The African Christian and Islam

REV. DR. ABRAHAM AKRONG is a Ghanaian national and an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Dr. Akrong was educated at the University of Ghana and the Trinity Theological Seminary, Ghana and obtained his PhD from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Currently Dr Akrong is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Section of Religion and Philosophy at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.

REV. PROF. ELOM DOVLO is associate professor in the Department for the Study of Religions, University of Ghana. He has been head of department and vice dean of the Faculty of Arts. He pursued his doctoral studies at the University of Lancaster in England. Currently he teaches, researches, and publishes in areas of the Comparative History of Religions, Islam in Modern West Africa, New Religious Movements, Religion in the African Diaspora, and Religion in Public Life. He has held fellowships in the US, Europe, and Asia. Rev. Dovlo is also an ordained Minister of the Global Evangelical Church and the director of Studies.

DR. JOHN OLORUNFEMI ONAIYEKAN, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja in Nigeria pursued a doctorate programme at the Pontifical Urban University, Rome in Biblical Theology. Currently he is co-president of the Nigerian Inter-religious Council and co-president of the African Council of Religious Leaders (ACR). Archbishop Onaiyekan has been president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria, of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA), and of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. He has been a member of Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican and a member Standing Committee of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.

MATTHEW OJO earned his PhD degree from Kings’ College and the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) in 1986, specializing in African Christianity with a special interest in Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in Africa and indigenous initiatives in Protestant Missions from Africa. He has published extensively on these and other subjects. His recent book is End Time Army: Charismatic Movements in Modern Nigeria. Ojo has served as visiting professor to the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1993–1994); Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA, (1994 & 1995); Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA (2002), and the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (2006), among others. Presently, he is a professor of Religious Studies at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and an adjunct professor at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.

BISHOP DR. JOSIAH ATKINS IDOWU-FEARON did his MA (Islamic Theology) with the University of Birmingham U.K. and completed his doctoral studies (PhD) in Sociology with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Presently he the Anglican BAishop of Kaduna, a Lecturer in Islamic Studies and Director of the Kaduna Anglican Study Centre and a Visiting Lecturer in Islam and Anglicanism at the Canterbury International Centre, U.K. Bishop Idowu-Fearon also serves as Chairperson of the Programme for Christian–Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA) as well as Co-President, Network for Interfaith Concerns, Anglican Communion.

MOUSSA BONGOYOK, originally from Cameroon, has had most of his theological education in the Central African Republic and obtained a PhD in Intercultural Studies (with a special focus on Islam) from Fuller Theological Seminary, USA. Dr. Bongoyok served as associate professor of Intercultural and Islamic studies and Academic Dean of Bangui Evangelical Graduate School of Theology and is currently the director of the Holistic Mission Institute of the Nations and Ph.D. program director at William Carey International University, Pasadena, CA.

DR. JOHN CHESWORTH is lecturer and team member at the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies in Oxford. Dr. Chesworth did his doctoral work on Christian-Muslim Relations in the East African context with the University of Birmingham, UK. John has served as senior lecturer and programme director of Postgraduate Courses in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya.

DAVID W. SHENK is an ordained minister in the Mennonite Church USA and holds a doctorate in religious studies education from New York University. He served within Muslim communities in Somalia and Kenya and served as academic dean at LCC International University (Lithuania). At present he is adjunct professor at the Lancaster Campus of Eastern Mennonite University and global consultant with Eastern Mennonite Missions with special attention to Islam. An accomplished author, he wrote the well-known A Muslim and A Christian in Dialogue, which he co-authored with Badru D. Kateregga, a devout Sunni Muslim scholar.

REV. DR. THARWAT WAHBA is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church of Egypt. Dr Wahba received his PhD from London School of Theology, UK and is now Professor of Mission and Evangelism and the Chair of the Mission Department in the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt. He worked as a staff member and campus director with Campus Crusade for Christ in Egypt for twelve years. Currently, he is Chairman of the Pastoral and Outreach Ministries Council of the Presbyterian Church of Egypt.

REV. DR. F. PETER FORD, JR. is an ordained missionary of the Reformed Church in America, having served for twenty-eight years in the Middle East and Africa. He received his PhD from Temple University (Philadelphia) in the field of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. Currently he is Senior Lecturer of the Programme in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya. Previously he taught ICMR in Ethiopia, at Mekane Yesus Seminary and the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology.

ABDUL RAHMAN YAKUBU is an ordained minister in the Bible Church of Africa, Ghana. He holds a Masters degree in Contextual Theology from Kampen University (the Netherlands) in Christian-Muslim relations. Currently he is pursuing a PhD from the same university in contextual theology and interfaith relations in Ghana. Rahman and his family live in a predominantly Muslim area, where he trains pastors and church leaders with a view to enhancing inter-faith relations.

DR. STEPHEN MUTUKU SESI is an ordained minister of the Africa Inland Church Kenya. He has served as a tutor at Pwani Bible Institute and also as the National Director of the Christian Education Department. Stephen did his doctoral work at Fuller Theological Seminary on worldview change among Digo Muslims of Kenya. Dr. Sesi is now a lecturer in Christian Muslim Relations and Islam in Africa at Africa International University, formerly Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology.

MATTHEW HASSAN KUKAH studied Philosophy and Theology at St. Augustine’s Major Seminary in Jos, Nigeria. He undertook his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies and has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He served as secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, member of the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission, was secretary of the National Political Reform Conference. He is currently chairman of the Ogoni Shell Reconciliation Committee and Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna, Nigeria.

REV. DANIEL ABDOU KARIM L. GOMIS is minister of the Church of the Nazarene of Senegal. Daniel did his Masters in African Literature and Civilizations and presently lectures in Christian Ethics, Homiletics, and Spiritual Formation at the Nazarene Theological Institute in Dakar. He also serves as the French editor of Africa Nazarene Publications and a member of the Christian-Muslim Evangelical dialogue committee. Daniel holds a Master of Divinity from Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri.

MANFRED JUNG studied in Switzerland, Germany, and the USA, and holds an MTh from Stellenbosch University (2005). He is currently pursuing doctoral studies on the dynamics of the expansion of Islam in South Africa with the University of South Africa. He is heading up Christian Concern for Muslims (CCM) Services and is the managing director of AcadSA Publishing, a Christian Academic publishing house in South Africa. He is a trainer and consultant in the field of Muslim Evangelism.

REV. JAMES BOL OBWONYO PADIET is an ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan. He holds a Masters degree in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations from St. Paul’s University, Limuru-Kenya. He is currently a pastor in charge of the Good Samaritan Presbyterian congregation in Sudan, Malakal, Dean of Studies for Laa Amoleker Academic Bible School of PCOS-Dolieb Hill Presbytery, and a full-time teacher for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Government of Southern Sudan, Upper Nile State, Malakal.

REV. WILLIAM KOPWE is a Lutheran minister, serving in Tanga Region, Tanzania. He studied Theology at Makumira University College, Arusha, and completed an MA in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya. At present, he is a doctoral candidate at the Open University of Tanzania.

MERCY AMBA ODUYOYE is a Ghanaian Methodist theologian. She is currently the director of the Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana. Oduyoye earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Ghana in 1963, a second bachelor's degree from Cambridge University in 1965, and a master's degree from Cambridge in 1969. From 1967-1979, she was youth education secretary for the World Council of Churches; from 1987–1994, she was Deputy General Secretary for the same organization. She has taught at Harvard University, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Oduyoye has written four books and over eighty articles focusing on Christian theology from a feminist and African perspective.

JOSEPHINE KATILE MUTUKU has taught at Africa International University (AIU) since 2004 and is currently a full time lecturer in Missions. She holds a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, M.Th. and Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary. Josephine is founder of Kyeni International Organization that takes care of orphans and widows. Her publications include Social Change Among Digo Muslim Women: Implications for Mission and a co-author of African Missiology: Contribution of African Thought.