Abstract

MOTA, Clarice Santos; TRAD, Leny Alves Bomfim  and  VILLAS BOAS, Maria José Villares Barral. The role of religious experience in facing up to afflictions and health problems. Interface (Botucatu) [online]. 2012, vol.16, n.42, pp. 665-675. ISSN 1414-3283.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1414-32832012000300007.

This article assesses the relationship between religious experience and facing up to situations of affliction and illness. Through analysis on the paths to conversion and religious adherence among black families who sought relief for their distress or health problems, an understanding of how religious experience influences people's ways of conducting their lives and facing up to adverse situations was sought. This study formed part of a broader research project of ethnographic nature that was conducted in a poor district of Salvador, Bahia. Through semi-structured interviews and field immersion, it was observed that the families investigated resorted to a wide variety of religions in their search for relief for their physical or spiritual distress of individual or family nature. Thus, singular paths were produced, which reflected the diversity of beliefs and cure alternatives offered by religious institutions in the contemporary world.

Keywords : Health; Illness; Situations of affliction; Religious experience; Religious conversion.