Rev. Emmanuel Ojeifo

Rev. Emmanuel Ojeifo is in the World Religions and World Church doctoral program in theology. He is a Roman Catholic priest of the archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Prior to coming to Notre Dame in 2021, Emmanuel served as private secretary to Nigeria’s Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja and as chaplain/research associate at Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Abuja, a Catholic faith-based leadership and development institute. Emmanuel earned his MSc in science and religion as a Kirby Laing International Foundation Scholar at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, and an MA religion in global politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He also holds a BA theology degree from the Pontifical Urban University Rome and a BA philosophy degree from Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan.

Emmanuel has broad research interests in political and liberation theologies in Africa; religion, civil society, and democracy; religion and development; ecology and peace; and interreligious dialogue, peacebuilding, and social transformation. He has conducted fieldwork on Boko Haram terrorism, ethno- religious violence, and religious agency in Nigeria, and has plans for an ethnographic study of important sites of Christian persecution in Nigeria. He is currently working on a research which explores the relationship between Christianity and freedom and prosperity in sub-Saharan Africa––a project jointly funded by the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center and Acton Institute. Emmanuel has published op-eds on issues in religion, politics, and society in Nigeria’s national newspapers, and has also authored three books. His doctoral research at Notre Dame hopes to explore the significance of Christ for the nature and mission of theology and nation-state politics in Africa. In addition to being a Kellogg doctoral student affiliate, he is also a Sorin fellow of DeNicola Center for Ethics and Culture.