The Birthday of a Philosopher and Theologian of Rebirth
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
"Being born is an opportunity to give birth to oneself anew", as a Yoruba saying may be adapted.
Thursday, the 4th of April 2024, was the birthday of a thinker who has made rebirth a central theme of his work.
I am not aware of him using the
term "rebirth" as emblematic of his philosophy and theology at the
intersection of Kalabari and Christian thought and European/Continental
philosophy, but the theme of rebirth is helpful in summing up some of his
central preoccupations.
These abiding concerns are possibilities of human recreation in engaging
with and expanding life's possibilities. He explores birth as a
biological and symbolic, social category in Kalabari thought,
reinforced by Continental philosophy, with aspirations to expanding the scope
of potential available to the human being through reworking the
possibilities the individual is born into, as perceived in Kalabari ethos and Christian and European thought. These are orientations also explored in
practical terms in shaping the course of his life's journey.
His work is a matrix incidentally
unifying and expanding classical Nigerian philosophies and correlative
classical African philosophies, systems of knowledge that make more sense
through the lens of his detailed exploration of constitutive nodes of
Kalabari thought, an understanding of his creativity which I am not aware
of as having been discussed in depth so far.
The parallels between his work and classical Nigerian philosophies and correlative classical African philosophies
demonstrate them as significantly centred on the question of how to
navigate and expand the possibilities available to the human being within a
philosophy centred on action on Earth as it impacts action in the spiritual
universe, these universes understood as co-inherent, with the validation of
life on Earth by those who live on Earth, with the help of those beyond Earth,
as the primary task of those on Earth, as they move towards full entry into the
spiritual universe beyond Earth.
Happy birthday to Nimi Wariboko, adept of rebirth, seeker of infinity through the doorway of recurrent transformation.
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Toyin Falola
Sent: Tuesday, April 9, 2024 3:19:05 AM
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Elias K. Bongmba
Happy birthday Nimi.
Sincerely,
Elias
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-- Elias Kifon Bongmba PhD, DTheo (Lund) Harry and Hazel Chavanne Chair in Christian Theology Professor of Religion Associate Editor of Religion and Theology Rice university PO Box 1892 Houston TX 77251-1892 https://reli.rice.edu/faculty/elias-kifon-bongmba
Michael Afolayan
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