Pursuing fullness of life through harmony with nature
Towards an African response to environmental destruction and climate change in Southern Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21493907 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Buhle Mpofu (0000-0002-6833-0810, University of Pretoria, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0259-9422 • E-ISSN: 2072-8050 |
| Publisher | AOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.4102/hts.v77i4.6574 |
| OpenAlex | W3168541513 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 13 |
Like the rest of the developed world, African nations are now subject to consumerist tendencies of the global economic architecture and activities, which excessively exploit natural resources for profits and are at the centre of what this article describes as ‘disharmony between nature and humanity’. The exploitative nature of consumerist tendencies requires healing and restoration as it leads towards unpredictable and destructive weather patterns in which the relationships between human activity and the environment have created patterns and feedback mechanisms that govern the presence, distribution and abundance of species assemblages. Disharmony is employed to describe the exploitative nature of consumerist tendencies that lead to unpredictable weather patterns. The consequences include climate change and natural disasters such as floods, drought and environmental pollution, which have been severely experienced in Southern Africa recently. This article provides a qualitative literature review on recent religious and ecumenical responses to climate change crisis and draws on the notions of ‘cultural landscapes’ and ‘ecotheology’ to highlight an exploitative relationship, which is characterised by disharmony in the relationship between humanity and nature. This illustration demonstrates how the concept of unity between ‘self and the entire Kosmos ’ in African worldview presents a potentially constructive African theology of ecology. Amongst other recommendations, the article proposed that in order for humanity to restore harmony and attain fullness of life – oikodome – with nature the notions of healing, reconciliation, liberation and restoration should be extended to human relations or interactions with nature and all of God’s creation. Contribution: This article represents a contextual and systematic reflection on climate challenges facing the African context within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generates an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse
Aesthetics · Climate change · Environmental ethics · Harmony with nature · Humanity · Natural resource · Political science · Sociology · Christian Theology and Mission · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Religion, Society, and Development · Ecology
Interface Between Ecotheology and Practical Theology
Forty years of climate risk research in Zimbabwe – 1980–2021
Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), Sufism and environmental conservation practices in Indonesia
The liberation of women and girls as the liberation of Mother Earth
Ecological crisis and the church
The role of Ondofolo to maintain religious harmony
African Initiated Churches and Ecological Sustainability
Ecotheology
The Pragmatism of Practical Theology in the Conservation of the Natural Habitat
The quest for women's agency
Addressing the ecological crisis in Southern Africa through a missional dialogue with African values
Towards an African ecogender theology
Praying for Courage
Routledge Handbook of Religion and Ecology
An exploration of the idea of ecodomy in Calvin's view of God and the world
Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa
End-Times Theology, the Shadow of the Future, and Public Resistance to Addressing Global Climate Change
Religious agency in sustainability transitions
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |