‘A Fresh Pentecostal Engagement with the Sciences’ from French-speaking Africa

Abstract

Abstract Although US Pentecostalism has traditionally been characterized by unease towards science, due to socio-economic positioning and theological stances, Pentecostals like James Smith and others have recently launched a ‘fresh engagement with the sciences’. The feasibility of his proposal is discussed in this article. Based on the contributions of four Pentecostal participants in the research project “Science and Religion in French-speaking Africa,” the author argues that their perspectives are not coloured by naturalism, which according to Smith is one of the main limiting factors to traditional US Pentecostal engagement with science. Consequently certain expressions of African Pentecostalism would be open to Smith’s proposal. Nevertheless, the author argues that both the African and the US cultural contexts need to be taken into account more seriously. Such an approach reveals that in both contexts the possibilities for a fresh Pentecostal engagement with the sciences are more limited than Smith suggests.