28 Facts About Jesse Mugambi

Jesse Ndwiga Kanyua Mugambi was born on 6 February 1947 and is a professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of Nairobi with professional training in education and philosophy of religion.

Jesse Mugambi studied at Westhill College of Education, Birmingham, UK, and as well conducted historical research at the CMS Archives in London.

In 1971, Jesse Mugambi attended the University of Nairobi for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Jesse Mugambi participated in an ecumenical research project to document the practice of ecumenism at the local level in eastern Africa.

Jesse Mugambi later served as the Africa Theology Secretary for the World Student Christian Federation.

Jesse Mugambi has held various posts in the World Council of Churches from 1975 until today.

Jesse Mugambi joined the academic staff of the University of Nairobi in 1976 and rose through the ranks to full professorship in 1993.

Jesse Mugambi has taught Philosophy of Religion; Religion and Science; Comparative Study of Religions; Contemporary Religious Thought; Modern Trends in Christian Thought.

Jesse Mugambi is a fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences and was conferred a national honor as an Edler of the Order of the Burning Spear on 12 December 2010, by the late President Emilio Mwai Kibaki, at a ceremony at State House Nairobi, after the promulgation of a new Kenyan Constitution on 27 August 2010.

Jesse Mugambi later elaborated this insight in his book From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War.

Jesse Mugambi is Africa's Co-Editor of the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, to which he has contributed more than ten articles, mainly on hermeneutics.

In 1998, Jesse Mugambi claimed that the time was overdue for African Christian theologians to engage in theological introspection, transcending ecclesiological description and theological anthropology.

Jesse Mugambi cited Bernard Lonergan as a possible role model in that approach at a meeting in Hammanskraal, near Pretoria.

Jesse Mugambi delivered the keynote address "Foundations for an African Approach to Biblical Hermeneutics", which was published in 2001.

In 2004, Jesse Mugambi co-edited a book on New Testament Hermeneutics, to which he contributed a chapter.

Jesse Mugambi is critical of Rudolf Bultmann's project of "demythologization", on the ground that hermeneutically, myth cannot be abstracted from the Gospel.

At the request of Bishop John V Taylor in 2001, Mugambi wrote a critical Introduction published in the second edition of Taylor's book, The Primal Vision, published in Nairobi as Christian Presence amid African Religion.

Jesse Mugambi's contribution in that book was a chapter highly critical of Carbon Dioxide emissions trading, which was being pushed for adoption within the Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Jesse Mugambi served as honorary Moderator of the Ecumenical Team as a member of the WCC Delegation, where he read the WCC Statement at COP 12 in Nairobi.

In 2008, Jesse Mugambi participated in an ecumenical Consultation to discuss the theme "Peace on Earth and Peace with the Earth".

Jesse Mugambi is a trustee of the Kenya Rainwater Association and the Utooni Development organization.

Jesse Mugambi is a member of the Ecumenical Water Network and the World Council of Churches Working Group on Climate Change.

Jesse Mugambi suggests that inter-religious dialogue has broader implications than arguments about beliefs and practices within and between religions.

Jesse Mugambi joins other scholars in African Christian theology, endeavoring to relate Christianity with the African cultural and religious heritage with an appreciation of both the Gospel and the wisdom bequeathed from generation to generation through oral tradition, cherished customs, rituals, and symbols.

Jesse Mugambi is particularly appealing because he strictly and consistently avoids any attempt at parochial, national, and regional introversion, opting for an approach that keeps in full view the entire continent of Africa with all its homogeneity and heterogeneity.

For Jesse Mugambi, Mandela is not only the longest-serving political prisoner; he is the most prominent symbol of the Exodus metaphor in African Christian Theology.

Jesse Mugambi believes this text will motivate the people of Africa to "rebuild their continent" and that the churches and their theologians will need to respond to this new priority in relevant fashion, to facilitate this process of reconstruction.

Jesse Mugambi believes this process will require considerable effort in reconciliation and confidence-building.