Reencarnação
O espírito retorna a novas existências corporais em processo de aprendizado e reparação.
O que é: A reencarnação é a crença de que o espírito vive múltiplas existências corporais ao longo do tempo.
Como a tradição entende: Cada existência oferece oportunidades de aprendizado, reparação, amadurecimento moral e desenvolvimento intelectual. A pluralidade das existências é apresentada como chave para compreender desigualdades, sofrimentos e vocações.
Base textual e contexto: Trata-se de uma das doutrinas mais distintivas do espiritismo kardecista e aparece amplamente em O Livro dos Espíritos.
Debates e variações: É ponto de forte divergência com muitos ramos cristãos históricos e com leituras bíblicas que entendem a vida humana como única no sentido terreno.
Supportive
John 3:3-7
A passage about being born again, used by Spiritists in defense of reincarnation.
Reference: John 3:3-7.
Content: Jesus speaks of the need to be born again in dialogue with Nicodemus.
Use in debate: In Spiritism, the passage is often read as support for reincarnation; many Christian interpreters understand it as spiritual rebirth, not a plurality of bodily lives.
Matthew 17:10-13
A text about Elijah and John the Baptist often mobilized in debates on reincarnation.
Reference: Matthew 17:10-13.
Content: Jesus relates John the Baptist to the coming of Elijah in language interpreted in different ways by Christian traditions.
Use in debate: Spiritists often cite it as favorable evidence for reincarnation, while other groups read it as prophetic fulfillment without reincarnated personal identity.
The Spirits’ Book, questions 166-171
A central passage on the purpose of reincarnation.
Reference: The Spirits’ Book, questions 166 to 171.
Content: The passage presents reincarnation as an instrument of expiation, trial, and moral and intellectual progress.
Use in debate: It is a principal reference for the plurality of existences in Spiritism.
The Spirits’ Book, questions 222-222a
Questions about the desire for a new existence and reincarnatory conditions.
Reference: The Spirits’ Book, questions 222 and 222a.
Content: The text deals with the spirit’s condition between incarnations and its relation to a future bodily life.
Use in debate: It complements the doctrine of reincarnation by addressing the transition between existences.
Contrary
Hebrews 9:27
A classic verse used against reincarnation.
Reference: Hebrews 9:27.
Content: The text states that human beings are appointed to die once, and after that comes judgment.
Use in debate: It is one of the main passages mobilized by critics of reincarnation and the plurality of existences.