Towards a hermeneutics of sustainability in Africa: Engaging indigenous knowledge in dialogue with Christianity

Kivatsi J Kavusa

doi:10.4102/ve.v42i1.2263

Abstract

Today there are a number of ecological hermeneutics, such as the Exeter project (UK), the Earth Bible project (Australia), the anti-ecological readings and the eco-feminist readings. Whilst these trends provide Christianity with valuable ecological insights, they tend to be more global than specific. The Exeter project claims even to search for the ‘universal’ eco-meaning of the scriptures. Thus, every community should learn from them and try to develop its ecological hermeneutical framework, which can sustainably address its contextual issues. This article explores whether elements of traditional Africa can be transformed into a valuable hermeneutical framework of ecological sustainability for Christianity in Africa. African traditional societies were built upon a threefold worldview, namely (1) the sacredness of all life (moral or spiritual dimension of nature), (2) the pre-eminence of the community over individual interests and (3) the cosmological dimension of the chieftaincy (governance). In the process of the Christianisation of Africa, this framework by which African people make sense of the world became so impaired that the Africans ceased to understand their world through their own cultural systems. With a proper re-configuration in dialogue with a sound biblical green theology, this triad can be turned into an effective hermeneutical vehicle of African churches’ engagement for a sustainable life in Africa.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article explores whether elements of traditional Africa can be transformed into a valuable hermeneutical framework of ecological sustainability for Christianity in Africa. It draws on ecological hermeneutics that exist in the theological disciplines. It involves the disciplines of biblical exegesis and ecological hermeneutics, African hermeneutics and insights from sustainability theories.

Highlights

The Brundtland report (1987) ‘Our common future’ defines sustainability as a ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland 1987:43)
The Brundtland report shaped the biodiversity declaration of Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and led to the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development. This concern for sustainable development had an impact upon the eight Millennium Development Goals, which have been extended to 17 goals as ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030’
The 17 SDGs are interwoven in the sense that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, cultural, economic and ecological sustainability

Summary

Introduction

The Brundtland report (1987) ‘Our common future’ defines sustainability as a ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland 1987:43). African ecological ethics extends the community beyond anthropocentric (livings and departed4) domain by including non-human beings (animals, plants, places, rivers) and the unborn into the moral universe (Tosam 2019:177). The root NTU in the word KUntu (means, method, relation), for instance, implies that even the way humans (BAntu) interact with other beings (BIntu, HAntu) must be informed by a vision of nature not as an ‘object’ but as force and subject. This recalls my early experience as a 5-year old. The church should play their prophetic role from the beginning of political elections in order to make sure the country is being provided with accountable leaders who will work for sustainable development

Conclusion

Findings

Funding information