Victor Ezigbo

Academics Faculty

Victor Ezigbo

Email: v-ezigbo@bethel.edu

Job Title

Highlight

Ezigbo studied Christian theology in three continents: Africa (Nigeria), North America (United States of America.), and Europe (United Kingdom). He has learned in his theological journey across these continents that the Christian faith takes on new forms of expression each time it genuinely encounters a new cultural frontier. Each new expression has its distinct accent that adds to the multi-vernacularity of both the Christian faith and Christian theology.

Started at Bethel

2008

Education

  • ECWA Theological Seminary - B.A. in Theology, 1998
  • Wheaton College - M.A. in Systematic Theology, 2002
  • University of Edinburgh - M.Th. in Theology, 2005
  • University of Edinburgh - Ph.D. in Theology and World Christianity , 2008

Courses Taught

  • Contextual Theology
  • Christian Theologies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
  • Global (World) Christianity
  • Christology
  • African theology
  • Christian Theology and Social Issues
  • Contemporary Theological Issues
  • Introduction to Christian Theologies

Awards

Research Fellowship Awards

2022: Visiting Research Fellow, Yale Divinity School (Yale University)

2014: Research Fellow Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh (Scotland, United Kingdom)

Publications

Books

Ezigbo, Victor I. The Art of Contextual Theology: Doing Theology in the Era of World Christianity. Eugene, OR: Cascade books, 2021).

Ezigbo, Victor I. Re-imagining African Christologies: Conversing with the Interpretations and Appropriations of Jesus Christ in Contemporary African Christianity. Eugene, OR: PICKWICK, 2010.

Ezigbo, Victor I. Introducing Christian Theologies: Voices from Global Christian Communities. Vol. 1. Eugene, OR: Cascade books, 2013.

Ezigbo, Victor I. Introducing Christian Theologies: Voices from Global Christian Communities. Vol. 2. Eugene, OR: Cascade books, 2015.

Articles in Journals

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Violent Christians, Nigerian Public Square, and the utility of Jesus' forgiveness sayings for tackling Religious Violence." International Journal of Public Theology ,12, no. 2 (2018), 236-259.

Ezigbo, Victor. "Imagining Mutual Christian Theological Identity: From Apologia to Dialogic Theologizing." Journal of Ecumenical Studies 50, no. 3 (2015): 452-472.

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Rhetoric of God's Empowerment in Nigerian Christianity: Its Import for Christian Identity and Social Responsibility." Journal of Third World Studies, (2015).

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Rethinking the Soures of African Christology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 132 (2008): 53-70.

Book Chapters

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Speaking about the Unspeakable: Conversing with Barth and Ejizu on Mediated Divine Action." In Karl Barth and Comparative Theology, edited by Martha Moore-Kish and Christians Collins Winn, 211-227. Fordham University Press, 2019.

Ezigbo, Victor I. "African Christian or Christian African? Identity relations in African Christianity." In Sources of the Christian Self: A Cultural History of Christian Identity, edited by James M. Houston and Jens Zimmermann. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018.

Ezigbo, Victor I. "God in Human Contexts: Doing Theology Contextually." In Five Views on Theological Method, edited by Stanley Porter and Steve M. Studebaker. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Press, 2018.

Ezigbo, Victor I and Reggie L. Williams, "Converting a Colonialist Christ: Toward an African Postcolonial Christology." In Great Awakenings: Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations, edited by Kathryn Smith, Chitra Lalitha, and Daniel Hawk. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Press, (2014)

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Jesus as God's Communicative and Hermeneutical Acts: Conversing with African Christologies." In Jesus with Borders: Christology in Global Context, edited by, Gene Green, Steve Pardue, and K. K. Yeo. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans (2014)

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Religion and Divine Presence: Appropriating Christianity from within African Indigenous Religions' Perspective." In African Traditions in the Study of Religion in Africa, edited by Afe Adogame, Ezra Chitando and Bolaji Bateye, 187-203. Surrey: Ashgate, 2012.

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Anonymous Pietists: Pietistic Consciousness in the Indigenous Gold Coast (Ghana) in the Pre-Basel Mission Era." In The Pietist Impulse in Christianity, edited by Christian T. Collins Winn, Christopher Gerz, and G. W. Carlson, 307316. Eugene: OR: PICKWICK, 2011.

Ezigbo, Victor I. "African Indigenous Spirituality." In Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, edited by Glen Scorgie, et al, 252-254. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

Ezigbo, Victor I. "Harris, William Wade (prophet)." In Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, edited by Glen Scorgie, et al, 252-254. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

Presentations

University Lectures and Public Talks

2022: Yale Divinity School, Yale Univerity 

Topic "Identification and Enactment: Hans Frei’s Ideas of the Presence of Jesus Christ and the Uses of Jesus Christ in Nigerian Christianity" (Generous Orthodoxy: Hans Frei and the Future of Theology | Yale Divinity School)


2019: Yale Divinity School, Yale University
Topic: “A Moral Stranger? A Theological Exploration of Jesus’ Discipleship and its Significance for Interfaith Theological Practice.” Presented at the Consulation on Jesus as a Moral Stranger, organized by Yale Center for Public Life and Culture, November 8-9, 2019.

2018: University of Jos (Nigeria)
Topic: "From a Spear of Violence to a Balm of Peace: Discerning Religion's Healing Powers for addressing Religious Violence in Nigeria"

2017: Center for Research in Christianity (Nigeria)
Topic: "Christianity, Social Responsibility, and the Nigerian Public Square"

2014: World Christianity Lecture, The School of Divinity, The University of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK)
Topic: "Dialogic Theologizing in Christian Publics: Transposing Contextual Theologies in World Christianity's Terrain."

Certificates and Licenses

 

 

Professional Organizations, Committees, and Boards

Founder of the Center for Research in Global Christianity (www.crgc-us.org)

Hobbies and Interests

Playing and watching soccer

Areas of expertise

Contextual theology, African Theology, World Christianity, and Christology.

Research interests

Contextual Theology World Christianity Christian Theology African Christianity