Christian Social Ethics and Land Reform in Africa: Insight from Oscar Romero
Emmanuel Ojeifo
Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 2025
The theme of land has largely been neglected in Christian social ethics in Africa. Although a growing body of theological literature exists on Africa’s ecological challenges, the topic of land as a unique category for understanding Africa’s social history and current developmental predicament has not received significant attention. This article examines the ongoing crisis of land in Africa, with a focus on the problem of land dispossession and displacement. In arguing for theological and pastoral involvement of the Church in Africa in the discourse on land, land justice, and agrarian reform, this article draws key insights from the Salvadoran archbishop and martyr Oscar Romero’s theology and pastoral praxis in relation to land and agrarian reform in El Salvador. Romero’s theology and praxis on land reform are rooted in Catholic social teaching and can illumine the theological and pastoral commitment of the Church in Africa in light of Africa’s land troubles.