Masters of Theory: Nimi Wariboko

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

             Masters of Theory 

                Nimi Wariboko

    Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju 

Theories may be described as structures of ideas that present a view of the nature of phenomena and the possibilities of those phenomena in relation to other realities.

Through theory efforts are made to understand the scope and interrelationships of phenomena, mapping the order evident in cosmos and society and generating perceptions  of order beyond the obvious, order at the level of intersection between the human mind and the universe.

There are three major types of theory, scientific theories and humanities and social sciences theories and the overlap between them.

Scientific Theory

          Isaac Newton's Theory of Gravity

The world's most famous theory is perhaps Isaac Newton's theory of gravity, which explains why objects fall down and not up, why, even though the Earth is stationed in space, people and objects do not fall into space, why the planets and stars do not crash into each other in their orbits.

Using the Laws of Motion developed by Newton in relation to gravitational theory, rockets are sent into space and satellites placed in orbit, developments hardly imaginable in Newton's time.

These concrete and far reaching values indicate the power of some kinds of scientific theory, an abstract style of reasoning linking what is observed but not understood in ways that enable understanding of future observations and creating  future developments beyond what was anticipated when the theory was created.

The processes through which Newton reached that epochal achievement, the various bodies of knowledge that inspired him and which he distilled and integrated in decades of effort, is a great story, one of the greatest in the relationship between genius and vision, creativity and perseverance, which can be readily appreciated by those unfamiliar with his scientific language through reading short summaries of his work, such as encyclopedia articles, my favourite being Richard Westfall's Encyclopedia Britannica article on Newton, although I expect the Wikipedia article  will be good too.

For general readers, the concluding section of Newton's masterpiece, the General Scholium, in The Mathematical Principles of General Philosophy, is priceless for appreciating the character of Newton's mind, the cosmological scope of his thinking, integrating a broad view of the nature of the creator of the universe in relation to the structure of the cosmos in terms of relationships between space, time, and the scope of what the human being knows and how to know in scientific terms, as well as further possibilities of knowledge he can perceive but has not yet developed sufficient understanding of how to reach them.

        Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin and 

        Erwin Schrodinger between Energy, 

        Matter, Time and Space, Macro and

        Microscopic Worlds and Human  

        Evolution

The next most famous theories might be Albert Einstein's energy/matter equivalence theory and his theories of relativity, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and Erwin Schrodinger's work on quantum mechanics, unifying the visible, physical universe and the normally invisible physical universe of  the smallest elements of physical reality, theories that, between them, map the structure of physical reality in terms of the constituents of space, time, energy and their interrelationships, and of the physical and cognitive development of the creature making these discoveries, constructing these ideas, in the context of a natural world in which this creature, the human being,  is unique in the scope of its ability to control, shape and understand it's environment and itself.

             Humanities and Social 

             Science Theories

      
Theories outside the physical sciences are not as famous partly because they are more speculative, more dependent on individualistic orientations in relation to  distinctive cultural perspectives and their assessment changes more readily over time.

Such theories, however, are more expansive than scientific theories, since they collectively encompass all of reality, including and going beyond the material universe and the scientific study of the human mind, these goals summing up the province of science, science itself being inspired by but later moving away from the larger aspirations and less precise methods of the humanities and social sciences.

                      Perennial Philosophical and
                      Spiritual Questions  

Does the universe have an origin and  a destination? Why does it exist? What  is its significance? What is the role of the human being in this great story in which they find themselves?

Perennial questions with no universally acceptable answers, questions recurrently asked by various thinkers across time and space, questions that lie at the foundations of human existence and which everyone responds to in their own way.

                                  Nimi Wariboko          

                                  between

                                  Cosmology, 

                                  Philosophy,                

                                  Spirituality, 

                                  Economics       

                                  and  Urban Theory

Philosophical, theological, economic and urban theorist Nimi Wariboko  engages those questions from the depth of his own concrete situation as a person who has experienced a broad spectrum of human possibilities, from his native Niger Delta to New York, from unemployed First Class graduate to world renowned professor, from street hawker to economic adviser to governments, from immersion in his native Kalabari culture to Christian philosopher and pastor, from African philosophy to European philosophy, from economics to urban theory.

How may a person unify such a range of experience and knowledge, distilling something coherent from it, something others can learn from?

By cultivating the understanding of particulars and correlating the particular and the general, the work of theory.

Of what significance is Wariboko's initiation into Christianity by the members of Pentecostal churches in the slums left by the displaced people of Nigeria's Maroko?

How does that situation relate to Wariboko's pastoring of a church likely filled with African immigrants in New York?

What do those two situations relate to his later work on Wall Street, the global US financial centre?

The effort to work out these connections defines Wariboko's work at the intersection of theology, philosophy and economics, mapping the global financial system in terms of the relationship between various forms of economic empowerment and the well being of vulnerable peoples, of which he has been one and who have been central to shaping his life, as evident from such books of his as God and Money and St. Paul Comes to Wall Street.

People everywhere seek to sustain themselves, in the name of self preservation, as well as help sustain others, in the name of community, from the family to the larger society.

These efforts, however, are often shaped by challenges, from the mystery of birth to the uncertainty of death, and the myriad unpredictabilities in between, a situation that defines the human being within the mystery of cosmic origins, development and meaning.

Wariboko reflects on this balance between human aspirations and existential dilemmas in The Pentecostal Principle, exploring how the human being can participate in cosmic dynamism, and, in The Principle of Excellence, how to explore each moment as a space of transformative possibilities through which one may go beyond the already existing to creating the non-existent and in The Depth and Destiny of Work on how the intersection between individuality, community and spirituality may enable economic power.

His Nigerian Pentecostalism, in it's trenchant exploration of Pentecostal epistemology and metaphysics, in dialogue with those of the Kalabari, is wonderful in explicating what one would understand as rhythms between Yoruba, Igbo, Kalabari and perhaps all others in Nigeria's South and certainly evident, in different ways across cultures of embodied yet expansive vision, in which the human being is understood as capable of perceiving  both physical and spiritual universes in their entwining, a discussion on embodied expanded epistemologies in relation to multiverse metaphysics, if one may put it that way, which Wariboko pursues across various books.

How can communities be created to maximize human flourishing, building communal spaces that inspire fulfilling relationships between people and natural environments, motivating sensitivity to the beauty and sacredness of existence, questions Wariboko addresses in The Charismatic Society?

Beyond those grand exploratory sweeps are Wariboko's intimate portraits,  in his books' acknowledgements pages, of himself, his family, his teachers, those who have shaped his life and even those he sees approaching from the future, circles of creativity converging on himself and expanding outwards from himself, circles radiating outward from the creator of the universe to the constellations of people who inspire him, Wariboko, ultimately converging in him, as along with others, he proceeds towards infinity, the ultimate destination of the human being.

Wariboko is committed to making sense of the universe and sharing his insights through folding, unfolding and refolding ideas, as he states on his Boston University faculty page.