OGUNGBILE David Olugbenga
Email address(es): dogungbile@oauife.edu.ng
Office Address: Humanities Block 2 Room 105
Academic Qualifications: PhD (Ife), MTS (Harvard), M.A., B.A. (Ife)
Areas of Specialization: Comparative Religion & African Religions, Sociology of Religion, Methods & Theories of Religion
Title of M.A. Thesis: A Comparative Study of Divination in Yoruba Religious Traditions and Revelation in Aladura Christianity in Ile-Ife
Title of Ph.D. Thesis: Myth, Ritual and Identity in the Religious Traditions of Osogbo Yoruba Community of South Western Nigeria
Scholarships:
Obafemi Awolowo University Scholar
Fellowships:
W.E.B. Dubois Institute of African & African American Research, Harvard University; African Humanities Program/American Council of Learned Society Ife Institute of Advanced Studies
Research Grants:
Harvard University Divinity School
Ongoing Current Research:
Cultural Hermeneutics of Indigenous Yoruba Festivals and Celebrations among the African and African Diaspora Communities Awon Orin Odun Ibile Ilu Osogbo (Osogbo Yoruba Indigenous Festival Songs) Religion
Publications:
Religion and Religious Studies as a Discipline: Perspectives in Honour of Jacob Kehinde Olupona (Co-edited): 40 chapters (forthcoming)
Cultural Memories, Performance, and Meanings in Indigenous Festivals and Celebrations Among An African People and their Diaspora Community (Authored) (forthcoming)
Divine Manifestation and Human Creativity: Cultural Hermeneutics of Myth, Ritual and Identity among an African Community of Nigeria (Authored) (forthcoming)
- Religion, Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (Ibadan: African Association for the Study of Religions-Nigerian Publications Bureau): xxi-265
- The Humanities and the Challenges of Development in Africa (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University) (Edited with L.O. Adewole, Kehinde A. Ayoola, Folasade Hunsu & A.O. Ogunyemi): xiv-358
2018 Truly, the Sacred Still Dwells: Making Sense of Existence in the African World. Inaugural Lecture Series 322 (Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria): 104pp
2018 Foreword. Omolayo Ademola Ajayi, The Journey of Life: Celebrating Pastor (Professor) Omolayo Ademola Ajayi @ 70. (Ile-Ife: Cedar Productions)
2018 Foreword. Adegoke Osowade, Supervisory Manual for Head of Primary and Secondary Schools in Nigeria
2016 Forewords. Adekunle Ilesanmi Dawodu, Impact of Indigenisation of Christianity in The African Church in Ile-Ife and Isanlu Yagba, 1930-2013 (Lagos: GAFOKAT Venture Art + Prints): vii-viii & 99-100.
2015 African Indigenous Religious Traditions in Local and Global Contexts: Perspectives on Nigeria: (Lagos: Nigeria: Malthouse Press Ltd.) (edited): xviii-439
2014 The Humanities and Leadership in Nigeria (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University), (Edited with L.O. Salami, L.O. Adewole, F.M. Ogunleye & A.O. Ogunyemi), xii-451
2010 Creativity and Change in Nigerian Christianity (Lagos, Nigeria: Malthouse), (Edited with Akin Akinade): xxvi 364pp.
2007 Rethinking the Humanities in Africa (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University) (Edited with Sola Akinrinade, Dipo Fashina and J. O. Famakinwa): viii 479 pp.
2006 Introduction to the Study of Religion (Lagos, Nigeria: National Open University of Nigeria): xiv-95
2006 The Humanities, Nationalism and Democracy (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University) (Edited with Sola Akinrinade and Dipo Fashina): vii 410 pp.
2004 Locating the Local in the Global: Voices on a Globalised Nigeria (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University) (Edited with Sola Akinrinade, Modupe Kolawole and Ibiyemi Mojola): x – 291 pp.
2020 Space Contestation and Religious Identity among Christian and Muslim Students in Nierian Universities. In David O. Ogungbile & Oyeronke Olademo (eds.), Religion, Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (Ibadan: African Association for the Study of Religions-Nigerian Publications Bureau): 71-85
Preface. In David O. Ogungbile & Oyeronke Olademo (eds.), Religion, Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (Ibadan: African Association for the Study of Religions-Nigerian Publications Bureau): xi-xv
Introduction. In L.O. Adewole, D.O. Ogungbile, K.A. Ayoola, Folasade Hunsu & A.O. Ogunyemi (eds.), The Humanities and the Challenges of Development in Africa (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University): ix-xiv
2018 Afro-Christian Approach to Economic Recession Nigerian Journal of Christian Studies (A Journal of the Nigerian Association for Christian Studies), Vol. 2, No. 1: 31-53
2018 Review of Olufemi Vaughan, Religion and the Making of Nigeria (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2016). Numen Vol. 65, Issue 2&3: 326-328
Issues and Perspectives in African Indigenous Religious Traditions in African Indigenous Religious Traditions in Local and Global Contexts: Perspectives on Nigeria: (Edited by David O. Ogungbile): 1-22
“Indigenous Tradition in Transition: Born Again Traditional Rulers, Religious Change and Power Contestation (with Peter O. Awoniyi) in African Indigenous Religious Traditions in Local and Global Contexts: Perspectives on Nigeria (Edited by David O. Ogungbile): 69-94
Borderless Homeland: Memory, Identity and the Spiritual Experience of an African Diaspora Community in African Indigenous Religious Traditions in Local and Global Contexts: Perspectives on Nigeria (Edited by David O. Ogungbile): 389-430
African Pentecostalism and the Prosperity Gospel. In Clifton R. Clarke (ed.) Pentecostal Theology in Africa (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications): Chapter 7: 132-149
Space Contestation and Religious Identity among Christian and Muslim Students in Nigerian Universities in Akintunde E. Akinade (ed.), Fractured Spectrum: Perspectives on Christian-Muslim Encounters in Nigeria (New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang Publishing ): 158-168 2011
Tradition and Response: Islam and Muslim Societies in a Nigerian City in Keskin Tugrul (ed.), The Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies: Secularism, Economy and Politics (Berkshire, UK: Ithaca Press): Chapter 14, 319-342 2011
Women and Leadership in Nigerian Islam: The Experience of Alhaja Sheidat Mujidat Adeoye of Osogbo in Oyeronke Oyewumi (ed.), Gender Epistemologies in Africa: Gendering Traditions, Spaces, Social Institutions, and Identities (New York: Palgrave Macmillan): Chapter 4, pp. 85-99 (Earlier version as Religious Experience and Women Leadership in Nigerian Islam: Alhaja Sheidat Mujidat Adeoye, Founder and Leader of the Fadillulah Muslim Mission, Osogbo, Nigeria. Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, University of Newcastle, Australia: [2004], Vol. 9 No. 1: 17-40.). Also reprinted in Pade Badru & Brigid M. Sackey (eds.), Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in Gender Relations and Political Reform [Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013] 2010
Issues and Perspectives in Creativity and Change in Nigerian Christianity (Lagos, Nigeria: Malthouse Press): 1-18 2010
Faith without Borders: Culture, Identity and Nigerian Immigrant Churches in Multicultural American Community in Creativity and Change in Nigerian Christianity (Lagos, Nigeria: Malthouse Press): 311-331 2009
Ile (Earth) and Sustainability: Motherhood Symbolism, Sex Metaphor, and Ritual Essence in African Indigenous Spirituality Orita: Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies (Special Issue in Honor of Professor Michael Young Nabofa), Vol. XLI/II: 84-101 2009
Medicine, In Molefi Kete Asante & Ama Mazama (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religion Vol. 1 (Thousand Oaks, C.A.: Sage Publications, Inc.): 413-419
Seclusion, In Molefi Kete Asante & Ama Mazama (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religion Vol. 2 (Thousand Oaks, C.A.: Sage Publications, Inc.): 597-601
Serpent In Molefi Kete Asante & Ama Mazama (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religion Vol. 2 (Thousand Oaks, C.A.: Sage Publications, Inc.): 607-608 2007
“Africa: Religions In Fedwa Malti-Douglas (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA): 35-38 2006
Ìjèsà Cultural Factors and the Growth of Christianity in Nigeria since the 20th Century. Asia Journal of Theology Vol. 20, No. 2: 305-337 (Also published in Dialogue and Alliance: A Journal of the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (The Influence of Interfaith Consciousness), Vol. 19, No. 2: 47-78. 2006
Body Decoration in Daniel Stout (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication and Media (New York & London: Routledge): 39-44 2005
Cultural Revolution and African Spirituality: The Case of Ijo Orile-Ede Adulawo Ti Kristi, Nigeria. Dialogue & Alliance: A Journal of Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, New York, NY, Vol. 18, No. 2: 11-25 (Reprinted from Asia Journal of Theology, Bangalore, India, {2002} Vol. 16 No. 1: 116-130) 2005
God: African Supreme Beings. In Lindsay Jones (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition. (New York/San Francisco/London: Macmillan Reference/Thomson Gale), Volume 5: 3567-3579 2004
Puberty Rites In Frank A. Salamone (ed.) Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals (New York: Routledge): 345-350 2004
“Ooya Osun: Communicating History, Life and Experience Through Religious Artifact. In Sola Akinrinade, M.E.M. Kolawole, I. Mojola and David O. Ogungbile (eds.), Locating the Local in the Global: Voices on a Globalised Nigeria (A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria) (With Ope Onabajo): Chapter 15, 167-178 2003
Yoruba Cultural Identity: A Phenomenological Approach to Osun Festival.” In P. A. Dopamu and E. Ade Odumuyiwa (eds.) Religion, Science and Culture (A Publication of the Nigerian Association for the Study of Religions, Ilorin, Nigeria): 179-196. 2001
“Eérindinlogun: The Seeing Eyes of Sacred Shells and Stones.” In Joseph M. Murphy and Mei-Mei Sanford (eds.) Osun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press): Chapter 14: 189-212 2001.
Prognostication, Explanation and Control: The Interaction of Ifa Divination Process and the Aladura Churches. In L.O. Adewole (ed.) Ifa and Related Genres. Casas Book Series No. 13 (Cape Town, South Africa: Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society) Chapter 9: 84-96 2001
The Dynamics of Language in Cultural Revolution and African Spirituality: The Case of Ijo Orile-Ede Adulawo Ti Kristi (National Church of Christ) in Nigeria. Nordic Journal of African Studies. Finland. Vol. 10 No. 1:66-79. 1999
Religion and National Policy in Nigeria: A Case Study of the Impact of Christian Youth Movement on NYSC Programme in a Nigerian Community. The Living Word: Journal of Philosophy and Theology, Alwaye, India, Vol. 105 No. 2: 115-131. 1998
Communication Through Religious Iconography: The Example of Osogbo Art and Life. Redaktion Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere aap, Institüt für Afrikanistik, Germany, No. 53:67-79. 1998
Islam and Cultural Identity in Nigeria: The Osogbo-Yoruba Experience Orita: Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies. Vol. XXX/1-2: 123-137. 1998
Interaction of Islam and Traditional Culture: A Case Study of Osogbo-Yoruba Community of Nigeria. Africana Marburgensia. Vol. XXXI, 1+2:48-61. 1997
Meeting Point of Culture and Health: The Case of the Aladura Churches in Nigeria. Nordic Journal of African Studies. Helsinki, Finland, Vol. 6 No. 1:98-112. 1997
Water Symbolism in African Culture and Afro-Christian Churches. The Journal of Religious Thought. The Howard University, Washington D.C. Vols. 53/2 & 54/1: 23-38. (Also published in The Asia Journal of Theology, Bangalore, India, Vol. 12, No. 1: 157-173, 1998:)
Staff Profile
Acting Provost, PGCollege, 2018/2019 Head of Department 2015-2019 Member, Appointments & Promotions Committee Member, VC Search-Team (2022) Professorial Assessor to universities, Nigeria & Ghana External Examiner to Universities