Joshua plays a key role in ACTEA’s research, consultations, and publications, including editing the ACTEA Series and co-managing the journal African Christian Theology. Originally from the U.S., he has mission experience in India and Papua New Guinea, taught in South Africa, and has lived in Kenya since 2007. There, he’s worked as a curriculum developer and theological educator, primarily serving the Maasai and Turkana communities. His teaching experience spans Chemistry, Old Testament, Christian History, Missions Studies, and World Religions. Passionate about Christian history, particularly in Africa, he has published extensively on related topics, missiology, New Testament exegesis, and African Christian theology. He serves on several journal peer review boards, including Priscilla Papers, and co-founded the “African Christian Theology” Facebook group. An ordained minister, he and his wife, Ruth, have six children. They co-authored a text on congregational hermeneutics and homiletics in Maa, which has also been translated into Swahili and Turkana.
Joshua Robert Barron
Consultations, Research & Publications Coordinator
co-written book
- Barron, Joshua, and Ruth Barron. Enkinosata Ororei le Nkai. [kiMaasai language title “Eating the Word of God”.] Edited by Francis ole Yenko and Cosmas ole Lemein. Nairobi: Community Christian Church, 2008.
- kiSwahili Translation: Kujilisha kwa Neno la Mungu, translated by Joseph Okulo et al. (2015).
- Turkana Translation: Akiyen Akiroit A Akuj, translated by Simon Eipa (2017).
articles & chapters
- “Andrew F. Walls: Apostle of World Christianity.” Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Praxis 12, no. 2 (2021). https://www.academia.edu/67965051/
- “Connections and Collaborations among the Nubian, Coptic, and Ethiopian Churches.” Chapter 6 in Globalizing Linkages: The Intermingling Story of Christianity in Africa, edited by Wanjiru M. Gitau and Mark A. Lamport, 91–107. Introduction by Mark R. Shaw. The Global Story of Christianity: History, Context, and Communities 3. Edited by Emma Wild-Wood and Mark A. Lamport. Series Introduction by Dana L. Robert. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2023.
- “Conversion or Proselytization? Being Maasai, Becoming Christian.” Global Missiology 18, no. 2 (April 2021): 12 pages. http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2428
- “An Enkiteng Hermeneutics—Reading (and Hearing!) the Bible with Maasai Christians: A review essay and proposal.” Global Missiology
- 18, no. 4 (October 2021): 2–16. http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2530
- “God as Motherly Father and Fatherly Mother.” Priscilla Papers 37, no. 3 (2023): 20–23. https://www.cbeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/37.3_Web-1.pdf (links to entire issue)
- “Is the Prosperity Gospel the Gospel? The Prosperity and Productivity Gospels in African Christianity.” Evangelical Review of Theology 47, no. 4 (2023): 321–338.
- “Is the Prosperity Gospel, Gospel? An Examination of the Prosperity and Productivity Gospels in African Christianity.” Conspectus: The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary 33, no. 1 (April 2022): 88–103. https://doi.org/10.54725/conspectus.2022.1.6
- “Lessons from Scripture for Maasai Christianity, Lessons from Maasai Culture for the Global Church.” Priscilla Papers 33, no. 2 (Spring 2019): 17–23. https://www.academia.edu/38753599/
- “Mutual Submission, Mutual Respect: Reciprocal enkanyit in Ephesians 5 in the Maasai context.” Stellenbosch Theological Journal 7, no. 1 (2021): Article #33, 34 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.17570/stj.2021.v7n1.a33
- “My God is enkAi: a reflection of vernacular theology.” Journal of Language, Culture, and Religion 2, no. 1 (2021): 1–20. https://diu.edu/jlcr/volume-2-number-1/ (links to entire issue)
co-written article
- Kihuha, Wanjiku M., and Joshua Robert Barron. “Introducing the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology.” Evangelical Review of Theology 47, no. 4 (2023): 303–338.