Interview in the Theological Study of Spirituality. Epistemological Presuppositions, Qualitative Investigation and Contributions of a Technique

Resumo

Having participated in a Group Research Project on urban theology and practices of spirituality, I intend to reflect on instrumental mediation of interview “in depth” as a contribution of qualitative research to Spiritual Theology method. This technique is explicit and assumed by the Studies in Spirituality, but its visibility and academic validation for the study of religion and spirituality in Latin American context is more recent. In this article it is aimed to outline a starting point with the contributions from the Studies in Spirituality in relation to interdisciplinarity and mystagogical method proposed by Kees Waaijman. Secondly, it is proposed an exhibition on epistemology of qualitative research and the interview technique in two of its main traditions according to some referent local studies. Thirdly, it is introduced a reflection on the use of qualitative interview on Christian Spirituality research from the field of Spiritual Theology and its fundamental contributions are explained: contextual and popular, subjective or experiential, process or dynamic, instrumental or collaborative, thougthful and amplifier, self-implicative or of life-impact.