Abstract

FREITAS, Marta Helena de  and  VILELA, Paula Rey. Phenomenological approach of religiosity: implications for psychodiagnostic and psychological clinic praxis. Rev. abordagem gestalt. [online]. 2017, vol.23, n.1, pp.95-107. ISSN 1809-6867.

This paper aims to highlight, discuss and illustrate the contributions that phenomenology can offer for critically assessing criteria for the psychological diagnosis of religious experiences and their possible connection with or distinctions from psychopathological symptoms or clinical conditions. Especial attention is given to those experiences involving religious delusion because they have been often singled out in interpretations of religious phenomena in Brazil, especially in messianic movements. After putting forward a conceptual clarification and discussion of the connections and distinctions between spirituality, religiosity and religion, the paper presents the fundamental philosophical principles of Husserl's phenomenology and the later contributions of Merleau-Ponty and Karl Jaspers, putting them in dialogue with the pragmatic conceptions of William James. Focusing on the specific case of a messianic leader in Brazil, Master Yokaanam, the paper illustrates the implications of the phenomenological reading proposed here.

Keywords : Phenomenology; Religiosity; Psychodiagnostic.

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