DOING ECOTHEOLOGY IN AFRICA WITH CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART

Abstract

Although African and western literary scholars have explored diverse themes and issues in Chinua Achebe’s classic novel Things Fall Apart, there has been a general neglect of the theme of ecology in the literary work. This neglect is more evident among African Christian theologians who have mainly studied and analysed themes such as God, religion, morality, and violence in the novel. On account of the ecological silence in scholarly engagements with Things Fall Apart, this article explores the rich ecological motifs in the novel in dialogue with African and Christian theology. It argues that a rediscovery of the ecologically grounded and sustainable ways of living portrayed in the novel can provide African and non-African ecological thinkers and practitioners with spiritual and ethical resources for addressing the ecological crisis facing Africa and the world. At the heart of this article therefore is the new possibilities that Things Fall Apart offers us for thinking theologically about sustainable ecology and ecological harmony in the age of Anthropocene.