Archbishop of South Africa Thabo Makgoba visits the Netherlands in the context of ecotheology
The archbishop attended an ecumenical green service in Amsterdam on Sunday 19 April, with a contribution from Marileen Steyn, postdoctoral researcher at the PThU and Soil project manager.
The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, “His Grace” Thabo Makgoba, is in the Netherlands during his sabbatical leave, with the aim of deepening his understanding of ecotheology. At the start of his stay, he was guest of honour at a special ecumenical green service at the English Reformed Church at the Begijnhof in Amsterdam on Sunday 19 April.
Green service
The green service had been carefully prepared, with hymns demonstrating that concern for nature and the earth is nothing new in theology. One example was All Creatures of Our God and King, based on a text by Francis of Assisi from 1225. Dr Marileen Steyn, postdoctoral researcher and project manager of the Soil project, also contributed to the liturgy by writing a liturgical ritual of offering and connectedness related to soil.
Indaba
The following day, Steyn, together with approximately twenty other invited guests and accompanied by the archbishop and his wife, Mrs Lungi Makgoba, boarded a boat that took them to Vlieland. For two days they spoke about ecotheology in the form of an “indaba”. An indaba is a dialogical method from the South African Zulu tradition, in which listening, participation, and speaking from one’s own body and context are central. During these two days the archbishop was simply called Thabo, while Aart, the captain, brought the group to Vlieland for mudflat walking and a shared exploration of what it means for human beings to exist in relationship with others.
Relationality and connectedness
The two days were remarkable. Relationships and connectedness were fostered, and the conversations were filled with a wisdom rarely evoked in traditional meeting rooms. Spending two days together on a boat also makes one realise that there is not a single moment in which you can truly escape one another, and raises the question of what it means that all of us in this life — including nature, among it the soil itself — are truly in the same boat.
The service and the indaba were co-organised by: John Klaasen (University of the Free State, South Africa), Erik Borgman (Tilburg University, the Netherlands), Mark van Vuuren (Twenty University, the Netherlands), and Jan Jorrit Hasselaar (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands).
