Education
Born in Kenya, Mbiti studied in Uganda and the United States, taking his doctorate in 1963 at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Born in Kenya, Mbiti studied in Uganda and the United States, taking his doctorate in 1963 at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
He is an ordained Anglican priest, and as of 2005 a canon. He has held visiting professorships at universities across the world and published extensively on philosophy, theology and African oral traditions. His sympathetic treatment of traditional religions was based on massive field work.
Mbiti is clear that his interpretation of these religions is from a firmly Christian perspective, and this aspect of his work has sometimes been severely criticized.
He has also collaborated on a book of African proverbs, collected from across the continent. As of 2005, Mbiti is an Emeritus professor at the University of Bern and parish minister to the town of Burgdorf, Switzerland.