Short abstract: Christian theologians in the Pacific Islands pay close attention to culture, seeing it as the grounds on which one understands God and engages in dialogue with others. I engage with the work of these scholars, asking how the combination of culture theory and indigenous theology opens up new conversations while limiting others. In this seminar, I focus on Fijian, Samoan and Tongan environmental/ecological theologies which attend to (1) sacred landscapes and (2) the sea, treated as a metaphor for the divine but also now in a 'disturbed' state as seen in sea-level rise and the devastation of tsunamis.
Matthew Tomlinson er førsteamanuensis i sosialantropologi ved SAI, UiO.