‘The debate on science and religion’ and ‘French-speaking Africa’ make an unusual combination of fields of study. For years the fact that this debate was not related to cultural diversity was considered only a minor issue. The majority of participants in these discussions were from the North Atlantic world. Not even the effect of the cultural diversity within this North-Atlantic world was made explicit or studied. However, lately, and for several reasons, the ‘Western’ dominance in the debate, is considered to be too restricted, and there is concern that it does not allow for new understandings of what science and religion might mean. This book testifies to the growing interest in the different cultural embeddings of science and religion and proposes a theoretical framework that makes an intercultural debate possible.
In our study we focused on the discourses of Christian students and academics from three cities: Abidjan, Kinshasa, and Yaoundé. This implied a thorough study of what could be called ‘lived theology’ and therefore an interdisciplinary approach was necessary. Although the Science and Religion interface requires some form of interdisciplinarity anyway, the current blossoming of interdisciplinary approaches in theology makes a proper theological perspective on the debate on Science and Religion even more necessary. Our aim is to relate the outcomes of the field research to a worldwide perspective of doing theology, and to connect with a broader scope of scholarly discussions. This study therefore makes a contribution to at least five areas of study. In the first place, it is a contribution to the study of world Christianity. This case study particularly presents a detailed analysis of how different cultural influences interact to form new cultural realities. This study secondly contributes to the broader field of cultural studies that is interested in the shaping of multiple modernities. In the third place, this study contributes to historical and anthropological studies that relate the broader science and religion debate to particular cultural and social contexts in which the debate develops. Fourthly, this study is also intended as an intercultural contribution to the global science and religion debate. And finally, this project intends to contribute to the development of the discipline of intercultural theology by exploring how local interactions of the Christian faith in complex cultural environments can contribute to a Christian theological conversation worldwide.
This monograph is the result of a close and creative collaboration between the two authors, with Benno van den Toren as project leader and Klaas Bom as co-leader and principle investigator. Benno wrote chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2 and made a robust contribution to the section ‘Christianity in Africa’
This book is the outcome of a collaboration between the Protestant Theological University Groningen and the IFES student organisations from Cameroon (GBEEC), Ivory Coast (GBU-Côte d’Ivoire), and D.R. Congo (GBU-R.D. Congo) and funded by Templeton World Charity Foundation, as is further explained in chapter 1. We are thankful for having been a part of this dynamic cooperation involving people and organisations from three continents, and thus including many cultural differences. Starting in Africa, we want to first thank GBEEC, a Christian student organisation from Cameroon that was eager to take part in this adventure from the very start. They created room for a proper office for the project in their building in Yaoundé. We especially thank Alphonse Teyabé, the national secretary of GBEEC, and his team for building the crucial relationships on the ground, for practical support, and for their role as conversation partners and as a sounding board. Lynda Zegha was our Yaoundé based assistant whose formal role is described in chapter 2. During the three years of research she has been the reliable, inexhaustible, and deeply motivated facilitator of the research process. It was a joy to work with her. The support in the other cities was of a similar level. We enjoyed working with Sai Matthieu Guei, national secretary of the GBU in Ivory Coast, and his dynamic team in Abidjan. In Kinshasa, Roby Vumi did a wonderful job of facilitating the first research sessions in Kinshasa despite having already left his position as national secretary. This work was later continued by Aristide Lathoum, the new national secretary of GBU R.D. Congo at that time. The organisation and participation of both men and their teams was incredible. We also enjoyed the participation of academics from Africa and Europe who made contributions to the conferences we organized in the three cities. We thank Dr. Hendrik Stouten and Drs. Brigit Fokkinga from Nijmegen School of Management for their help with the use of Group Model Building and the nice cooperation. We are deeply indebted to all the participants of the research sessions, especially those who participated in two or even three sessions. We thank these people for enriching dialogues and the possibility to be a part of their communal lives and to share
We thank the Protestant Theological University for being a hospital home where this research was welcomed, guided, and discussed on various occasions. We thank our colleagues, especially the people from the research group Intercultural theology in Groningen and those from the Beliefs department in Amsterdam and Groningen, for their interest, suggestions and support. We express special thanks to Professor Dr. Mechteld Jansen, the rector of the University, and Dr. Rein Brouwer, whose critical support as members of the advisory board was of great help. We also make special mention of Josien Rigterink of the financial department at the PThU, who took care of the many financial complexities of this intercultural endeavour. By their well-informed, attentive, and sensitive way of editing, Sam and Peter Bussey have contributed substantially to this book. Thank you also to the student assistants, Tirtsa Liefting and Lois Bakker, who supported us in the editorial process and in various aspects of the organization.
This project (TWCF0104/AB69) was made possible through the support of a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation. We thank Templeton World Charity Foundation for their generous support of this project. Without your incredible help we could not have realized this project. Thank you for the support through the offices in the Bahamas and in Oxford. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton World Charity Foundation.
We thank the series editors for their openness towards accepting a manuscript with a somewhat different focus. Although this book fits well in the category ‘Theology in World Christianity’, the science and religion debate makes it an unusual fit. Thank you also to Mirjam Elbers and Ingrid Heijcker-Velt of Brill publishers who handled the process so gently and skilfully. Finally, we say thank you for the useful suggestions of the two anonymous reviewers, and to Elaine Howard Ecklund, Gijsbert van den Brink and John Brooke, who gave us insightful comments on drafts of the chapters of this book. We are filled with gratitude to so many people and to God for making the research and publication of this book a reality.