ʿbd and šmr in Genesis 2:15 as the Ecological Mandate: An African Theanthropocosmic Perspective

Abstract

This paper contributes to the ongoing conversation on ecology by contributing an African perspective derived from the theanthropocosmic perspective. African indigenous knowledge and practices have been successfully passed on from one generation to the next without documentation. This is because of the inherent nature of responsibility within the African worldview where God, mankind, and nature exist in a (un)conscious community. The homogenous environmental ethic created within the African context provides scope for rereading the ecological mandate of Genesis 2:15 perhaps as a hermeneutical strategy toward responsibility for the physical environment.