Towards a culturally diverse discourse on science and religion boekje webversie

Towards a culturally diverse discourse on science and religion A retrospect on three years of research and formation in French-speaking Africa

GBUAF The Groupes Bibliques Universitaires d’Afrique Francophone (gbuaf.org) is a community of Christian student groups from nineteen French-speaking countries in Africa. GBUAF is open to Christian students from all different denominations. Its goal is to teach, train and equip students to unleash their creative energy as disciples of Christ and as such have an impact on academic life.

The Protestant Theological University (pthu.nl) is a university for Theology based on a religious view of life, located in Amsterdam and Groningen. The PThU aims at profound and relevant theological education and research with regard to developments in faith, church and Christianity worldwide. Work in the university is inspired by its close association with the church and a fascination for what faith does with people – explicitly including the personal faith of its staff and students.

The PThU stands for committed academic theological practice with particular responsibility for the Protestant tradition. The leading framework is the clerical and societal relevance of today, profound knowledge and elaboration of sources and respect for tradition. The PThU has longstanding experience with education for the ministry. It offers official education for the ministry, recognized by the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, for both congregational and pastoral care ministers. It also offers post-academic education to ministers and clerical workers.

The Templeton World Charity Foundation (templetonworldcharity.org) serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the deepest and most perplexing questions facing humankind. It supports research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and emergence to creativity, forgiveness, and free will: ‘We encourage civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians, as well as between such experts and the public at large.

In all cases, our goal is the same: to spur curiosity and accelerate discovery.’ In order to catalyze such discoveries, the Foundation provides grants for independent research that advances its mission: ‘Our grants for public engagement help people worldwide engage the fruits of that research and explore the Big Questions.’ The work supported by the John Templeton Foundation crosses disciplinary, religious, and geographical boundaries. Their grantees produce field-leading scholarship across the sciences, theology, and philosophy. From probing gravitational waves to updating the modern evolutionary synthesis, they have contributed to major discoveries in the basic sciences. Other grantees have opened critical new topics to scientific investigation, including prayer, gratitude, immortality, and imagination. In addition to supporting academic research on these and similar questions, the Foundation supports efforts to bring relevant findings to non-specialist audiences.

This research and formation project has code TWCF0104/AB69.

Groningen, Wednesday April 19th 2017. In the Protestant Theological University (PThU), in the heart of the city, an international group of academics has gathered to discuss the preliminary findings of a research programme on science and religion in French-speaking Africa. Among them are historians, sociologists, anthropologists, more than a few theologians, and even one or two representatives of the exact sciences. They hail from various universities all over the world, including Rise University, Houston (United States), Mount Kenya University, Nairobi (Kenya) and North West University (South Africa). The PThU, one of the two facilitators of the research – the other being the Templeton World Charity Foundation – is generously represented by nine or ten of their own staff. The chair is Stan Rosenberg of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (United Kingdom). Cracking a joke and confrontational in a good-natured way, he leads the group briskly through a full two day programme of presentations, lectures and panel discussions. We are here, he reminds the attendees, to have a different take on an important and recurring debate: the relationship between religion and science.

A small research team of three academics – two from Holland, one from Cameroon – has taken this complex theme out of its customary Western context and studied it from the perspective of Christian academics and students in French-speaking Africa.

This conference is the beginning of the concluding phase of this research project, which is due to end August 31st.

Prof.dr. Benno van den Toren (Alblasserdam, 1966) is professor of Intercultural Theology at the Protestant Theological University in Groningen. Before that he was tutor in Christian Doctrine at Oxford and professor of Systematic Theology at Bangui Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (Central African Republic).

He studied Theology in Utrecht and Oxford, holds a PhD from Kampen Theological University and is a minister of the Protestant Church in The Netherlands. His current research focuses on the theology of religions (with a special interest in Islam), the theological understanding of multiculturalism, the nature and possibility of (cross-cultural) apologetic witness, pneumatology and the interface of science and faith with a focus on human origins.

It had all started three years earlier. In the Spring of 2014 Benno van den Toren, newly appointed Professor of Intercultural Theology at PThU Groningen, was asked to revisit one of the important research themes from his time as a tutor in Christian Doctrine at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford: the relationship between religion and science. ‘In Oxford our research circled around the question of original sin as related to evolutionary thinking’, says Van den Toren: ‘When I came to Groningen to teach Intercultural Theology I expected to leave these discussions about religion and science behind me. I considered them merely Western.’ The Templeton World Charity Foundation, a Christian organisation which funds interdisciplinary research about life’s big questions, asked Van den Toren to add an African perspective to this long running debate. Van den Toren asked Klaas Bom to join him in this project, and together they wrote a research proposal, focussing on French-speaking Africa. Van den Toren was familiar with the region from his years as a Professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculté de Théologie Evangélique de Bangui (Central African Republic). More importantly: he

expected the region – supposedly shaped by the radical separation of church and state in the French tradition – to produce some interesting results. Bom, a Theologian and Philosopher with a PhD on the French Christian experimental scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal, proved invaluable in shaping the foundations of the research. His experience in Latin America as a teacher in the Mission Department of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands gave him some idea of what to expect building a research programme in a non-Western context. ‘It requires a different attitude’, Bom says: ‘You know in advance that a lot of things you take for granted in the West will be absent. There is an – sometimes understandable – aversion to our Western way of organizing and planning things.’ As Van den Toren puts it: ‘We tend to think in structures, they tend to think in terms of personal relationships.’

To get their team more attuned to the African needs and demands, they started looking for a researcher from the region itself. Out of 35 candidates they chose Lynda Zegha, a graduate with an MA in International Relations from Yaoundé, Cameroon. ‘Her organisational skills and interpersonal qualities are beyond compare’, enthuses Bom: ‘I’m not sure we could have done this without her.’ She did most of her work in her hometown with the other institutional partner in the project, the Groupes Bibliques Universitaires (GBU). Apparently, the migration crisis in Europe made it very difficult to obtain a visa for her to come to the Netherlands. They had to wait until Spring 2015 for Zegha to finally visit Groningen. Her stay was a success: ‘We have had a nice period of intensive collaboration and group development.’ By then the team was already well under way with the foundations of the project: formulating the central question for their research, deciding on the methodology and scouting for the locations where the research would take place.

The question

‘How can one best help Christian students and academics in Frenchspeaking Africa develop a constructive relationship between their academic endeavours and their religious convictions?’ That was the central question for this project. In a way, this is a curious question, implying far more than just a scientific search for information. The project was to be a two-way street, Van den Toren remembers: ‘We wanted it to be a parallel project. Intercultural theology is only truly intercultural if you do it together with people from another cultural context. You can’t just let them be objects of study, like something you watch under a microscope. By working together we would both win.’

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They chose for the project to have two parallel tracks. The first track was about research: what is the academic discourse among Christian academics and MA students about religion and science in this region and how can it contribute to the global debate on this subject? The second track was the development of a course programme in cooperation with students and academics in this region, consisting of conferences, a website and a publication. Here the central question was about ‘discipleship’. How can you develop – or maintain! – a constructive and fruitful relationship between your religious convictions and your work as a Christian student of science?

During the whole three year project, they worked on both tracks. They operated in cycles: while in Africa for their first series of research sessions, they laid the groundwork for the six study conferences. The second series of research sessions, in Autumn 2015, was held during the first round of conferences; the last series, in Autumn 2016, during the second round.

In between visits they analyzed the material, prepared for their next trip, had a website built, planned their final conference in Groningen, wrote a number of papers on subtopics and started work on their final monograph, due to be published in 2018.

Methodology

Locations

Dr. Klaas Bom (Ooltgensplaat, 1967) studied in Utrecht and Paris and obtained a PhD from Utrecht University (1999). He is a minister of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and served as a pastor in Gouda. Before coming to the Protestant Theological University in 2014, he was lecturer in in systematic theology in Managua (FEET) and Quito (SEMISUD) on behalf of KerkInActie, the mission department of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. His research interests are Intercultural Theology, Systematic Anthropology, Blaise Pascal and (Latin American) Pentecostalism.

How to reconstruct such a discourse? Hendrik Stouten PhD and Birgit Fokkema MA of the Nijmegen School of Management of Radboud University introduced them to the exciting world of the social science tool Group Model Building (GMB). GMB is a participatory research method for discourse analysis. It is used to understand and help decision making in groups. As Bom says: ‘This research tool does not work with questionnaires or interviews. It uses the dynamics of a group conversation instead. By discussing a central theme – in this case Christian religion and science – the participants build towards a discourse. By establishing the key notions and the links between those, they analyse its logic. This way the participants are not just objects of research, but also subjects. The model is kind of an umbrella that helps to give structure to the conversation: you always return to the central issue.’ Van den Toren reflects: ‘It was a whole new way of doing this kind of research. Studies on the relationship between religion and science are usually theoretical, not empirical. Insofar that empirical research has been done, it is largely quantitative.’ Together they carried out a pilot session in Groningen. Bom received a special training for facilitating GMB sessions in Nijmegen.

When writing their research proposal, Van den Toren and Bom looked around for locations that would best fit their research aims. They decided on three different academic contexts in French-speaking Africa: universities in Yaoundé (Cameroon), Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Universities in other countries were considered but eventually rejected. ‘We thought of including Dakar, which has a very old university, but its Christian population is too small. It is predominantly a Muslim country’, Van den Toren explains.

Distance was another consideration: Rwanda and Madagascar were inconveniently far away. So choosing the participating universities was partly a practical decision. But far more important was content.

All three countries concerned have a different relationship with France and the French systems of government, law and education. In France, the complete separation of church and state – laïcité – has been an article of faith for more than a century. ‘In school it is inculcated in pupils that what they learn has no direct connection with what they believe religiously’, explains Bom: ‘Does it work the same way in French-speaking Africa? And if so, what have the consequences been for the religion and science debate?’ The three countries they chose for their field research each have a different historic bond with all things French: ‘As a former Belgian Colony, Congo hardly has this connection at all. Cameroon was a German protectorate and after that a French mandate territory. And Ivory Coast was part of the French heartland. So they all relate to the idea of laïcité in a different way.’ In their research proposal Van den Toren and Bom pointed to two other important cultural factors which add to the ‘unique melting-pot’ in these countries. Firstly, they have a strong traditional African undercurrent with a great openness to the ‘supernatural’. And secondly, they have an interesting ‘history of Christian mission with strong participation by missions from conservative and sometimes fundamentalist denominations, often from North America’.

Visits to Africa In the Autumn of 2014 most energy went into the preparation of the field research in Africa, in close cooperation with the local GBU partners. An online questionnaire was prepared and sent out to the African universities. The answers provided the basic material with which to start the group building sessions. In January 2015 the team travelled to Africa for the first time to present the project to stakeholders and participants. A first 4

series of group sessions took place in May and June of that year. This time the team was joined by GMB expert Stouten. The team directed group building sessions with academics and students. To prevent the students from getting too influenced by the opinions of their teachers, students and academics each had their own group. Zegha transcribed the recorded sessions. ‘In the last weeks of August, we started the first analysis of the material’, Bom wrote at the end of 2015.

the project at both the PThU and Templeton. ‘A whole new network was created’, remembers Bom. The same thing can be said about the, mostly local, efforts to create the relevant course material. Here, too, Zegha was the driving force. She wrote most of the material, both for the recently refurbished website (sciencesetfoi.org), designed by students from Abidjan, and the course book, Science et foi, Manuel de cours pour l’Afrique Francophone (editionspba.org). Both the book and the website will help Christian students at other universities and in As always with such extensive projects, brief recaps like this hardly do justice other French-speaking countries become familiar with the worldwide to what really happens ‘on the ground’. Bom explains how Zegha always debate on science and faith, as well as think through their own identity Lynda Zegha Maffogang travelled ahead to help organise the group sessions and the conferences; and position on faith in an academic context. As stated on the website, (Baleveng, 1990) holds a master degree at the in Kinshasa she was generally there more than a week before activities currently the important debate on science and faith is largely restricted International Relations began. She was responsible for hiring locations, catering, the transport of to the United States and Europe: ‘The contribution of Africa in general Institute of Cameroon (IRIC). speakers, inviting guests and making sure all equipment was in place and and French speaking Africa in particular, is practically nonexistent, if She is a member of the in working order. Indispensible help was given by local GBU-leaders and not completely absent. This project wants to help a new generation Cameroon Students Bible Fellowship and a worship their teams: Matthieu Guei in Abidjan, Robby Vumy and Aristide Lathoum of African Christian academics contribute their ideas to the world of minister at the Communauté in Kinshasa and Alphonse Teyabe in Yaoundé. ‘Up to the day itself, they science and religion in order to understand the dominant ideas about Missionnaire Chrétienne were very busy making sure speakers arrived at the right place and at the the relationship between science and religion in the various Christian Internationale (CMCI). right time – or at all’, Bom remembers: ‘This wasn’t a question of having communities in French-speaking Africa. Based on these analyses, various Her research interests are conflict resolution, an email confirmed.’ Kinshasa proved to be the biggest challenge. During approaches will be proposed to reach a more constructive relationship diplomacy, development the first conference many participants failed to arrive because of the between African traditions, science and Christian faith. They will also be projects and the relationship weather. Heavy rains had brought the city to a halt, damaging roads and compared with the dominant Western approaches to this relationship.’ between science and faith. making them impassable. For different reasons, the second Kinshasa visit The course book uses epistemological theories, examples from everyday even had to be deferred. ‘Lamentably we couldn’t go to Kinshasa because life, stories from the Bible and thought-provoking questionnaires to of the turmoil in the city. The local partners asked us to reschedule the conference and teach students about identity and discipleship. Bom observes: ‘The invaluable work of public lecture’, Bom wrote in the yearly Progress Report. Despite the best efforts of all Zegha and her colleagues from local GBU groups makes it clear that this isn’t some involved, it proved impossible to reschedule the second conference in Kinshasa. ‘That imported project. Local participation has been and will be essential. When on August was a disappointment’, says Bom. Instead the book with course material, currently in 31st the research programme officially ends, their part of the project will continue. I’m production, will probably be presented in the city in the autumn of 2017. convinced they will carry it through.’

The conferences were a success. The team was humbled by the sometimes overwhelming interest in the public lectures, held on or very near the campuses. In Abidjan some 375 students and professors attended the public lecture; in Yaoundé 330. Due to the aforementioned heavy rains the attendance in Kinshasa was limited to 50. The lectures were an item on local radio and regional TV stations, one of which reaches different French-speaking African countries. During the second series of conferences the team also contributed to another conference in Yaoundé entitled ‘Is Africa incurably religious?’, with theologians from both English and French speaking African countries, which is quite an unusual occurrence.

These conferences helped to create both local support for the research and international acknowledgment of the team’s approach. The results resonated with academic colleagues in French-speaking Africa, France and Switzerland and with shareholders of

Conclusions As for the field research, the team gradually arrived at some interesting conclusions.

Firstly, that the influence of laïcité has not really made inroads on the African way of thinking of the participants from three different African countries. ‘The continuity in thinking is greater than we expected it to be’, Bom reflects. How would he explain this?

‘I think this has to do with the formality of the French education system: the things you learn at school are not really related to your own experiences. Still, I find it quite surprising that these people, who have spent twelve to sixteen years in this education system, state that science and religion aren’t opposed.’

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This observation leads to a second conclusion: the whole concept of a divide between religion and science is mostly a modern, nineteenth-century Western construct. Van den Toren says that beforehand he thought the students and academics who participated in the field research would have an ‘internalised conflict’ between their Christianity, the Western science they use in their academic work and the old African traditions: ‘In practice they know perfectly well how to balance these three cultural influences. Their Christianity operates as an integrating point. I find this fascinating: their belief is more important to them than Western science, and also more important than the African traditions. For them, Christianity is an African tradition. They don’t consider Christianity to be an African religion – that is too limited a concept – but it is a religion of Africa.

It is their thing. Which, of course, in a way, it is.’ He paraphrases the historian Andrew Walls: ‘The West has become post-Christian and Christianity has become post-Western.’

In French-speaking Africa Christianity and science are not considered opposites, as they often are in the West. ‘Let me give an example’, Bom says: ‘Many of our discussions focused on medical themes. They find it confusing that we in the West tend to separate religion and health. They have this holistic outlook on life: everything belongs together.’

Van den Toren and Bom conclude that the African academics and students they encountered see religion and science as integrated parts of life: they complement each other. The academics in Yaoundé called science ‘a place of God’s revelation’: by studying the book of nature, you learn about God. God Himself, they said, is the greatest scientist of all. Our science is merely interpretation, a chemistry professor from Abidjan stated during the group sessions: ‘We explain things in a certain way, but God sees the big picture. He knows what it’s all about.’

Elisabeth Yaoudam, professor of Literature at the University of Yaoundé: ‘I think the topic of Van den Toren and Bom’s research is interesting and relevant.

The obtained results show that in this “difficult” century, it is important to remind the students and teachers of the real place of faith in understanding science. I think that science and faith should not be open to heresies. Faith should portray realism as mother of all science and back up scientific research, which does not contradict divine sovereignty. Therefore, God is the author of science as a whole and they should be partners which complement each other mutually. That is the real place of faith in understanding science. Both science and faith involve a quest for the truth, but faith goes beyond palpable truth to bring mystery to light.’

For Van den Toren and Bom this shows that the Western model is not the only way – or the best way, for that matter – to look at these things. Bom states: ‘We found out, I think, that in this modern world – of which Africa expressly is a part – it is possible to have different discourses on these themes. You don’t have to completely separate your faith and your academic thinking. Our research shows how African scientists have this

integrated identity. It’s not that they don’t experience any conflict, but they still know who they are and where they stand on religion and science. They don’t skip from the former to the latter and back, as we do in the West.’ This long, hard look in, what Bom calls, ‘the African mirror’ made clear to them how science has become the norm in the West, even among Christians. Van den Toren points out: ‘As a Christian theologian or philosopher you may say that not everything can be known and proved scientifically. But in the meantime science has reached this unassailable status in Western culture: to be taken seriously faith has to imitate science or criticize science, and sometimes science graciously makes room for faith. You may call this cultural scientism. For academics in Africa, science is only a part of what their work involves. They find it is useful and interesting, but it does not determine their perspective on reality in the same way.’

Similarities and differences Aren’t these quite generic conclusions to derive from dialogue and debate within such small groups? How representative do they consider their research? ‘Of course it is not quantitative research’, Bom says: ‘But in this qualitative study of ours, where you work in different places and with such diverse groups, you get a pretty good idea of the recurring themes within the research group and what this represents in a wider sense.’ In the last round of conversations the same themes kept recurring, albeit in a slightly different way, Van den Toren remembers: ‘When you do this kind of research you know you have got more or less the complete picture when you stop hearing new things. By then you know the discourse. As qualitative research goes, this is very much representative for this research population, I’d say.’ But wouldn’t slightly differently composed groups have lead to different conversations and debates? ‘Well, we noticed that the conversation in the group of academics in Yaoundé changed when a new member appeared’, says Bom: ‘Until then the talks had been completely apolitical, but this man had very pronounced views – on the influence of colonialism on the scientific discourse, for example – which lead to other people in the group saying things they wouldn’t have said before. But with Group Model Building you factor this in. That’s the difference with conducting interviews: they yield more extreme views. With GMB the views of individual members are filtered out by the group. When one group member says something and the Issa Sali, physicist at the University others don’t recognize it, it does not end of Yaoundé: up in the model. You always find out if a certain view is shared by the group. That’s ‘As a researcher in the Laboratory of Biophysics I participated in the group what makes it representative. Of course sessions of Benno van den Toren and Klaas you can’t conclude that this is how all Bom. I think that a good use of academic Christian students and academics from work or scientific results can lead to the French-speaking Africa think. But that’s blossoming of faith and community wellimpossible anyway.’ being.’

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The research shows some interesting differences of opinion between the case-studies from the three African cities. For example, the Abidjan student group consisted of a relatively large number of students of Law and Philosophy. ‘If there was an undercurrent of laïcité anywhere, it was over there’, Bom says: ‘Their system of law is a copy of the French system. As a student you are trained in the logic behind it. With Philosophy you see something similar. France is, of course, a country where philosophical thought is very prominent. The teaching of Philosophy in Abidjan is heavily influenced by the French school of thought.’ In Yaoundé on the other hand, students, especially of the Humanities, showed some influences of Africanism, the belief that African traditions should predominate. For example, the use of Western languages is frowned upon.

What did those distinctions mean for the outcome?

Let’s take a closer look at the characteristics of the Three years of research discourses per university.

and formation resulted In Yaoundé students and academics share a positive in: 1 online survey 16 GMB sessions in Africa 35 hours of video and audio

taped material from the research sessions

5 conferences related to the

formation track at campuses in Africa

1 conference in Yaoundé about secularisation in Africa

1 conference for a wider

audience in The Netherlands (in cooperation with Forum-C)

1 academic conference in The Netherlands

9 papers on subtopics of the

research material (see appendix)

1 monograph (due for peer re-

view in Summer 2017; publication in 2018)

1 website with course material

on science and faith (sciencesetfoi.org)

1 book with course material on

science and faith (editionspba.org; due September 2017)

understanding of the contribution of science to faith, mainly because science and faith are understood as belonging together. The dominant identification is with Christian faith. In the student group from Yaoundé the understanding of science and faith is trapped between divergent appreciations of African cultures in the light of the Bible and an ambiguous understanding of science as a mostly Western and reductive way of knowing, but also alternatively framed as confirming Christian faith. They say that the search for a properly African understanding of science that is in line with the Bible remains inconclusive.

In Abidjan the differences in the discourse between students and academics were less distinct. Both focus on the compatibility of science and Christian faith; they see science and faith as closely related, with priority given to the perspective of faith. Traditional culture is often perceived as an obstacle to science. Science is understood as an enterprise foreign to traditional Africa and in this sense is closely related to Christian faith. The student group in Abidjan is ‘slightly inclined towards a separation of science and religion in order to create more space for the sciences’.

between ‘African’ and ‘Western’ is perceived as decisive. Culture is not used as an equivalent of tradition but often refers to the specific culture of Kinshasa.

So the groups are far from uniform but they all mention cultural differences as a point of attention. While culture, science and faith make up a natural unity, this is complicated by the complex relationship between ‘African’ and ‘Western’. ‘The postcolonial situation is therefore tangible in every discourse’, Van den Toren and Bom conclude.

Significance ‘With our research we have uncovered points of view, voices and experiences which can contribute to a broader debate on religion and science’, says Van den Toren: ‘And our research makes very clear that people from other cultural contexts should have a say in this debate.’ Not in the least because of the one-sidedness of this debate in the West, adds Bom: ‘In the West, even in the church, scientism is predominant. When someone is very ill, we pray for healing. But we stop doing that the moment the physician has given up on the patient. Then we pray for a peaceful passing away. In a way, it’s like the medical profession prescribes what we pray for in church.’ Van den Toren adds: ‘And when we pray for healing, the emphasis is on strength for the doctors involved.’ Bom: ‘We’re not saying this is a bad thing per se, but at the very least it is culturally determined. It couldn’t hurt to be a bit more critical in this respect.’

What have they learned themselves from their research project? ‘In your own life you have different cultural influences. Sometimes they can be at odds with each other, but it is important you handle them well. In this respect, Africa has become a role model for me. People in Africa know much better how to handle the different cultural influences in their lives’, Van den Toren says. Bom nods in agreement: ‘It is important to develop this attitude further, especially in our secular culture. As Christians in the West we no longer coincide completely with our culture. But we shouldn’t complain about it, but learn to live with it. And in the meantime, let’s not forget how many people participate in the global church...’

In Kinshasa the relation between science and faith is perceived as positive and part of the complex relation between culture and faith. The cultural difference 10

Groningen, Thursday April 20th. It’s the second day of the conference. After a first day which found the group of academics mostly ‘workshopping’ with the research results, the focus is now on the contribution the studied discourses can make to the science and religion debate, especially from a multicultural perspective. The subject is debated extensively until late in the afternoon.

Then a closing dinner awaits at the Prinsenhof restaurant. After that, most of the participants prepare for their journey back to Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom and, of course, other parts of the Netherlands. Van den Toren and Bom are left with piles of compliments, good advice, useful criticism and interesting new perspectives. No time to reflect on that – or for a well earned break, for that matter. The day after tomorrow both of them will travel to Amsterdam. In cooperation with Forum-C, the Dutch science and faith platform with a strong scientific profile, they will hold a public event on the same subject: the cultural impact on the science and religion debate.

Another conference awaits.

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Published articles (until September 2017) Klaas Bom & Benno van den Toren, 2017. “A Contribution to the Debate on Science and Faith by Christian Students from Abidjan.” Zygon, 52 (3).

Klaas Bom, 2017. ‘Perspectives alternatives sur la relation entre science et foi chrétienne de l’Afrique francophone’, Diathèke (FATEAC, Abidjan).

Klaas Bom, 2016. “Casus Kinshasa: Over de relatie tussen de antropologie van het christendom en systematische theologie.” Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift, 70, No. 2, 128139.

Benno van den Toren, 2016. “Secularisatie in Afrika: Een casestudie over het belang van de systematische theologie voor de religiewetenschappen.” Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift, 70, No. 2, 140-150.

Klaas Bom, 2016. “Afrikaanse spiegels voor Westers geloof in de wetenschap.” Radix. Tijdschrift voor geloof wetenschap en samenleving, 42, No.1, 4-14.

More articles and a monograph will be published in 2017 -2018.

Colophon This publication was made possible through the support of a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Text: Caspar Dullemond Photography: Part of this project Design: PThU / Annemarie van der Meulen Print: Veldman, IJsselmuiden