Sofrimento e cruz no neopentecostalismo brasileiro e em Jürgen Moltmann

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation makes a comparative study between the Theology of Prosperity in the context of Brazil, based on the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), and the Theology of the Cross, according to the perspective of the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann. In the first part, it presents an introduction to the theme of sacrifice, which begins with an anthropological reading, later biblical, and then presents the psychoanalytic approach, an instrument for analyzing the dissertation to discuss issues related to suffering and guilt. Also in this first part, it highlights the theological reading of sacrifice in the Theology of Prosperity, based on the sacrifice of money. In the second part, the theological reading of Prosperity Theology is based on a phenomenological reading, contrasting with what is presented in the dissertation as Traditional Theology. Then, it focuses on the eschatology of everyday life that is claimed to be at the base of the Theology of Prosperity. The second part of the dissertation ends by presenting other diffusers and aspects of Prosperity Theology based on its theological reading. In the third part, it highlights the Theology of the Cross according to Jürgen Moltmann's understanding. It begins with a contextualization of Moltmann's life and work to, later, present the Theology of Hope and also present the paths that lead to the Theology of the Cross after the corrections of the Theology of Hope made by Moltmann. In this third part, it presents the contributions of the psychoanalytical theological dialogue demonstrated by Moltmann as a way to show that the maturing of religion needs to go through the fire of criticism, thus presenting the presence of suffering and guilt in the Theology of the Cross, using the instrument of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. In the fourth and last part, it develops a comparative study between the Theology of Prosperity and the Theology of the Cross, based on Moltmann, to verify the present contradictions, dialoguing with Freudian psychoanalysis. It is noteworthy that in the Theology of Prosperity there is neither suffering nor guilt;it is an uncritical and childish religion, since the sacrifice of money suppresses the need for suffering and guilt. In the Theology of the Cross, religion internalizes suffering and guilt, critically and maturely. Finally, the final considerations emphasize the fact that the Theology of the Cross does a theology based on the Theology of Gratuity found in Sacred Scripture, and the Theology of Prosperity distances itself from the Bible since its elective affinities with neoliberalism do not encounter Biblical support and, instead, is a religion with a purely socioeconomic bias, based on promises of wealth, health and prosperity.