John Samuel Mbiti, a Kenyan theologian and Anglican priest, died October 5 at a nursing home in Switzerland. He was 87.
Mbiti challenged the view that traditional African religions were “primitive,” arguing that they deserve as much consideration and study as other faith systems. His 1969 book, African Religions and Philosophy, explored this theme, and he elaborated upon it in 1980 for the Christian Century’s How My Mind Has Changed series.
Paula White, a Pentecostal preacher and longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, has been tapped to head the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, a successor to previous administrations’ faith-based office that coordinates outreach to religious communities.
“Paula White is the Advisor to the [White House] Faith and Opportunity Initiative,” reads a statement the White House sent to Religion News Service. A White House spokesperson later said, “She is heading up that initiative.” The news of White’s new role was first reported by the New York Times.
L. Gregory Jones, who is currently serving a three-year term as dean of Duke Divinity School, has had his term as dean extended for a full five years, through 2023.
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Scholar and minister Walter Kim, an expert on the theology of race, has been chosen as the next president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Kim is a pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. He has served on the board of the group, an umbrella organization of 40 evangelical Christian denominations, since 2013.
The Bishops’ Conference of the Church of Norway has nominated World Council of Churches general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit as its new presiding bishop. In 2018, Fyske Tveit announced he would not be seeking a third five-year term as WCC general secretary.
“We are delighted and grateful that Dr. Fykse Tveit has confirmed that he is accepting the nomination and is willing to make himself available to become a bishop in our church and for the Bishops’ Conference,” said the current presiding bishop, Helga Haugland Byfuglien.