About Renan dos Santos

MICRO-BIO

  • He is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology at University of São Paulo, with a scholarship granted by the Foundation for Research Support o

EXPERIENCE

  • University of São Paulo // Research supported by Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grant 17/24842-1
    • Ph.D Candidate
    • Sociology
    • January 2020 to Present

EDUCATION

  • University of São Paulo
    • PhD
    • March 2018 to Present

    This project aims to investigate the way in which Christian religions and environmental movements in Brazil provide religious guidelines that aim to contribute to the adoption of “ecologically correct” conducts. In this sense, the research is planned to examine: 1) what symbolic resources are mobilized in each religious circle in order to motivate environmental awareness; 2) whether the focus is on the theological repertoire or on secular categories; 3) what the connections between religious identity and environmental engagement are; 4) what sense is given to the expression “ecologically correct”; and finally, 5) what conception of “nature” is at stake when one says that is necessary to protect it. This project is supported by Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grant 2017/24842-1

  • University of São Paulo
    • Master of Arts
    • January 2015 to July 2017

    This work proposes to analyze sociologically the incorporation and transmutation by the Catholic Church of one of the most appealing topics of today: the ecological question. The analysis included the use of a database in which practically all the pontifical discourses available on ecology were compiled. It encompasses the first one, pronounced by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and also John Paul II and Benedict XVI and the first years of Pope Francis’ pontificate, who placed himself under the worldwide spotlight with his ecological encyclical Laudato Si’. First, a historical reconstruction of the social contexts that shaped the emergence and development of environmental concerns was made, still without the involvement of the Catholic Church. For conducting the analysis, three ideal types of environmentalism were built: the esoteric, the rationalist and the moralist. That last one is split into the intramundane and extramundane subtypes. Different environmentalist reflections were examined using this typology. It was demonstrated how the causes identified and the solutions proposed may follow different directions according to the meaning given to the environment. Sometimes, such perspectives not only differentiate but oppose each other. Included latter in this discussion, the Catholic Church often sought to disqualify the ecological reasoning presented by other perspectives, which could result in pagan or materialistic conceptions, contrary to the Christian faith. The Catholic Church has come up with a series of new interpretations of its traditional teachings, such as the theology of creation, postulating that it is the abandonment of the religious orientation that raised the environmental crisis. In addition, there would be no way to purify the physical environment without first purifying the human environment, because both have been polluted by sin. The solution of ecological crisis would depend, therefore, of behavioral changes in consonance with the morality preached by the traditional Catholic orientation. Finally, it was explained how this conservative way with which the Catholic Church faces the environmental problem is related to the process of secularization.

DISCIPLINES

  • Environmental Studies

  • Religion/Religious Studies

  • Sociology

Interests

  • Sociology Of Religion

  • Religion And Ecology

Languages

  • English

  • Portuguese

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