Demonetizing God through A Pacific Ecotheology of Life, Rest, and Restraint

Faafetai Aiava

doi:10.46567/ijt.v13i2.644

Authors

Faafetai Aiava Pacific Theological College, Fiji

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46567/ijt.v13i2.644

Keywords:

relationality, capitalism, Indigenous, stewardship, restraint, Pacific, commodification, economy

Abstract

This article explores how the commodification of time and theology under the global cash economy has contributed to ecological and spiritual disconnection in the Pacific. It interrogates what happens when God is shaped by market logic, becoming a transactional figure aligned with material prosperity rather than the flourishing of all life. Rather than drawing from stewardship models, it proposes a divine economy that honors Earth’s rhythms, embraces Pacific wisdom and values, and upholds the whole of life as sacred. To “demonetize” God, then, is not merely to critique capitalism, but to recover a theological vision in which rest, restraint, and kinship with all life point toward ecological justice

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Author Biography

Faafetai Aiava, Pacific Theological College, Fiji

Faafetai Aiava is a Samoan-born theologian and currently serves as the Head of the Theology and Ethics Discipline at the Pacific Theological College in Fiji, where he and his family have resided the past 12 years. He has written, presented at international forums, and continues to teach on the intersections of theology, Pasifika hermeneutics and the ethical issues affecting human and non-human life.

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