A Comparative Analysis of Shona and Christian Attitudes to Nature: Shona Religion and Christianity

Nature as an inter-religious issue has gained momentum over the last few years. This is a good sign because it reiterates the view that the global environmental crisis is fundamentally a moral and religious problem. We must investigate what different religions have to say to one another today that may clarify what it means to have a proper respect for the earth in our personal and social and economic choices. This book deals with a critical comparative correlational dialogue between Shona and Christian attitudes to nature. It examines the nature of conflict, criticism and complementarity between the two religions. It makes a case that the attitudes to nature of these religions can best complement each other in the framework of eco-spirituality as a minimum common ground. In this framework there is a possibility of an environmental ethic based on the intrinsic value of nature that traditional Shona adherents and Christians can share. The book's argument is that whereas Christianity, because it seems to be already saturated with, and acculturated to the dominant ideology of science can help provide a clearer vision of Shona attitudes to nature consistent with religious environmentalism.