Religious Language as Ecological Discourse: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Ecotheological Narratives in Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools

Abstract

This study examines how three religious leaders, kyai (Islamic religious figures) and ustadz (Islamic teachers), in Indonesian pesantren (Islamic boarding school) linguistically construct ecotheological narratives that frame environmental care as a religious duty rather than a civic option. Using ecolinguistics and critical discourse analysis, it analyzes semi-structured interview transcripts coded for lexical choice, metaphor, legitimation strategy, intertextuality, moral framing, and identity construction. All three informants legitimize ecological stewardship through scriptural authorization, mythopoetic narrative, and rationalization, reframing it as ibadah ghairu mahdhah (non-ritual worship). They converge on a shared khalifah-centered (vicegerency) lexicon while diverging in secular vocabularies—sustainability, organic economy, media literacy—each weaving into that lexicon through distinct intertextual chains. The study argues that Islamic ecotheology in these pesantren functions not only as doctrine but as a discourse genre with recognizable linguistic signatures, in which metaphor and narrative carry as much persuasive weight as scriptural citation.