REVISITING ISLAMIC THEOLOGY: LIVED ECO-THEOLOGY IN CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM
Keywords:
Lived Eco-Theology, Environmental Activism, Ecological Crisis, Islamic TheologyAbstract
The environmental crisis demands a transformative response that draws from the richness of religious values. This research aims to re-elaborate the discourse on Islamic eco-theology as a profound response to modernity and environmental issues, while simultaneously critiquing the dominant tendency towards instrumentalism. Instrumentalism in the discourse on Islam and environment is considered problematic because it has narrowed the concept of religion to functional justifications. This approach triggers a human-nature dualism and encourages resource exploitation. Through conceptual analysis and a literature review, this research examines how the discourse on eco-theology is critiqued, operated, and developed. This research then constructs a new framework, namely lived eco-theology, as an effort to see the embodiment of religion in the practice of fluid environmental activism, inspired by the theory of lived religion. The lived eco-theology framework refers to a theology of environmental engagement that is manifested in three forms of integrated action: articulated, performative, and symbolic. This formulation considers ecological values as the result of a hybridization between religious values and intersecting values. This model is a conceptual contribution that shifts the perspective of Islamic ecological theology from merely instrumental ethics to a theology that is truly relevant and practiced. This framework is expected to be the basis for a religious-environmental movement that brings real and sustainable change and values nature equally.
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