Agricultura e alimentação orgânica natural na Igreja Messiânica Mundial do Brasil (IMMB) / Johrei Center Extensão Goiânia

Abstract

This research aims to understand the relationship between food and religion, in the Brazilian Church of World Messianity (COWM), particularly in the Goiânia city religious unit known as Johrei Center Goiânia Extension. We will seek to envision which the elective affinities between the meanings historically built about food in Goiânia’s context, objectified in the COWM members’ food habitus, and the meanings built about food in Goiânia – COWM’s context are. As a methodological path, ideal types of possible meanings attributed to food in Goiânia’s context were built, based on local history, in order to compare them with the meanings attributed by the messianics, through life trajectory reconstruction and participant observation of Johrei Center Goiânia Extension’s members. We have noticed that some senses present in Goiás’ ethos based on caipira’s habitus electively go along with the salvation column practice, favoring the members’ adhesion to organic and natural food. On the other hand, the subjects that are most concerned about an individualistic spiritual quest, which links food to status, regardless the local traditions, in an hedonistic search for pleasure, typical of so-called postmodern societies, relativize the importance of this column, adopting only Johrei’s salvation column as a possibility of salvation, in contrast to COWM’s initial idea.