Essays on the Land, Ecotheology, and Traditions in Africa

Benjamin Abotchie Ntreh, Mark S. Aidoo, Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh, Benjamin Abotchie Ntreh, Mark S. Aidoo

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532682018
  9781532682025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532682032
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The book explores how African Christians in Ghana can think eco-theologically about the nexus of mining, waste pollution, water pollution, and land degradation. In 2017, the government of Ghana banned illegal mining and declared war against any activity that does not complement environmental protection and conservation of natural resources. The Christian church needs academic resources to support the campaign against the destruction of the land, water bodies, and environment. The papers presented generate theological imaginations in shaping the political campaign against the destruction of the land and the environment. Reflection on areas related to the theme includes: "The Concept of Land in the Bible"; "The Christian Church and the Galamsey Menace in West Africa"; "The Fulani Cattle Headsmen and Care for the Land"; "The Bible and the Environment: Towards an Agenda for Eco-theology in African Theological Institutions"; "Stewardship of the Land"; "The Menace of Mining in Ghana"; "Destruction of Water Bodies in Ghana"; and "The Menace of Plastic Waste in Ghana." This volume will serve as a textbook for theological students, the church, and other governmental agencies.

Part I

Toward an Agenda for African Ecotheology in African Theological Studies

Mark S. Aidoo

Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon

Abstract

For theological study in Africa to influence the needs of African people, it needs to inculcate an integrated ecotheological agenda from an African perspective so that it can equip theological students to be partners in caring for land, waterbodies, and the environment. African nations are struggling to find answers to ecological issues. This paper examines the complex intersections between the biblical mandate of nature care in Genesis 2:4b–17 and African identity to illustrate how a distinct patterning of theological studies can emphasize human vocation and care for the land. Three benefits of African ecotheology are discussed. First, it will enhance the African identity located in relationship with nature from an African perspective. Second, it will explicate on the mandate of God for humanity not only to save souls but to promote life in abundance. Third, it will enhance African spirituality. The paper then advocates that theological students need to equip themselves to stand by African governments in their effort to regulate environmental risks associated with land care including pollution of our oceans, water, and wildlife.

Introduction

This paper proposes that theological studies in Africa are incomplete without participation in the public discourse of land and environmental issues and an integrated study of African ecotheology. It argues that theological and religious studies in Africa must promote an integrated ecotheological agenda in its missional outlook that equips students of the Bible to be partners in caring for land, waterbodies, and the environment. By examining the complex intersections between the biblical mandate of nature care in Genesis 2:4b–17 and African identity and spirituality, the paper illustrates how African ecotheology becomes primary to the Christian salvation message. It argues that the call on humanity to till and care for the land as a sacred mandate ought to take precedence in Christian ministry.

The Nature of Ecotheology

It is crucial to point out that the call for ecotheology is not the same as a call for environmental ethics. Although environmental ethics is multidisciplinary, reflecting on attitudes, knowledge, and philosophical considerations on welfare and values, its focal point is on what human ought to do.74 In the words of Holmes Rolston, “Environmental ethics has to be directed to human dominated, managed, disturbed (and often degraded) landscapes. Such a land ethic must be informed about ecosystem health, but more focused on human ecology, on political ecology.”75 In other words, it is the ethical issues related to human actions about the environment that become the focus. Issues about nature are relegated to the background instead of playing an equally significant part in discussions. Rolston adds that “Environmental ethics cannot be an ecosystem ethic pure and simple; there is only an ethic about humans relating to their ecosystems, in the economies in which they live.76 Whereas environmental ethics focuses primarily on human beings, the central feature of ecotheology is not only about human beings. It is about God and all creation. A study about ecotheology should not be dependent on one’s personal convictions, beliefs, and philosophical suppositions. For African Christians, such a study should be dependent on the Bible with an all-inclusive concern for the well-being of all creation.

Generally, ecotheology has been a subject under systematic theology. However, Paul Santmire thinks otherwise. He argues “Christian theology never has had, nor should it have, a substantive ecological dimension. These writers are convinced that Christian theology must focus primarily—even exclusively—on human history, not on the history of nature. A substantive Christian theology of nature, in their view, is a contradiction in terms.”77 I partly agree with Santmire that it needs to be noted that human history has very little to do with land and nature. The root word for “eco” being oikos (“household”) encompasses the habitat of humanity which is the world of nature. Everything that belongs to the household should be part of ecotheological studies. The concept of the land embodies the space for humanity, waterbodies, animals, trees, and the earth as the footstool of God. In the Old Testament, land is used as a synonym for earth. Walter Brueggemann argues that land is not a space that echoes emptiness, waiting to be filled, but a place where history is concrete. He says:

The land for which Israel yearns and which it remembers is never unclaimed space but is always a place with Yahweh, a place well filled with memories of life with him and promise from him and vows to him. It is land that provides the central assurance to Israel of the historicity, that it will be and always must be concerned with actual rootage in a place which is a repository for commitment and identity.78

Since the late twentieth century, other theologians (not necessarily systematicians) have begun to pay attention to ecotheology that highlights the totality of God’s creation. In my view, ecotheology has become a discipline that combines the disciplines of ecology, theology, and life, and so it must equally be examined through the lenses of biblical theology, practical theology, history, and African thought. Such a study will highlight the interrelationships between religion, sociology, and nature in the light of environmental concerns. It is not simply about humanities. In this light, ecotheological studies shape our understanding of God, the place of human beings, and creation in God’s plan, as well as a commitment to social justice. Such a relationship is a matter of concern to every task of theological studies. It is in this light that the proposal that every discipline in religious and theological studies must include aspects of ecotheology in its curriculum come to the fore. Ecotheology should not simply be a core or an elective course. Such a pr...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Foreword: “The Earth is the Lord’s”: Mainstreaming Ecological Issues in African Theology
• Introduction
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Reflections