Rethinking ecotheology as a practice of relationality

Abstract

This article explores an ecotheological vision that reframes humanity’s relationship with the natural world, rooted in both biblical tradition and modern ecological insights. Human existence is deeply enmeshed in a cycle that sustains the entire biosphere. This is conceptualised as metabolising – a process shared by all living beings, wherein elements are exchanged, transformed and returned to the environment. This perspective challenges theological narratives that treat humanity as separate from or superior to the rest of creation. Instead, it invites a view of humans as one among many interconnected species. Anthropocentrism, the tendency to place humans at the centre of theological reflection and biblical interpretation, is critiqued. This approach has often reduced the environment to a mere resource for human self-realisation and creation as a backdrop for human salvation. Biblical texts, however, offer a broader narrative of interrelationality. The traditional reading of the dominion mandate in Genesis is reinterpreted as a call to decentring the human being in theology. This is set in parallel with recent approaches to recognising nature as a rights-bearing subject. The article argues for a theological reorientation that integrates ecological relationality as a core element of faith. This can foster a renewed spirituality that celebrates creation’s diversity and humanity’s humble yet meaningful role within it. Such a perspective invites a deeper understanding of the Creator’s intention for the flourishing of all life and to understand human practice as an adaptation to this intention.
Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on ecumenical statements, secular development, religious discourse and biblical exegesis. It reexamines theological anthropology (European tradition) and brings it into conversation with contemporary legal efforts to recognise nature as a rights-bearing subject.