THE CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES IN IGBOLAND

Abstract

This paper critically examines the contributions of Christianity to the escalating environmental crisis in Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria. In order to satisfy her immediate need and gratify her spiritual longing, mankind under the guise of Christianity has continued to manhandle the natural environment without recourse to its tripling effects. While scholarly attention has focused on secular drivers of ecological degradation such as deforestation, gully erosion and water pollution—the role of Christianity in contributing to these aforementioned problems and more has often been overlooked. This paper maintains that there are both natural and human causes of environmental crisis but human causes are more than the natural. Employing a historical-phenomenological and hermeneutical methodology, the paper traces the trajectory from the colonial missionaries to contemporary Pentecostal prosperity ethics, arguing that Christianity has systematically dismantled indigenous Igbo eco-cosmologies without providing a robust alternative environmental ethic.  This paper identifies three specific ways of Christian contributions to environmental crisis: (1) the theological displacement of sacred groves and earth-based taboos; (2) the material ecological footprint of church expansion, including “prayer mountains/camps” and mass crusades; and (3) the implicit sanctioning of consumerist exploitation through dominion theology. The paper concludes by calling for an enculturated Igbo eco-theology that retrieves indigenous wisdom while remaining authentically Christian.