WCC Book Talks: Indigenous perspectives

A newly released World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Book Talks features ongoing discussion of a seminar report entitled “Indigenous Spiritualities, Land Rights, and Climate Justice.” Indigenous people during a demonstration on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Many of the indigenous are displaced, having been chased out of their rural villages by paramilitary squads, Photo: Paul Jeffrey/Life on Earth Pictures 19 February Host Lyn van Rooyen, WCC publications coordinator, speaks with Lori Ransom, WCC Indigenous peoples consultant; Prof. Anne Pattel-Gray, a descendant of the Bidjara Nation in Queensland and a renowned Aboriginal leader within Australia and internationally; and Chief Edmund Stuurman, from South Africa, who is the senior Khoi leader of the House of Klaas and Dawid Stuurman and the Gamtouer Ethnic Community. Ransom is editor of the report, while Pattel-Gray and Stuurman are contributors.  Van Rooyen poses questions about why Indigenous perspectives are so valuable in work related to climate justice, and why land justice is so important.  “Laws were given to us as to how we relate to creation,” reflects Pattel-Gray, whose contribution to the publication is entitled “Freedom from Colonial Christian Oppression.” We are connected to country,” she says. “As I’ve grown, it’s become obvious to Indigenous peoples that we all have similar relationships to the land, spiritual connection to the land, and laws that govern our relationship to the land—and this relationship is one that is reciprocal.” Stuurman, who penned a contribution entitled “Biodiversity and the Recyclable Indigenous Umbilical Chord,” reflected that, in South Africa, Indigenous people are, by identity, a pastoralist people—and now they are left with land injustice. “We haven’t been consulted—and how can Indigenous land be distributed or taken into custodianship by the government without our consent? We still own these lands. We gave the names to the land.” Ransom encouraged readers to absorb the poetry and artwork in the publication. “There’s so much value in looking at the world through Indigenous eyes,” she said. The report is the fruit of a seminar with members of the WCC Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group funded by the German Federal Foreign Ministry in October 2024. Ecumenical Book Talks III - Indigenous perspectives Ecumenical Book Talks I - The Journey Behind the Waterfall of Solidarity Book WCC Book Talk II - Indigenous spiritualities "WCC releases Indigenous Spiritualities, Land Rights, and Climate Justice report" (WCC news release, 5 March 2025) WCC publications "WCC Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group convenes for first in-person gathering", WCC feature story, 24 October 2024 Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Commission on World Mission and EvangelismWCC Book Talk: Indigenous spiritualities   See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland