Christian women from the Assemblies. From the social point of view, from a Weberian perspective which considers the “pure” kinds of domination and the matter of power, this research aimed to interpret through sociology the condition of women and, by consequence, that of Pentecostal women in the Assemblies. This was done through the construction of a theoretical perspective which helps understanding a situation that is often conditioned by submission/inferiority of women and in which men have all the conditions necessary for maintaining this position of superiority at the same time that they define the feminine gender as disposable, offering women a false power that corroborates their interests as the dominant part and removes women’s autonomy. These matters are in constant dialog with each other and is precisely through this relationship that this research ponders the history of the categories “Assemblies of God” and “women”. This research considers possible advances and setbacks, tradition as stagnation, moral as “unbreakable law” and absolute power in the hands of few as a rule, which directly impacts the development of contemporary society.