Food, Land, People

The ecological destruction caused by Western hegemonies of capitalism and consistent disruptions of a Sabbath that calls Christians to be faithful stewards of creation demands our undivided attention. The production-driven globalised context foregrounded on ‘dominance and subduing’ doctrine has resulted in multifaceted ecological damages. Thus, this study asks: are African Knowledge Systems alternatives in addressing this ecological crisis? This study retrieves and argues that concepts within African traditional practices that inform(ed) worldly and spiritual affairs of indigenous Africans are an alternative solution. Using Molefe Asante’s Afrocentrism theory, the study retrieves the Chisi concept (a mandated day of rest and refraining from production focused on ecological and human care in ATR) practiced in Zimbabwe’s antiquity in environmental conservation. The study locates a fundamental relationship between Chisi and the Hebraic descriptions (Genesis 2; Exodus 23) of the Sabbath, arguing for a return to basics in achieving intentional ecological restoration.

Human or earthly rules do not apply in both the Quranic intertexts and in the text itself: In her Mihrab (the sanctuary) Mariam receives the most unexpected gifts of summer fruits in winter and winter fruits in summer; a boy can be born without a father (Isa), or to a very old couple Zakariyya (Maryam’s uncle) and his impotent wife, whereas a very healthy couple (the narrator and her husband) can give birth to a stillborn. It is only the Divine command of Kun fayakūn “Be! then it is”, which has the power to turn non-existence into life. This concept of food and children as Rizq that only God can bestow (whether according to natural laws or in violation of them), is featured in the literary text under study, a text which blends vast geographical, ecological, and spiritual worlds.

Lovefeasts were critical sites of community building and religious fellowship for Methodists in Liberia. But they were also spots to perform, challenge, and reinforce racial, gender, and class boundaries. By looking at the journal of Methodist missionary Walter Jayne through the methods of religious history, literary analysis, and a critical intersectional approach, this paper explores the racial, gender, and national boundaries that American Methodism attempted to establish in Liberia. By focusing in on how Jayne understood lovefeasts to be sites of racial integration, even as we can see moments of separation and delineation, this paper can show how boundaries were structured, shaped, and contested by the worshipping together of white and black American and African peoples around a shared table of food.