Is God enthroned upon the floods? (Ps 29:10) Religion and the climate change crisis in contemporary Ghana

Abstract

Climate change has been identified as one of the most imminent threats to the survival of the human species. In Ghana, the conversation about climate change has been accentuated by the perennial flooding of major urban centres, often leading to the loss of life and property. While successive governments have been blamed for their seemingly unsuccessful attempts in combating this menace, the problem appears to be compounding as the destruction of the environment through artisanal small-scale mining [galamsey] continues to contribute immensely to the climate change crisis, posing more threats to the Ghanaian people. Against this background, the article employs a narrative reading of Psalm 29, a psalm attributed to David, as a lens to examine the impact of flooding resulting from human activities on Ghanaian Christians. It further advocates for the appropriation of insights from the Psalm by Ghanaian Christian leaders in addressing the flooding crisis in the country. It concludes that, just as the ultimate well-being [shalom] of the people of Israel was the primary concern of the King, Christian leaders should exercise their God-given mandate to ensure the salvation of the people through sustainable environmental stewardship.
Contribution: The article contributes to the discourse on the effects and responses to climate change from a theological perspective using the framework of African biblical hermeneutics. It presents a biblical-theological dimension to the discourse on environmental care through a contextual reading of a Psalm.