African Initiated Churches and ecological sustainability : an empirical exploration

dc.contributor.authorStork, Juliane
dc.contributor.authorÖhlmann, Philipp
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-02T08:07:30Z
dc.date.available2025-09-02T08:07:30Z
dc.date.issued2025-05
dc.description.abstractWhile African Initiated Churches are increasingly recognized as actors of social development, little research has thus far elucidated their role regarding ecological sustainability. Responding to this gap, we explore African Initiated Churches’ views on ecological sustainability and their reaction to environmental destruction and climate change. We analyse to what extent environmental concerns are considered relevant, explore emerging environmental concepts and theologies, and highlight environmental actions taken. The analysis is based on a diverse set of qualitative and quantitative data focusing on leaders of African Initiated Churches from across Sub-Saharan Africa: interviews and focus groups, public lectures, and online survey data. The findings show an ecological turn in African Initiated Christianity. Unlike in mainline Christianity, where ecological engagement is often embedded in elaborated eco-theologies, African Initiated Churches’ engagement with ecological sustainability seems to be primarily driven by the increasing adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change in their communities.
dc.description.departmentChurch History and Church Policy
dc.description.departmentPractical Theology
dc.description.librarianhj2025
dc.description.sdgSDG-15: Life on land
dc.description.sdgSDG-15: Life on land
dc.description.sponsorshipThe Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Brot für die Welt and the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship. The article processing charge was funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
dc.description.urihttps://www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/opth/html
dc.identifier.citationStork, Juliane and Öhlmann, Philipp. "African Initiated Churches and Ecological Sustainability: An Empirical Exploration" Open Theology, vol. 11, no. 1, 2025, art. 20250039, pp. 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2025-0039.
dc.identifier.issn2300-6579 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1515/opth-2025-0039
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/104165
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherDe Gruyter
dc.rights© 2025 the author(s), published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
dc.subjectAfrican initiated churches
dc.subjectChristianity
dc.subjectSub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
dc.subjectEcology
dc.subjectSustainable development
dc.subjectEnvironment
dc.titleAfrican Initiated Churches and ecological sustainability : an empirical exploration
dc.typeArticle

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