Cinta Ekologis dalam Pendekatan Estetika Teologis Kristiani

Abstract

Human’s mind and behaviour have been influenced by the understanding of who human beings are. Realising identity on the level of knowledge might have revealed human’s exclusive, dominant, and alienating nature. Nature is seen as an object of a pragmatic approach for the sake of human’s development. Nature is not so much seen as something meaningful as a necessity to fulfill the needs of the human being. The field of knowledge and discourse is always limited in itself and human’s relationship with the nature cannot merely accommodated by ideas and concepts. Human’s relationship with nature needs to be built with love. Love is the self’s involvement as a whole to participate in the life of the other, that is, through the real and constructive encounters of human and nature that preserve the beautiful existence of both. One of the fusions between human and nature is in the area of aesthetics, and in this article, of theological aesthetics. While knowledge and concept could not be imposed on the relation between human and nature, humans might need a different approach in the area of experience. Human experience in relation to nature is not always linear, but continuously invites humans to explore the aesthetic and theological territories, in order to offer meanings so that they can go beyond their identity or exclusivity in knowledge and concept. This balance may improve human’s relationships with the nature.