Finding Ubuntu in the Bible

Abstract

African Initiated Churches are a fast-growing church movement in South Africa that focuses explicitly on contextual theological responses to the everyday lives of their members. With the effects of the climate crisis adversely influencing South Africa’s population, the underlying hypothesis of this chapter is that African Initiated Churches in the country are currently responding theologically to these environmental challenges experienced by their church members. The chapter concentrates on such a recent eco-theology in the largest church in South Africa, the Zion Christian Church, by applying qualitative content analysis to the first public speech on eco-theology by the church’s Bishop, B.E. Lekganyane. The analysis reveals that the Zion Christian Church moderates the tension arising between two traditions that shape the church when responding to the changing environment: ecological thoughts from African Traditional Religions and eco-theologies from mainline Christian churches. By filling a liminal position between both traditions, the Zion Christian Church develops a unique eco-theology and it creates a safe space and a spiritual adaptation strategy against the (spiritual) threats of climate change for their believers.