Jesse Ndwiga Kanyua Mūgambi (born 6 February 1947) is a full professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of Nairobi (UON) with professional training in education and philosophy of religion. President Emilio Mwai Kibaki honored Mugambi with the title of Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (EBS). In 1992, he founded Acton Publishers, an academic and scholarly press.

Biography Early life and education Mūgambi was born on 6 February 1947 in Kiangoci, Embu county. Both of his parents were committed Anglicans and his father was a lay leader, preacher, and evangelist. After high school, Mūgambi enrolled at Machakos Teacher Training College (MTTC), Kenya, in 1966–67. In 1968, he studied at Kenyatta College in Nairobi, where he specialized in teaching Religious Education and English. He also studied at Westhill College of Education, Birmingham, UK, and conducted historical research at the CMS Archives in London (1969–70).

In 1971, Mūgambi attended the University of Nairobi for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. In 1978, he embarked on his research for his PhD, focusing on Ludwig Wittgenstein's entitled "Problems of Meaning in Discourse with Reference to Religion."J.N.K. Mugambi, "Problems of Meaning in Discourse with Reference to Religion", (Nairobi: PhD Thesis, University of Nairobi, 1984. While writing he was influenced by Kwasi Wiredu, who was then in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ghana, Legon.Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and an African Culture, Cambridge University Press, 1980; Cultural Universals and Particulars, Indiana University Press, 1997. He participated in an ecumenical research project to document the practice of ecumenism at the local level in eastern Africa. The research was published in 1982 as Ecumenical Initiatives in Eastern Africa.Jesse Mugambi, John Mutiso-Mbinda and Judith Vollbrecht, Ecumenical Initiatives in Eastern Africa, Nairobi: AACC/AMECEA, 1982.

Early career After graduation from the University of Nairobi, Mūgambi became active in the ecumenical movement. In 1970, he participated in the formation and launch of the Christian Student Council (the Kenyan SCM) and in the National Association of Religious Education Teachers (NARET).J.N.K. Mugambi, "African Christian Theology: A Reflection", in Salaam: Journal of the National Association of R.E. Teachers, Nairobi, April 1981 – Article. He later served as the Africa Theology Secretary for the World Student Christian Federation (1974–76). He has also held various posts in the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1975 until today.

Mūgambi joined the academic staff of the University of Nairobi in 1976 and rose through the ranks to full professorship in 1993. He has taught Philosophy of Religion; Religion and Science; Comparative Study of Religions; Contemporary Religious Thought; Modern Trends in Christian Thought. He has also taught African Christian Theology. Later on, he began teaching Phenomenology of Religion in the postgraduate syllabus.

Honors He is a fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences (FKNAS) and was conferred a national honor as an Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (EBS) 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.

Academic and religious work

In 1990, he addressed the General Committee of the All Africa Conference of Churches on 30 March in Nairobi, reflecting on "The Future of the Church and the Church of the Future in Africa".Mugambi's original Paper on the Theology of Reconstruction Paper was published in the book, The Church of Africa: Towards a Theology of Reconstruction, 1991:29-50, which Mugambi edited jointly with J.B Chipenda, A. Karamaga and C.K Omari. It also appears in his book, From liberation to reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War, (Nairobi: EAEP, 1995), 160-180 – as chapter ten. This event was a few weeks after Nelson Mandela's 11 February 1990 release and Namibia's national independence on 21 March of the same year. In his address, Mūgambi suggested that African Christianity must shift theological gear from the paradigm of liberation, which emphasized the Exodus motif, to that of reconstruction, which emphasizes the post-Exilic motif. He later elaborated this insight in his book From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War.J.N.K. Mugambi, From liberation to reconstruction: African Christian theology after the cold war, (Nairobi: EAEP, 1995).

Hermeneutics Mūgambi is Africa's Co-Editor of the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, to which he has contributed more than ten articles, mainly on hermeneutics.J.N.K. Mugambi, Co-Editor, Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, General Editor Daniel Patte (forthcoming). Contributor of thirteen Articles: "i) Anglicanism in Eastern and Western Africa; ii) Berlin Conference; iii) Charismatic Movements in Southern Africa; iv) Church, Types of Ecclesiastical Structures; v) Culture and Christianity; vi) Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT); vii) Kenya; viii) Krapf, Johann Ludwig; ix) Liberia; x) Racism and Christianity in Africa; xi) Rebmann, Johannes (1820-1876); xii) Reconstruction, African Theologies of; xiii) Theological Education in Africa: Issues It Faces."

In 1998, Mūgambi claimed that the time was overdue for African Christian theologians to engage in theological introspection, transcending ecclesiological description and theological anthropology.J.N.K. Mugambi, "A Critique of Method in African Christian Theology" in J.M. Waliggo and Mary Getui, eds., Worship in African Christianity, Nairobi: Acton, 1998 (chapter). He cited Bernard Lonergan as a possible role model in that approachBernard Lonergan, Method in Theology, New York: Herder and Herder, 1982.J.N.K. Mugambi, "Africa and the Old Testament', in Mary Getui, Knut Holter and Victor Zinkuratire, eds., Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa, Nairobi: Acton, 2001. Chapter at a meeting in Hammanskraal, near Pretoria. Mūgambi delivered the keynote address "Foundations for an African Approach to Biblical Hermeneutics", which was published in 2001.J.N.K. Mugambi, "Foundations for an African Approach to Biblical Hermeneutics" in Mary N. Getui, Tinyiko Maluleke and Justin Ukpong, eds., Interpreting the New Testament in Africa, Nairobi: Acton, 2001. Chapter.Vernon Robbins, "Why Participate in African Biblical Interpretation?" in Mary N. Getui, Tinyiko Maluleke and Justin Ukpong, eds, Interpreting the New Testament in Africa, pp. 275-291.

In 2004, Mūgambi co-edited a book on New Testament Hermeneutics, to which he contributed a chapter.J.N.K. Mugambi, 'Challenges to African Scholars in Biblical Hermeneutics' in J.N.K. Mugambi and Johannes Smit, eds, Text and Context in New Testament Hermeneutics, Nairobi: Acton. (chapter). The following year he addressed a conference at Makerere University, on "African Hermeneutics in a Global Context", published in 2007 as a chapter in Interpreting Classical Religious Texts in Contemporary Africa, edited by Knut Holter.J.N.K. Mugambi, "African Hermeneutics in a Global Context", in Interpreting Classical Religious Texts in Contemporary Africa, edited by Knut Holter, Nairobi: Acton, 2007, Chapter. There is much hermeneutical discourse in Mūgambi's book (co-authored with Michael R. Guy) titled Contextual Theology Across Cultures, published in 2009.

Mūgambi is critical of Rudolf Bultmann's project of "demythologization", on the ground that hermeneutically, myth cannot be abstracted from the Gospel. Any attempt at 'demythologization' results in new myths. Instead of "demythologization", Mūgambi urges for "re-mythologization". He says of Bultmann, "in (his) attempt to satisfy scientific positivism by denouncing myth (he) ends up destroying the reality of religion as a pillar of culture."J. N. K Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction: 37. For Mūgambi, as with Jaspers, "myth is indispensable in cultural constructions of reality". To Mūgambi, therefore, reconstruction in Africa has to be anchored in a) the formulation of new myths to replace the negative stereotypes used for the indoctrination of Africans under imperialism and missionary tutelage, and b) re-interpreting the old myths, for the survival of the African peoples. He suggests that the myth of "a vanishing people must be replaced by the myth of a resurgent and resilient people", while the myth of "desperate people must be replaced by the myth of a people full of hope. The myth of a hungry people must be replaced by the myth of a people capable of feeding themselves, and so on."J. N. K Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction: 38.

Missiology In 1989, Mūgambi published "The Biblical Basis for Evangelization".J.N.K. Mugambi, The Biblical Basis for Evangelization, Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1989. This was in the same year that he facilitated the editing and publication of a collection of essays on this theme – Christian Mission and Social Transformation.J.N.K. Mugambi, ed., Christian Mission and Social Transformation, Nairobi: NCCK, 1989. In 1996, he published an article "African Churches in Social Transformation" in the Journal of International Affairs at Columbia University, New York.J.N.K. Mugambi, "African Churches in Social Transformation" in Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 50 No. 1, Columbia University, 1996. This article was followed by "Vision of African Church in Mission", published in Missionalia, Journal of the Southern African Missiological Society.

In 1998, he published "Missiological Research in the Context of Globalization", in Swedish Missiological Themes, Uppsala;J.N.K. Mugambi, "Missiological Research in the Context of Globalization", in Swedish Missiological Themes, Vol. 86, No. 4, 1998. "A Fresh Look at Evangelism in Africa" in International Review of Mission, Geneva;J.N.K. Mugambi, "Christian Mission and Social Transformation After the Cold War" in Journal of Constructive Theology, Vol. 4 No. 2, December 1998. and "Christian Mission and Social Transformation After the Cold War" in the Journal of Constructive Theology, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. At the request of Bishop John V. Taylor in 2001, Mūgambi wrote a critical Introduction published in the second edition of Taylor's book, The Primal Vision (SCM Press), also published in Nairobi as Christian Presence amid African Religion.J.N.K. Mugambi, "Introduction" in J.V. Taylor, Primal Vision, London: SCM, 2001, also published as Christian Presence amid African Religion, Nairobi: Acton, 2001.

Eco-theology