JOSÉ P. CASTIANO: FROM THE SPIRIT OF TRADITION TO THE SPIRIT OF RECONCILIATION

DO ESPÍRITO DA TRADIÇÃO AO ESPÍRITO DA RECONCILIAÇÃO

Abstract

This text is a review of the book by José Paulino Castiano, entitled: From the Spirit of Tradition to the Spirit of Reconciliation, 1^st Edition, 2021. However, it is a hermeneutic exercise in the search for understanding based on the author’s thought, in the sense of establishing a broader analysis of the Spirit of Tradition and the Spirit of Reconciliation. The objective is really to problematize the title of this book specifically; will it be a transition from one Spirit to another? What will be the Spirit of Tradition and reconciliation in Castiano’s conception? Does Covid-19 represent the possible end of humanity? What is actually intended to be reconciled? Then, Africa and Africans are by nature agents/subjects of reconciliation, so that over several cycles of troubled history, this Spirit has remained resistant and firm. However, according to Castiano (2021), it is not just about seeking a reconciliation with our colonized past and its Christian spiritualities and modern institutions. It is also a question, now and from now on, of seeking reconciliation that takes into account the manifestations of this spirit in its aspects of religion, politics, culture and philosophy itself. Covid-19 profoundly shook humanity, so that the people thought that it would be the end. However, the subject of reconciliation was, as always, able to find local solutions to this global problem and, by chance, resisted and here we are.