Boston University School of Theology Welcomes Nimi Wariboko
A rigorous and original multidisciplinary scholar, Dr. Nimi Wariboko, has joined Boston University School of Theology as Walter G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics. Trained as a social ethicist and economist, Dr. Wariboko’s studies focus on the five pillars of economic ethics, Christian social ethics, African social traditions, Pentecostal studies, and philosophical theology—all woven together with the common theme of “human flourishing.”
“Dr. Wariboko is an outstanding ethicist, economist, global consultant and pastor,” said Mary Elizabeth Moore, dean of Boston University School of Theology. “He comes to us with a distinguished record as a teacher and prolific scholar in social ethics and global Pentecostalism, and he comes as a wise and compassionate human being.”
Dr. Wariboko received his Bachelor of Science in Economics from University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He also received an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Columbia University and a PhD in Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to joining the School of Theology, he was Katherine B. Stuart Professor of Christian Ethics at Andover Newton Theological School. The author of 16 books, coeditor of four books, and over 40 peer-reviewed papers and chapters, Dr. Wariboko has also served as a senior pastor, a church planter, as an investment banker and strategy consultant on Wall Street, and as a consultant to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Dr. Wariboko’s book, The Pentecostal Principle: Ethical Methodology in New Spirit, was a finalist for the 2012 American Academy of Religion “Award for Excellence in Constructive and Reflective Study of Religion, and he is the co-recipient of a $161,000 grant from the American Association for the Advancement of Science to integrate science into core Christian theological curricula. His recent major publications include: Economics in Spirit and Truth: A Moral Philosophy of Finance (2014); The Charismatic City and the Public Resurgence of Religion (2014); Nigerian Pentecostalism (2014); Ethics and Time: Ethos of Temporal Orientation in Politics and Religion in the Niger Delta (2010); and God and Money: A Theology of Money in a Globalizing World (2008).
Dr. Wariboko centers his scholarly inquiries around questions of human flourishing: how does society create structures for human flourishing, how does it create obstacles and how does it overcome those obstacles to human flourishing? These questions don’t lend themselves to the economic or religious sphere alone, Dr. Wariboko says. He works to approach social problems from many different facets, whether his topic is social ethics, an alternative and inclusive global monetary system, the emancipatory core of African culture, or a methodology of ethics for public policies in pluralistic communities.
Dr. Wariboko says he went to seminary from the corporate world “to begin to understand what Christianity is about as a social ethical project and as a project of commitment to and transformation of the world.” His experience as a pastor and church planter has given him insight into the application of these academic pursuits: the practical use of these questions of ethics and economics, how they translate into a parish setting, and how they will help a particular congregation or church. Dr. Wariboko says that he strives to build “a new perspective, a new vision, a new way of seeing things” that then leads to new actions. He hopes to encourage students to ask new questions about what is happening in their society, how they can change their communities, and then help them relate those questions to the resources that are available within their faith traditions.
The purpose of teaching ethics is not just about mastering theories and theologies, but about reorienting people’s minds and activities to transform our society, Dr. Wariboko says: “How do we create the conditions so that each human being can be the best that he or she can possibly be?”