Questions and answers attributed to spirits examine the soul, life after death, and human conduct. Its opening question asks what God is, rather than who.
557 pages 10h 48m reading time
The founding text of Spiritism, a religious and philosophical movement that still has millions of followers, especially in Brazil.
Argues that each soul lives many lives in different bodies, learning and growing morally from one life to the next.
Teaches that spirits of the dead can talk with the living, and that how we act now shapes what happens to us after death.
Gave rise to Spiritist centers that offer free healing sessions and run charities, hospitals, and schools across Brazil and beyond.
Helped shape Brazilian religious life, where Spiritist ideas mixed with Afro-Brazilian faiths such as Umbanda.
Answers came through mediums
Kardec put his questions to spirits at séances, using mediums who included two teenage sisters.
Born from a table-turning craze
He began after a fashion for "turning tables," said to move and tap out spirit messages, swept Paris.
A pen name from spirits
The teacher Hippolyte Rivail published as "Allan Kardec," a name he said spirits gave from a past life.
Burned in Barcelona
In 1861 a Spanish bishop had about 300 Spiritist books, including Kardec's, publicly burned in a city square.
Translated from French by Anna Blackwell 1875
From the 1875 Colby and Rich edition
The original uses words for races and peoples that are now dated or offensive. The modernized text uses today’s words. Why
