Africans embrace all of life, the humanity of each person, the world, and the creation of God. Consequently, African indigenous education reflects the completeness of life itself. The various chapters in this volume recount religious events and experiences from individual perspectives as they are unfolding on the continent. The different voices show how modernity, colonisation, urbanisation, Christianity, and technology have sidelined beliefs and practices of African traditional religions (ATRs) to the detriment of the environment. This volume brings together voices from leading proponents of ATRs and African religious heritage to help us appreciate how values are richly entrenched in African religious life. It demonstrates the detailed richness of ATRs and culture and showcases how far the academic study of ATRs in Africa has come, and calls for a concerted effort through partnership between various actors to ensure environmental sustainability.

Africans embrace all of life, the humanity of each person, the world, and the creation of God. Consequently, African indigenous education reflects the completeness of life itself. The various chapters in this volume recount religious events and experiences from individual perspectives as they are unfolding on the continent. The different voices show how modernity, colonisation, urbanisation, Christianity, and technology have sidelined beliefs and practices of African traditional religions (ATRs) to the detriment of the environment. This volume brings together voices from leading proponents of ATRs and African religious heritage to help us appreciate how values are richly entrenched in African religious life. It demonstrates the detailed richness of ATRs and culture and showcases how far the academic study of ATRs in Africa has come, and calls for a concerted effort through partnership between various actors to ensure environmental sustainability.

Africa, Christianity, climate change, eco-theology, environmental crisis, feminist theology, Christic environmental liberation paradigm, Christic Okavango, ecological Biblical hermeneutics, environmental Christology, Okavango Delta, ecological theology, African Islam, religion, sustainable development, Varemba, Zimbabwe, Catholic nun, Mother Earth, narrative and participatory practices, pastoral care, Comboni Missionary sisters, environmental sustainability, gender, Mother Earth centre, harmonious relationships, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Mount Kenya Forest, sacred places, taboos, trees and animals, water, women, adaptation, mitigation, Karanga women, Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13), traditional, Zimbabwe, Chingwizi area, customary land tenure, land allocation, land redistribution, land ownership.

This volume, Mother Earth, Mother Africa: World Religions and Environmental Imagination, explores the interface of religio-cultural traditions and ecological conservation practices in different African contexts. The authors also reflect on the entwinement between the violation of women’s rights and the degradation of the Earth which is usually described using feminine terms, hence the designation, “Mother Earth.” The three major religious traditions in Africa – Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religions (ATR) – are the lenses through which the authors discuss the interconnections between religion, culture and ecological traditions. Peering through African eco-feminist, gender justice and gender inclusive lenses, the authors foreground the importance of tapping into Africa’s rich religio-cultural resources as vital tools that can be utilised to address the ravaging ecological crisis.

The volume is significant in bringing together voices of African women theologians and their allies on the urgent topic of ecology. First, it decisively intervenes into scholarly discourses on ecofeminism by highlighting the reflections of African women scholars and African women as subjects. This function of the volume is very important both at local and global levels. Second, it contributes to contextualizing of scriptural interpretation around the issue of ecology. Biblical reflection occurs throughout the volume and is put into dialogue with African traditions, with ecofeminism, with Africa-based mission projects, and with the current crisis of sustainability and African women’s roles in protecting the earth. Third, the volume includes several concrete case studies based on interviews and grassroots qualitative research, as well as especially original articles that integrate biblical exegesis of Genesis with reflections on patriarchal legal systems in Botswana, and an original take on “male headship” in relation to ecofeminism. – Professor Dana L. Robert, Boston University, USA

The volume is significant in bringing together voices of African women theologians and their allies on the urgent topic of ecology. First, it decisively intervenes into scholarly discourses on ecofeminism by highlighting the reflections of African women scholars and African women as subjects. This function of the volume is very important both at local and global levels. Second, it contributes to contextualizing of scriptural interpretation around the issue of ecology. Biblical reflection occurs throughout the volume and is put into dialogue with African traditions, with ecofeminism, with Africa-based mission projects, and with the current crisis of sustainability and African women’s roles in protecting the earth. Third, the volume includes several concrete case studies based on interviews and grassroots qualitative research, as well as especially original articles that integrate biblical exegesis of Genesis with reflections on patriarchal legal systems in Botswana, and an original take on “male headship” in relation to ecofeminism. – Professor Dana L. Robert, Boston University, USA