The Birthday of a Philosopher and Theologian of Rebirth
"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 Eur...