The patriarchal western worldview imbedded in the message propagated by western missionaries in the ninetieth and twentieth centuries influenced the understanding of God and nature in Africa.
African theology has shown ambiguities in its articulation of God and the natural world.
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As Boff (1997:78) has observed, some features of Christian theology do not foster human responsibility to the natural world. These include: The adoption of the cultural framework of patriarchy, the separation between creature and creator through monotheism, the use of monotheism to justify authoritarianism and centralised power, anthropocentrism of human dominion over the earth, the tribal ideology of divine election and the notion that nature itself is fallen and the earth is punished as a result of human sin. When tested using these characteristics as a litmus paper, male dominated African theology is found to be largely anti-ecological in its outlook. John Mbiti has presented an African God who is transcendent. Mbiti (1970b:18) argues that:
The Tonga refers to him as ‘the Ancient of Days’ The Akan believe furthermore, that God is eternal and infinite. These peoples’ concept of God’s transcendence would clearly indicate that for them there is no terminus or time when God was not, since from the most ancient time which man can think of God was in existence.
First, Mbiti makes reference to the Tonga people without elaboration. He has not specified whether he is referring to the Tonga people of Zambia or Zimbabwe or Malawi who seem to have some differences in religio-cultural beliefs. However, his assertion is a typical example of the notions of a God who is transcendent. The implication of this notion is that God is absent from the earth. This is contrary to the Tonga people of Zambia who see God in created objects and phenomenon such as sacred grooves (Colson 2006). Second, Mbiti (1970b:13) presents an African God who is above everything. This implies that God resides in higher regions and in principle is inaccessible. In other words, Mbiti suggests that in African consciousness, there is a geographical gap between the world of God and the world of humans. While this is not true of many African cultures such as that of the Tonga people of Zambia, male African theologians have consolidated this notion of a transcendent God.
Third, Mbiti (1970b:14, 16) insists that “the use of intermediaries between [man] and God, which is a widespread practice among many African peoples, readily suggests the concept of the transcendent God being linked with [men] through a ladder of intermediaries”. The implications of this assertion are that Africans do not petition or pray to God directly. A closer look at Tonga rituals and territorial cults with regards to rain-calling rituals suggests the opposite. During the
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Lwiindi ceremony, the Tonga people appeal to Leza directly for the rains (Machila 1991). The Tonga people believe in ancestors as the “living dead elderly” members of the family. For this reason ancestors are venerated and consulted but they also pray to God directly. Lastly, Mbiti (1970b:13, 15) argues that people in Africa consider God to be “‘the Father of the gods’.” This assertion seems to suggest a rejection of polytheism and animism which some theologians, ethno-sociologists and missionaries have attached to African culture. Further, the assertion seems to have the influence of dualism44.
As such, these notions contribute to anti-nature attitudes and the erosion of the sacredness of the natural world. The sacredness of nature served as a fabric for the preservation of the environment in Africa. Mbiti further asserts that “God is beyond human laws, regulations, taboos, prohibitions, customs, traditions, and judgment” (1970b: 15). For him, taboos that were put in place Africans to preserve nature are not necessary because God is beyond customs and tradition.
The essential quality of God in the context of the ecological crisis is that of being present to and within the Earth. For the Tonga people the very name of God means that God is present. They are always conscious of the presence of God. It is this primordial intuition which led the Tonga people to give a title to God as Nyami-Nyami (River God or Rivers serpent). They believe in a God who is transcendentally immanent. This is elaborated in myths of origin, the Leza cult and rain-calling rituals at territorial shrines.
44 Dualism can be defined in different ways. Wright (2011:5) suggests, there are three types of dualism: A theological or moral dualism in which a good god or gods are ranged equal and opposite against a bad god or gods, a cosmological dualism as propounded by Plato in which the world of space, time and matter is radically inferior to the noumenal world. This type of dualism includes the dualisms of form and matter, essence and appearance, spiritual and material and an anthropological dualism which separates the soul from the body or the spirit from the body. Some elements of dualism can be found in Ancient Judaism. For example, the sectarian duality in which the sons of light are ranged against the sons of darkness, as in Qumran community. However, it is generally agreed that in Judaism including first-century Judaism, evil is not an essential part of the creation, but a result of a radical distortion within a basically good created order. To this effect, Christian tradition and literature demonstrate a turn away from Judaism towards the wider world of Hellenistic philosophy. See: Wright (2011:4), Irwin (1989:91, 92), MacCulloch (2009:31).
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As demonstrated by Mbiti’s assertions, African theology has been influenced by notions of monotheism and human dominion over earth. It has also been influenced by the ideology of divine election in Judaism. All these notions are conditioned by patriarchy. As already noted, the Judeo-Christian cultural framework has been informed by a history of interpretation of the biblical motifs such as humanity being created in the image of God, the command to have dominion over the earth and the notion of original sin (Gen. 1-3). African theology has also been influenced by the notion that nature is fallen and the earth is punished as a result of human sin (Gen. 3). As Boff (1997: 78) has rightly pointed out, this notion may result in people not taking good care of the Earth. This notion has contributed to the preoccupation with human salvation at the expense of the natural world, the perception that the ecological crisis confirms the biblical apocalyptic prophesies and the tendency to dismiss ecological issues as secular (Horrell 2010: 2).
Despite the influence of Christianity and western imperialism, the Tonga people of Zambia continue to put emphasis on human responsibility towards the planet earth (ciisi or chalo). In their cosmology, humanity, nonhuman forms of life and spiritual forces are interconnected. They believe that the abuse of the earth threatens the interconnectedness on which life depends. For this reason, certain elements of precolonial ethnography and ecological management have survived into the colonial and postcolonial periods. These practices have survived due to their continued relevance to the people.
In precolonial times Tonga ways of ecological management included the setting up of sacred grooves, territorial cults, rain-calling rituals, myths and taboos. Through these methods, scarce resources were managed by the local communities. However, as Schoffeleers (1979) has shown, the indigenous now face a number of challenges to preserve the natural world. The challenges include the bureaucratization of the chieftainship which has weakened indigenous socio-political support for the cults, Christianity which has questioned the religious base of the cults, land expropriation and wage labour which have drastically changed the structure of social organization and the rationalist interpretations of ecology in the form of land conservation.
In sum, as Adams (2003:23) has rightly observed, the acquisition of colonies in Africa was accompanied by, and to a large extent enabled by a profound belief in the possibility of
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restructuring nature and re-ordering it to serve human needs and desires. The natural world came to be defined as the absence of European human impact. These ideologies and technological advancements have been supported by Christianity using the biblical motif of domination (Gen 1:26-28). Hence there is a need to rehabilitate the image of God in relation to God’s creation.