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Father Kanu condemns deforestation and greenhouse emissions while urging everyone to nurture the Earth
Father Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu after delivering his paper at Harvard University’s Divinity School. (Photo supplied)
A Nigerian priest-professor spoke about eco-spirituality from an African perspective at a conference hosted by prestigious Harvard University in the United States.
Father Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu, prior provincial of the Augustinian Order in Nigeria, was a guest speaker at the Divinity School’s conference titled “Ecological Spiritualities” from April 26-30.
Delivering his lecture titled “African Eco-spirituality as an Indigenous Response to Modern Ecological Crisis,” he canvassed support for tree planting and caring for the Earth based on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’.
Father Kanu is president of the Association for the Promotion of African Studies and a professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Tansian University in Umunya, Nigeria.
He decried the spate of deforestation, indiscriminate cutting of trees and greenhouse emissions while urging everyone to nurture the Earth.
The priest has written books including African Eco-Philosophy: Cosmology, Consciousness and the Environment; African Ecological Spirituality: Perspectives on Anthroposophy and Environmentalism; African Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Systems: Religion, Philosophy and the Environment; and African Eco-Theology: Meaning, Forms and Expressions.
He is also the editor of three books fundamental to ecological studies in Africa.
The conference featured presentations and workshops that explored the evolution of spiritual traditions and highlighted innovative spiritual practices that are emerging in response to the painful realities of climate change, mass extinction, biodiversity loss and the disruption of local and global ecosystems.
Other speakers, who were drawn from across academia, spoke from a variety of theoretical, methodological, interdisciplinary and religious approaches and demanded more open discussions on the intersection between spirituality and ecology.
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