Pachamama meets Moana

A South-South Dialogue on Eco-Theology and Well-Living from the Perspective of Public Theology

Abstract

One of the hardest problems humankind has ever faced—perhaps the most difficult problem ever—is the care of the environment. Humans have been modifying the environment since the very beginning of their existence on this planet, but never in the fast and dramatic ways the world has witnessed at least since the last century. For the sake of ‘progress’ that begets immense profit, entire biomes have been destroyed. What can be done in the face of such a complicated situation as this? This article aims to reflect on that, from the vantage point of a dialogue between the South American Andean philosophy of Buen Vivir—‘well living’—and the South Pacific Moana theology. The overall perspective of the article is that dialogue is an exercise of Public Theology, something highly necessary in the world today. The article presents a critique to capitalism that defines the value of one’s life by its power of consumerism. The article proposes the effort of an epistemology that takes seriously the perspectives of peoples and societies from the Global South, proposing that this South–South dialogue can suggest practical measures that will be good for the whole world.