Educação e espiritualidade: interfaces entre a educação franciscana e neo-humanista no contexto da educação integral.

Abstract

This research investigates the relationship between education and spirituality, exploring the interfaces between Franciscan and Neo-Humanist education. The research problem is centered on the following question: to what extent do Franciscan and Neo-Humanist education contribute to holistic education? To answer this question, we define the general objective as follows: to analyze the extent to which Franciscan and Neo-Humanist education contribute to holistic education. The epistemological foundation of this research is based on the thought of Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar and Franciscan works. These theoretical frameworks establish an important dialogue on the interconnection between education and spirituality, as well as on holistic formation from a perspective of totality and integrality, aiming at the coordinated and integrated development of human dimensions: physical, mental, and spiritual. This is a bibliographical and qualitative study that adopts a phenomenological and hermeneutic perspective to analyze sources, investigating the essence of experiences related to education and spirituality, as well as the meanings attributed to holistic education from Franciscan and Neo-Humanist perspectives. The theoretical findings indicate that both approaches offer complementary perspectives, integrating reason and intuition as integral parts of education. Furthermore, they foster the cultivation of ethical values that promote compassion, collective well-being, love, and universal fraternity, aligning with a pedagogical perspective focused on planetary emergencies, guiding individuals toward fulfillment. Moreover, both approaches advocate that education should transcend the mere transmission of

academic knowledge, valuing not only cognitive development but also socio- environmental and spiritual growth. Additionally, it was found that school

environments adopting the principles of these approaches are welcoming and inspire a thirst for knowledge, as learning is constructed collectively, valuing lived experiences and diverse forms of knowledge. In summary, the results highlight the importance of spirituality in holistic education, emphasizing that the Neo-Humanist and Franciscan approaches point to a path that transcends the logic of domination and promotes essential values for building a more just and ethical society.