SWEARING BY SOIL : AFRICAN THEOLOGY OF LAND AS WITNESS OF THE TRUTH (Jimi ZACKA, PhD)

Introduction

Across numerous African societies, land is revered not merely as ecological space or economic resource, but as sacred terrain imbued with ancestral presence, moral accountability, and theological resonance. The practice of swearing by the soil—invoking the earth as witness to truth—constitutes a profound ritual in which communal memory, covenantal ethics, and divine agency converge. This essay advances an African theological perspective in which land functions as a sacred witness to truth, rooted in both biblical and indigenous African frameworks.

By examining ritual oaths, cosmological understandings of soil, and scriptural references, the study proposes that sacred land offers critical insights into relational truth, ethical responsibility, and the theological affirmation of space as memory-bearing and covenantal.

Biblical Foundations: The Soil as Witness

Scripture offers compelling examples of the earth acting as a witness to covenantal dynamics and human behavior. Deuteronomy 4:26 declares, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,” highlighting a worldview in which creation participates actively in divine justice. Similarly, Genesis 2:15 appoints humanity as caretaker of the garden, indicating a spiritual responsibility toward land and its preservation. These texts suggest that land is not inert matter, but a relational entity capable of testifying, bearing memory, and holding humans accountable. ¹

This theological framework challenges dominant Western dualisms that separate spiritual and material realities. In contrast, African theology, drawing from both scripture and indigenous practices—affirms land as sacramental, symbolic, and ethically charged.²

African Cosmologies and the Personification of Soil

In African thought, soil is personified and sacred. Among some tribes in CAR, land (sessé) is both mother and shrine; Land is seen as living, communal, and spiritually responsive. Swearing by the soil, kneeling, touching earth, invoking ancestors, reflects a theology in which truth is anchored not only in words but in place and memory.³ John Mbiti’s concept of communal ontology (“I am because we are”) reinforces this worldview, where soil preserves the moral order and ancestral relationships.⁴ The ritual act of oath-making becomes a liturgical drama, reminding the community that truth is watched over by those who came before and by the land that sustains life.

Ritual Oaths and Memory in Indigenous Practice

Ritual oaths function as ethical and spiritual instruments across African cultures. Pronouncing “Nzapa” (God) is a mechanical practice where truth-telling is mediated through soil and spirit. These oaths encode communal memory, stories, agreements, moral expectations, and restore relational harmony. ⁵ They are often oral, embodied, and intergenerational, ensuring that identity and integrity are transmitted through lived ritual.

The act of swearing by the soil is not simply symbolic; it engages the land as a theological actor. When truth is affirmed with the land as witness, the covenant extends beyond the human sphere to include creation itself, echoing the African understanding of reality as holistic and spiritually interconnected.⁶

Theological Implications:Land as Archive and Covenant Partner

Land is more than territory—it is an archive. It remembers the footsteps of ancestors, the promises spoken under ancient trees, the injustices buried beneath its surface. African theologians like Emmanuel Katongole and Bénézet Bujo emphasize the sacramentality of land and the need to engage theology from within the geography of African experience.⁷ Sacred land, thus, becomes a covenant partner—not only in ecological stewardship but in theological discourse.

This perspective also offers a prophetic critique. In contexts of displacement, ecological degradation, and land grabbing, swearing by the soil becomes a call to justice. It demands recognition of indigenous claims, protection of sacred sites, and theological resistance to commodification.⁸

Toward a Theology of Sacred Witness

Affirming the land as sacred witness invites a theology that is grounded, incarnational, and communal. It integrates African memory, biblical truth, and ethical responsibility. Such a theology speaks to reconciliation, ecological renewal, and the reclamation of indigenous voice within the church and academy.

Pastorally, this invites churches to engage land blessings, ancestral remembrance, and rituals of truth-telling in liturgy. Academically, it calls for curriculum that respects oral tradition, cosmological depth, and place-based theology. Spiritually, it reminds believers that truth is not abstract—it is relational, remembered, and rooted in creation.

Conclusion

“Swearing by the Soil” emerges as both theological affirmation and cultural protest. It upholds land as sacred, as witness, and as archive of communal memory and divine encounter. In bridging biblical texts and African cosmologies, this essay affirms that African theology has rich resources for understanding truth as covenantal and creation as sacramental. The soil speaks—and it demands integrity, remembrance, and reverence.

Jimi ZACKA, PhD

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Footnotes

1. Dennis T. Olson, Biblical Perspectives on the Land, Word & World 6/1 (1986): 18–30.
2. Brian G. Toews, The Land in Biblical Perspective: The Creation as Hermeneutical Lens, ETS National Meeting, 2005.
3. Obedben M. Lumanze, The Concept of Land/Earth in the Old Testament and in Africa, Journal of Religion and Human Relations 13/1 (2022): 1–15.
4. John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann, 1969), 108–110.
5. Obioha P. Uwaezuoke and Etifiok N. Udominyang, African Traditional Oath as a Mechanism for Peace and Social Order, AMAMIHE: Journal of Applied Philosophy 21/2 (2023): 1–15.
6. Robert Blunt, Oaths and the Transformation of Ritual Ideologies in Colonial Kenya, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3/3 (2013): 1–25.
7. Emmanuel Katongole, Born from Lament: The Theology and Politics of Hope in Africa (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017); Bénézet Bujo, African Theology in Its Social Context (New York: Orbis Books, 1992).
8. Kelebogile T. Resane, Theology of Land: Reflections and Dialogue from a South African Socio-Political Perspective, Scriptura 122/1 (2023): 1–20.