Community Life

JOHN AZUMAH

Director of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations and Lecturer of Islamic Studies

BA (Accra) MA PhD (Birmingham)

Areas of Special Interest: Islamics, Christian-Muslim Relations, Christian Theology of Other Religions and African Christianity

Originally from Northern Ghana in West Africa, John is an ordained Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and, until his appointment, a Senior Research Fellow with the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Ghana. He was an Evangelist with the Presbyterian Church in northern Ghana and then went on to complete his theological studies at Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra between 1986 and 1989. One of two ministers who pioneered the work of the Northern Outreach Programme of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, John planted eighteen churches in three years in what is known as the Asante Presbytery.

He completed his postgraduate studies (MA and PhD) in Islamics and Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Birmingham, UK. Upon completion in 1998 John joined the Northern Outreach Programme before leaving to India as CMS-Australia missionary to the Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad and the Union Biblical Seminary in Pune. His return to Ghana placed him as the Acting Director of the Tamale Lay Training Centre in the North before joining Akrofi-Christaller Institute in September 2004. John is also the founding Director of the Interfaith Research and Resource Centre of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. John has taught in a number of Seminaries in Ghana and South Africa and served on the Interfaith Advisory Board of the World Council of Churches. He is also a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury Building-Bridges study group.

Dr. Azumah’s publications include: The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Islam: A Quest for inter-Religious Dialogue (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2001) and My Neighbour’s Faith: Islam Explained for Christians (Nairobi: Hippo Books/Zondervan, 2008) plus several other articles and Book Chapters. John is married to Grace and they have three children, Benjamin, Nathaniel and Elizabeth.

Centre for Islamic Studies

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