Abstract:
The question on what his viewpoint of an eco-theological understanding of
life entails is firstly posed in conversation with the South African systematic theologian Johan
Buitendag. His standpoint, in which he argues for the constitutive significance of habitat against
the background of the philosophical, biological and theological contours of descriptions of
what life is, is set forth. He suggests that human life should be described with regard to habitat
in its constitutive significance and subsequently in regard to a value system, and concludes
that human life as homo religiosus must be understood from an eco-theological viewpoint as
ontologically extended (‘ontologies uitgebreid’). His eco-theological viewpoint is secondly taken
up in an explication of the sense making of human life by humans, determined and shaped by
their biological roots in their habitat. Lastly the affective-cognitive dimension of being human
with specific emphasis on affectivity is expounded as representing the embodiment of the
logic of survival of personhood in their habitat.
