Ekpendu Ikechi Ph.D
Head of Department
Department of RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Welcome to the premier department. You are our esteemed friend and partner in progress. We feel excited that you are here. We thank you for heeding the call to serve. There is no better calling to invest one’s life than to serve God and humanity. And by choosing to study in the department you have signally indicated your willingness to be a vessel of honor through which God could pour His grace to a disoriented world. It is a privilege to be a co-laborer with God in the plan of salvation. There is perhaps no better way to be equipped to carry out this noble task than to study theology and avail oneself of all the opportunities for spiritual formation.
Fortunately, we have a dynamic faculty, with excellent academic credentials and a repertoire of ministerial experience. They are there for you to impart and impact, through teaching and mentoring. You will be studying to acquire academic qualifications; but much more to impact the world through a Christ-like character.
PHILOSOPHY
The training and equipping of servant-leaders to exert a saving influence on members and non-members of the community of faith.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Department as depository of the University’s religious and academic heritage serves as God’s instructional channel to equip, through the word of God, ministers in preparation for active service in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as well as provide basic saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to non-ministerial students.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the Department of Religious Studies are to:
1. Expose the ministers-in-training to an in-depth knowledge of the Bible by providing them with essential tools for biblical hermeneutics that emphasize humanity’s salvation through Jesus Christ;
2. Prepare ministerial leaders for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other willing interests in the propagation of the everlasting gospel and the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to redeem the world;
3. Prepare religious and moral educators to reinforce lost moral values in the family, schools and wider society in collaboration with the departments of Education and General Studies as well as the School of Post-Graduate Studies;
4. Facilitate appropriate theological and pastoral training for individuals who hitherto had no such training but have a sense of calling to the Gospel ministry.
DEPARTMENTAL PROGRAMS
The Department of Religious Studies offers the following academic programs:
· Bachelor of Arts (B.A. Hons.) Christian Religious Studies ( 4 years) fully accredited by NUC
· Bachelor of Arts (B.A. Hons.) Religious Studies (4 years ).
DEPARTMENTAL REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATION
CREDIT LOAD FOR B.A. (HONS.) CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
The program is planned over a 4-year period consisting of 8 semesters. Students are expected to have taken a total number of 167 credits for Christian Religious Studies program and 159 credits for Religious Studies program before they can be considered eligible for graduation. But in the case of direct entry students the 100 level courses are waived.
About Us
The mission of the Department is to equip and empower, through religious and theological programs that are redemptive and life-transforming, ministers and educators in preparation for active service in the Church and the larger community.
The Department of Religious Studies at Babcock University focuses on a number of services and courses that cater to the spiritual need of the entire University and Adventist missions in West-Africa, most especially in Nigeria. To this effect, the Department trains future pastors in targeted theological fields of study that include Old Testament Studies, New Testament Studies, Islamic Studies, Mission Studies, Church History and Theological Studies, and African Traditional Religion Studies. The Department offers a Bachelor’s Degree Program as both a four-year full-time study program and a six-year part-time study program. It also offers a one and half year study program for Post Graduate Diploma Program in Pastoral Theology and Ministry that equips students who have Bachelor degrees in other fields outside of theology.
The overall goal of the Department is to prepare students within the Department, and in the entire University, to understand the Bible and find hope in Jesus Christ in an uncertain era of world history. Students within the Department, in line with the major goal, are led to learn skills for sound biblical interpretation, cross-cultural leadership growth for effective mission development, ministry, and evangelistic strategies in the midst of growing contemporary missionary challenges. In this regard, students are given the opportunity to partner with the Publishing Ministries Department of the West-Central Africa Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for certification in literature evangelism. Also, students have the opportunity to serve as student Pastors and Chaplains in the University worship centres and hostels. Added to these various opportunities of practical ministry activities, the Department, through the collaboration of Unions and Conferences of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria, coordinates three months internship program for its students before their graduation.
As the pioneer department in Babcock University, we serve as vanguards in upholding the Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy of Education as expressed in Babcock University core values through faith integration in teaching, learning and service.