Theological Epistemology in African Perspective: Towards an Igbo Christian Theory of Knowledge

This doctoral study develops an original Igbo Christian theory of knowledge (epistemology) by engaging Igbo indigenous epistemological categories in constructive dialogue with Christian theological epistemology. The dominant epistemological frameworks in Nigerian theological education are derived from Western rationalist, empiricist, and Reformed epistemological traditions, producing a theoretical framework that fails to account for distinctively Igbo ways of knowing through communal discernment, ancestral wisdom, spiritual perception, and embodied praxis. Drawing on African philosophy, Igbo traditional thought, Reformed epistemology, and postmodern theology, the research employs a qualitative philosophical theology methodology combining conceptual analysis, ethnographic dialogue with thirty Igbo elders and philosophers in Anambra, Imo, and Ebonyi states, and engagement with the published works of Igbo theologians and philosophers. The study reconstructs core Igbo epistemological concepts including ihe onye maara (personal revelatory knowledge), omenani (normative communal tradition), and mmuo (spiritual perception) and evaluates their theological significance within a Christian framework. An original Igbo Christian epistemology is proposed that integrates communal discernment, spiritual perception, and ethical formation as sources of theological knowledge alongside scripture and tradition. The study makes an original contribution to African philosophy of religion and intercultural theology. Keywords: theological epistemology, Igbo philosophy, African Christian theology, knowledge theory, intercultural theology