Date

7-21-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Apologetics (PhD)

Chair

Joshua Waltman

Keywords

Trinity, Social Trinitarianism, African Theology, Moderate Communitarianism, Personhood, Ecclesiology, Missiology, Contextualization, Ghanaian Philosophy.

Disciplines

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

This dissertation explores the doctrine of the Trinity through the lens of Social Trinitarianism in dialogue with African communitarian anthropology, particularly the Ghanaian construct of moderate communitarianism as articulated by Kwame Gyekye. The central thesis is that the concept of moderate communitarianism in African cosmology provides an appropriate conceptual framework for understanding the intra-Trinitarian relationship, one that complements Western insights and avoids some concerns associated with modalism and tritheism. By engaging African categories of personhood, community, and relational ontology, the study demonstrates that the life of the Triune God resonates deeply with African communitarian insights, while also offering theological correction and transformation. The dissertation develops an Afro-theological framework for Social Trinitarianism. By drawing on Ghanaian philosophers and theologians such as Kwame Gyekye and Kwasi Wiredu, the study proposes that moderate communitarianism provides a rich resource for articulating Trinitarian relationality. It also extends the framework into ecclesial and missional implications for Africa, showing how Trinitarian theology can reshape leadership, governance, worship, and mission. The study concludes that African communitarian anthropology, when critically appropriated, complements Western Trinitarian ontology and enriches global theology. By situating the doctrine of the Trinity within African categories of relational personhood, the dissertation contends that the African church is uniquely positioned to embody its calling as imago Trinitatis.

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