The early weeks of 2026 have been busy ones at the desk of the Dean of Postgraduate Studies at Zomba Theological University. It has been a happy kind of busy-ness as we have had a succession of six MTh students successfully defending their dissertations.
For all six this is the completion of a journey they began four years ago when they embarked on two years of coursework prior to the research phase of the degree which resulted in their dissertation. For students and Faculty alike, it has been an emotional moment as they reach this pinnacle of academic achievement – usually after many a struggle.
Their topics vary widely – the response of the church to the pressures of labour migration, Isaiah chapter 1 as a lens to examine contemporary political life in Malawi, a gracious response by the church to substance abuse addicts, the understanding of the role of women in Bible Believers Church, Reformed identity in the Malawi context, and a theological response to deforestation in Malawi. You can see why we call it contextual theology.
Although postgraduate studies was introduced four years ago at ZTU, perhaps we did not quite believe that we could do it until now when we see students making their contribution to knowledge and meeting high academic standards. This encourages ZTU to push ahead not only with further cohorts of Masters students but with the aspiration to introduce PhD studies – our next hurdle at the National Council of Higher Education. Watch this space.
Thinking Mission Blog 