Por Deus, pela fé e para a saúde: corpo, poder e reflexividade entre membros de uma igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia (Maceió-AL)

Abstract

The Adventist Health Message or Health Reform is based on a body concept that emphasizes the individual's responsibility to their health in a rational and balanced manner. Forcing the faithful to restrain the excesses of food for believing that this would lead them to a morally unruly and unhealthy life. In addition, the concept of holiness and spiritual purity of the Adventist believer is also involved with his ideas of caring for the body. Their health principles have been adopted by ASDs for more than 100 years and of which they are extremely proud. However, in the last 50 (fifty) years we have observed in society the hegemony of a health discourse advocated by biomedical specialists, whose practices closely resemble the Iasidian Message (advocates the adoption of more natural eating habits and physical exercises), however both have different foundations and objectives. Since, the discourse of body and contemporary health presents a more individualistic and hedonistic character whereas the Adventist diet has religious purpose. In this way, we try to understand how the faithful Adventists adapt and dialogue with these health discourses and how it reflects in the construction of their corporeity. For that, an ethnographic study was carried out between December 2015 and December 2016, in order to observe the daily life of an Adventist Church in the city of Maceió. The goal is to identify the experiences that such individuals have built on the body and how these practices have acted in the formation of their identities, especially in the face of modern body and health ideals. In order to base the discussions, it was necessary to use Body Anthropology as a fundamental theoretical reference, using authors such as David Le Breton, Marcel Mauss, Michel Foucault and Anthony Giddens. Also important is a knowledge about the SDA, that is, its historical origin, the earliest years of its formation, as well as the historical context in which it arose, so that it can understand the foundations of its main doctrines. Equally, it is vital to address the concept of the Adventist body from the standpoint of anthropology to understand the Adventist Lifestyle, as well as the construction of the identity of that denomination.