Towards an Original Nigerian Theology of Election and Mission: Rethinking Particularity and Universality in African Context

The biblical theology of election, God's particular calling of Israel and the church, and its relationship to universal mission is a theological theme with direct implications for how Nigerian Christians understand their identity, their relationship to other religious communities, and their missiological vocation. An original Nigerian theology of election and mission, developed from within the African theological context and attending to Nigerian religious plurality, is a significant theological contribution not yet achieved in the existing literature. This study develops an original Nigerian theology of election and mission, rethinking the tension between particularity (the specificity of Christian calling) and universality (the scope of God's redemptive purpose) in the African theological context. A constructive biblical-systematic methodology employs five stages: canonical theological analysis of election texts in Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, John, Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Peter; critical engagement with election theologies from Barth, Wright, and Goldingay and African theologians Mbiti and Ukpong; contextual analysis of Nigerian religious plurality and the socio-cultural contexts of Christian witness; original constructive synthesis; and validation through consultations with Nigerian theologians and missiologists. Original contributions include the Covenanted Community Election Model that interprets election as vocational responsibility rather than exclusive privilege, a Nigerian Missional Ecclesiology Framework that integrates election theology with contextualised mission praxis, and a Theology of Universal Particularity that holds together the exclusive claims of Christ with the gracious universality of God's redemptive purposes in a multi-religious society. The work makes an original contribution to both African theology and missiology.

Keywords: theology of election, Nigerian missiology, African theology, particularity and universality, original contribution