CHAPTER 3: COCIN’S THEOLOGY ON ECOLOGY
3.9 Sallie McFague’s Planetary Theology: An Introduction
3.9.4 Critique of McFague’s Planetary Theology
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economic worldview which assumes that happiness is derived from the accumulation of material wealth. From the ecological worldview, happiness is not derived from the possession of things far more than for the basic needs of life, “but from community, nurture, friendship, love, and dedication to higher purposes” (McFague 2001: 115). In the light of the above, the concept of frugality is adopted as a lifestyle that will foster the good life in a community. Frugality here means using food or money only as much as is necessary, and it also means the efficient usage of any given resources in moderation.
McFague states that frugality is having a “sense of enough and the willingness to live within material limitations so that others may also have enough” (2001: 116).
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terms of its oil, but the wealth of the nation is in the hands of a few individuals.
Corruption is like a canker worm eating deep into the economic and political fabric of the country. This is evident in the amount of money being retrieved from some past government officials and some business moguls by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (Eyoboka and Latona 2017; Ononchie and Onyekwere 2017; Prinewill 2017 and Shiklam 2017). Having the “good life” and having “enough” therefore may not be attainable in Nigeria at the moment because the government does not give any social grants as a welfare package to its citizens.
Having a good life with all its ramifications in Nigeria could be a nightmare. An example of this problem is the lack of healthcare. The President of the country himself had to travel to the United Kingdom for his medical treatment where he spent three months, which is something the ordinary citizen would not be able to do (Ehikioya 2017; Mojeed 2017). This proved that the public healthcare sector in the country cannot handle referral cases such as that of President Muhammadu Buhari (Sotunde 2017). If the number one citizen of the country had to travel overseas for treatment, I wonder what would take for an ordinary citizen to have access to a good health care delivery in Nigeria. I will insist on the premise above that the idea of good life proposed by McFague may not be achievable in the Nigerian context. This is because Nigeria and other southern countries are trapped in poverty and inequality because of the way the global economic system works. Coloniality and capitalism created an imbalanced geopolitical organisation in which southern countries have their riches exploited for the well-being of those in the centre of capitalism system (Haddad 2015: 106).
Another key theme in McFague’s Planetary Theology is sustainability. If someone for instance does not have money to buy food and the only commodity available is a tree which could be felled for firewood or to make charcoal for sale, how can that person live sustainably without utilising what seems to be the only option? If the elephants and the rhinos are the only potential commodities available that the person can poach and exchange their ivory for financial benefit, how can such a person resist such an opportunity? This can be compared to a biblical story which in Israel there was a time
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when they were under a siege for a long time and it resulted in a severe famine; and the elderly people resorted to killing their babies for food (2 Kings 6: 24–33). The Nigerian forestry laws are weak, leaving room for citizens to be involved in the illegal trade of timber (Nweke 2017, Ijaiya and Joseph 2014; Odoma et al. 2017). From the above premise, living sustainably in Nigeria is still far from reality, except if a strong political will is put in place for a radical re-orientation on its values with regards to ecological issues.
Furthermore, Sallie McFague states that the good life is not having “more and more” but it is an idea of having “enough” (2001: 111). According to John Fox (2009) the “theology of enough” emerged in the 1970s from two publications: 1) Enough is Enough by John Taylor and 2) Habitat for Humanity by Millard and Linda Fuller. The former is built on the concept of shalom in Israel where every member of the community is expected to enjoy safety of mind, body and estate (Hershey 2017: 1). It portrays completeness or a sense of wholeness that encourages every Israeli to give back generously something in some way so that his/her fellow Israeli will not lack. The latter publication is based on the Christian understanding of needs and wants. Fox (2009: 1) notes “there are sufficient resources in the world for the needs of everybody, but not enough for the greed of even a significant minority”. From the Christian perspective, believers are not supposed to have people among them who lack because they are expected to share with others so that all will have enough of their basic needs met. However, David Waters (2009) noted that many people in the world today have put their wants above their needs, so, they are unable to meet their own wants and neither are they able to support others. Ksarant (2017: 1) concurs and states: “We live in a time of unbridled greed. There seems to be no limit to how rich a rich person wants to be”.
Therefore, in the Nigerian context, the idea of the “theology of enough” may be realised only if Christians adheres to Paul’s teaching on contentment (Philippians 4: 10-13). But substantial reports filtering from Nigeria indicates that poverty, corruption, human trafficking, poor nutrition, kidnapping, unemployment, and the selling of human parts seems to be on the increase (Obi 2017; Mudashir and Krishi 2017; Ajayi 2017; Shittu
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2017; Ewepu 2017; Aliyu 2017; Ramon 2017; Atoyebi 2017). The recent case of human trafficking in Libya where several Nigerians are perpetrators and victims is a good example that speaks about the situation in the country (Joseph 2017; Ojeme and UNICEF 2017; Mba 2015). Therefore, proposing a “theology of enough” for the Nigerian context may be a matter of theory but in practical terms, I conclude that Nigeria is still far from it. The church in Nigeria especially COCIN, in order to make more impact in the context of environmental degradation with special reference to deforestation, will have to re-examine its approach to ecological issues affecting its members in various locations in the country. To achieve this, a radical re-orientation of the wealthy in the church towards the need of sharing their wealth with those who are in need, would be necessary. Amy McGloughlin maintains that if things are shared in common, then “it means everything changes. Our sense of what is ours changes. Our sense of what is enough changes” (McGloughlin 2015:3).