Marinus Iwuchukwu Biography, Wife, Death

Marinus Iwuchukwu, a Nigerian professor of theology at the Duquesne University was recently killed by his wife in a murder-suicide.

This article presents a biography of Mr Iwachukwu covering his age, background, academic career, his wife and eventual death.

Marinus Iwuchukwu Biography

Nigerian-born Marinus Chijioke Iwuchukwu was an Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

His University profile reads: Marinus C. Iwuchukwu is an Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

He specializes in interreligious dialogue, inclusive religious pluralism, and media and religion.

Prior to coming to Duquesne University, he was a faculty of a public college in Kano, Nigeria for twelve years.

He currently teaches undergrad courses in world religions and culture; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; and dialogue among religions.

At the graduate level his seminar classes are focused on religious pluralism, freedom of religion, and interreligious dialogue.

He has authored two books and co-edited a book.

His two books are: Media Ecology and Religious Pluralism: Engaging Walter Ong and Jacques Dupuis Toward Effective Interreligious Dialogue (2010) and Muslim-Christian Dialogue in Postcolonial Northern Nigeria: The Challenges of Inclusive Cultural and Religious Pluralism (2013).

The book he co-edited with Brian Stiltner is, Can Muslims and Christians Resolve their Religious and Social Conflicts? Cases from Africa and the United States (2013).

He has published over twenty book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles. He is the current chair of the theology department, chair of the Consortium for Christian-Muslim Dialogue (CCMD) and recipient of the 2014 “Humanity Day Award” from Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

Age

Marinus Iwuchukwu was 59-years-old when he died at the hands of his wife, Charte Dunn.

Marinus Iwuchukwu Death

Late Nigerian professor Marinus Iwuchukwu was stabbed to death by his American wife in an apparent murder-suicide.

The incident happened along Thorncrest Drive in Wilkins Township, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, January 17th 2023, just before 10 a.m.

The bodies of Iwuchukwu and his wife, Charte Dunn, were identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday night.

It appears after murdering Iwuchukwu, Dunn shot herself to death.

Allegheny County Police said in a press release that the county received a 911 call from a third party at 9:53 a.m. asking for a welfare check on the couple who were engaged in a violent domestic situation inside the home on Thorncrest Drive in Wilkins Township.

“On January 17, 2023, at 9:53 a.m., County 9-1-1 received a call from a third party requesting that police check on the well-being of a couple who were engaged in a violent domestic inside their home on Thorncrest Drive in Wilkins Township. The third party learned that the male had been stabbed,” the release said.

“The female remained inside the residence with a firearm. Wilkins Police along with neighboring departments responded to the scene and hailed the residence… The team made entry into the home and found a 59-year-old adult male and a 50-year-old adult female deceased.

“Both the male and female appeared to have sustained lacerations, and the female sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Homicide detectives responded to the scene and initiated an investigation,” it added.

Marinus Iwuchukwu Wife

Charte Dunn, 50, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was the wife of murdered Nigerian professor Marinus Iwuchukwu.

Dunn reportedly stabbed her Nigerian husband to death following an incident at Iwachukwu’s home in Wilkins Township, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, January 17th 2023.

She is believed to have committed suicide following his murder by shooting herself.

Marinus Iwuchukwu and Charte Dunn got married in 2017, according to marital records reviewed by the Duquesne Duke. Dr. Iwuchukwu had filed for divorce in 2020 but the split had yet to be finalized.

Dunn’s son, Frank Williams, set up a GoFundMe after her death to raise funds for her funeral and for Domestic Abuse and Suicide Awareness. He claimed Iwachukwu abused Dunn.

“Hi, My name is Frank and I’m creating this fundraiser in the Memory of my Mother CHARTÈ DUNN to tell her story and to assist us in Funeral Expenses.

“We’d like to advocate on Domestic Abuse and Suicide Awareness and Mental Health Awareness. My Mother was a Victim of Domestic Abuse by her Husband, Which led to her unfortunate passing.

“This is very unfortunate event that many people may experience we would like to create awareness for people that’s gone through this or currently going through this, it’s very disheartening and words can’t express the anguish,” the fundraiser posted on GoFundMe read.

Academic Career

Professional Memberships

Dr. Iwuchukwu is a member of the following professional organizations:

American Academy of Religion, AAR.
College Theology Society, CTS.
Member, Catholic Theological Society of America, CTSA.

Member, Colloquium on Violence and Religion
Member, Media Ecology Association, MEA.

Education

Ph.D., Systematic Theology, Marquette University, 2008
M.A., Journalism, Marquette University, 1998

Achievements

Co-organized a Public Lecture and Panel Discussion on Multiple Religious Belonging, April 2012.
Chaired the Organization of a Symposium – Women and Minorities in Interreligious Dialogue, February 2012
Co-organized Public Lecture in honor of First UN approved Annual Week of Religious Harmony, February 2012.

Co-organized a workshop on interreligious dialogue for graduate students facilitated by Dialogue Institute of Temple University, Philadelphia, February 2011.
Chaired the Organization of a Symposium on Christian-Muslim Dialogue in the US and Africa, October 2010.

Publications

Books:

Muslim-Christian Dialogue in Post-Colonial Northern Nigeria: The Challenges of Inclusive Cultural and Religious Pluralism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Click on the image.

In this pathbreaking book, Marinus Iwuchukwu examines the perennial conflicts in different parts of northern Nigeria and why they are popularly called Muslim-Christian clashes. Specifically, he examines the immediate and remote factors that are responsible for the conflicts, seeking to know if northern Nigerians are intrinsically religious and if people in this region are attracted to either Islam or Christianity exclusively and why. In the light of the popular finger-pointing on religion and sometimes on culture as reasons for the conflicts, Iwuchukwu explores how an inclusive religious and cultural pluralistic framework can effectively facilitate ongoing interreligious dialogue among the feuding groups.

Media Ecology and Religious Pluralism: Engaging Walter Ong and Jacques Dupuis Toward Effective Interreligious Dialogue. Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010.Click on the image.

This book enunciates the need for Christians to acknowledge that religious pluralism is not only a de facto reality but also a de jure of God’s relationship with all people. It further argues that this is an imperative theological assumption, indispensable for truly honest, lasting, respectful, and successful interreligious dialogues with peoples of non-Christian religions. Dupuis’s model of inclusive religious pluralism, in alliance with Ong’s media ecology of dialogic openness in a media society, can serve to promote the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations? search for successful interreligious dialogue in contemporary multi-religious settings. Ong’s media ecology sustained by the understanding of the media as effective agents for communication across social and cultural plurality clearly makes him, in the mind of this author one of the best ideological functional partners with Dupuis in the search for social peace promoted by the media through interreligious dialogue.

Articles:

“The Social, Economic, and Human Costs of Christian-Muslim Violence in Northern Nigeria in the Last 20 Years,” International Journal of African Catholicism 2 (2011): 27-38.

Guest Editor, Special Edition. “Christian-Muslim Dialogue.” International Journal of African Catholicism 2 (2011).

“The Hermeneutical Challenges In Muslim-Christian Dialogue.” Indian Theological Studies. 47 (2010): 233-252.

“The Odyssey of African Theologians in America.” International Journal of African Catholicism 1 (2010) http://www.saintleo.edu/Academics/School-of-Arts-Sciences/International-Journal-of-African-Catholicism.

“The Prophetic Imperatives of Dialogue: The Challenges of Missions in Northern Nigeria.” Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology 22 (2010): 48-65.

“Engaging the Media As Effective Tools For Interreligions Dialogue in Multireligions Societies: A Catholic Evaluation.” Journal of Interreligious Dialogue 3 (2010) www.irdialogue.org.

“Democracy in a Multi-Religious and Cultural Setting: The Nigerian Context.” World Futures 59: (2003): 381-390.

“The Role of Religion in National Unity: Focus on Nigeria.” Tambari Kano Journal of Education, March, 2003.

“The Church and the Evangelization of the Political Culture of Nigeria: A Media Perspective.” Pages 167-177 in The Nature and Identity of the Church: Nigerian Theological Perspectives. Ed. Valerian M. Okeke. (Nsukka, Nigeria: Fulladu Publishing Company, 2001).

Source: Nigeriabombshell.com

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