The web of life

The web of life
I am ever convinced that the African ethic of the wholeness of life is true. Because it is true, this is why we already find it in so many other traditions, even our own western Christianity, i.e. St. Francis of Assisi, Ignatian traditions, Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, Kant, etc.. (Due to his individualized ethic, it would be easy to manipulate Kant into a consumer ethic, but ultimately, when we realize the implications of the point that for Kant it is in the judging of nature as beautiful that we become aware of what it means to be fully human, we cannot follow abuse Kant in such a way.) I believe that we are all a part of a web of life. When a company has no regard for the enviroment, it is already on a road to the destruction of humanity. Any devaluing of creation, ultimately devalues humanity, either literally, as it places profit over people, or indirectly as it turns the person into a consumer devoid of relationship with God’s creation outside. Within the African worldview, we are intimately connected with all of those who came before us (the ancestors) and all those who will precede after us. We have a debt of responsibility to both.

What are the theological implications of that? Within Christianity, it means that we must be a church of remembering, so as to be aware of the injustices of the past, and we must have a profound sense of community, that goes beyond the consumers in the present. Let my theology move beyond the theoretical and speculative. I hope and pray I have more opportunites to see it first hand.