GEMS FROM THE PAST

It seems appropriate to cast our eye over past issues of ASA NEWS and pull a few choice ones out of the archives:

February, 1961 - At one of the finest regional meetings the ASA has held, at Johns Hopkins University, Dean Walter, as master of ceremonies, mentioned that he had heard someone say, "A Sputnik has come between me and my God." He then offered this from his own ball-point:

Then God looked down from His great sky And cast a sharp creative eye Down arches of the Milky Way On courses where the comets play, And asked from out the great abyss, Nhose funny little moon is this?"

April, 1961

"We are not interested in producing well-rounded men, but men with sharp, abrasive edges --- rebels with clear minds and unbowed consciences, critics of society, not adjusters to it.

it.... students will find themselves responsible for their own

education through independent study. Our aim is to render the

professor dispensable at the earliest possible moment. Our

university is a place of the mind, and the mind is an activity,

not a repository. In this spirit we invite students to come

learn with us."

Wheaton Alumni Magazine, quoted

by Dr. Arthur F. Holmes

"The amount of energy going into modern evangelism is fantastic but the impact of the gospel is, by and large, very small because of ineffectual communication. Further, the message is greatly distorted, not so much in orthodoxy, but in expressing the gospel in Western terms." Dr. William A. Smalley, in an address to ASA Convention at Houghton College.

                    "Psychologists are busy pulling habits out of rats!" Dr. Henry Weaver 
                    as reported by Dr. Russell Mixter

(Say, 1961 was a great year, wasn't it?)

MOTTO FOR THE DAY - "The greatest problem of communications
is the illusion it has achieved."
Technifax Corp.

TAINT SO DEPARTNENT - There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Henry M. Morris, co-author of THE GENESIS FLOOD, has anything to do with the TV program, PRICE IS RIGHT.

Let's just say his name was Smith. Smith was a young Bethel graduate on a train between Spokane and Seattle on his way to preach his first sermon in a Baptist church in Seattle. On the same train was Walt Hearn going to the ASA convention in Seattle. They became acquainted - Alas, too well, perhaps. As the train pulled to a stop, Walt saw his chance, run up to Smith's welcoming committee with his red beard flying, his khaki shorts flapping and his knapsack bouncing, put out his paw and said, "Howdy, folks, I'm Smith."

CONVENTION '69 ECHOES

"Why didn't somebody tell me about the American Scientific Affiliation sooner?" was a lament commonly heard at the 24th annual meeting of the ASA. It was clear that for many a young scientist there, El Dorado had been discovered. The only disappointment was that more members of the evangelical Christian community did not attend this most important aspect of the confrontation of Science and Religion.

Held at Gordon College, 30 miles from the traffic snarls of Boston, the program listed almost every current social problem. Each was discussed from a soundly evangelical and a soundly scientific position.

Harold Hartzler created the first fuss. Arriving with four ladies and too busy to give Iout with enough pertinent information, the poor girl at the registration desk wasn't able to find out whether there was a #1 or not. Come to find out they were all sisters and Harold escaped to his single room.

Workshop

The intended workshop for High School science teachers did not materialize as planned, but by !I o'clock a group rallied around Lawrence Nilson, Robert Herrmann and Elving Anderson and away they went, scheduled or not. Herrmann was trying to answer the question, "Can a Christian accept a mechanistic origin of life with the proposition that 'Christ holds in being all things'" There is a pattern of deeper meaning behind the realities we see: we need to look beyond. Nilson stressed the necessity of real involvement of the students in the "Web of Life" and he hopes for closer cooperation between departments of biology and social studies. "We must exercise our stewardship... a sense of interrelatedness is one of the primary goals of education for the ecological crisis."

A student from Nigeria explained the difficulties of getting good science teachers in Nigerian schools since industry tops the teacher's $1,000. per year by paying $4,000. He himself was motivated to study chemistry by an inspiring teacher. It would be helpful to supply science teachers directly with needed equipment rather than drain missionary budgets.

Science, Scripture and Social Issues

The session was opened by the program chairman, an itinerant by the name of Collins. He has moved again. Soon after getting settled at Conwell, the school decided to move with Gordon School of Divinity into a monastery at Wenham and Gary preferred to take his family to Trinity in Deerfield.

John Warwick Montgomery, flashing his Scotland imported ancestral tartan tie, threw fiery darts at the evangelical disorder of the day. "Why is it", he asked, "in light of the perspicuous teaching of Holy Scripture on Christian social responsibility, there still lingers what Carl F. H. Henry termed, over 20 years ago, 'the uneasy conscience of modern fundamentalism.' Why has not Henry's 'dawn of a new reformation', characterized by evangelical 'assault on social evils', not reached noonday brightness?" He pleaded that society must not disregard, as did Christians of the last century, important theological and social problems such as patent biblical teaching on the stewardship of creation. "Just as historical blind spots arose from the false identification of the status quo with God's will, so evangelical failings in the social realm today can be seen as the product of confusing Zeitgeist with the Word of God."

Hunger, Overpopulation and Birth control

Richard T. Wright stressed that the Christian must go well beyond "the cup of water" in helping to fight hunger and he sees a rather bleak outlook in political priorities right now. Merville 0. Vincent, of Homewood Sanatorium, discussed birth control, Via subject which is so brittle with disagreement." He asked, "can we afford to temper with nature ... and separate sex from reproduction? Though Scripture speaks of the sanctity of life, no where does it point out at what stage life begins."

Donald F. Munro, Russell Heddendorf and V. Elvin& Anderson discussed the book, "The Biological Time Bomb" by Gordon R. Taylor. They pointed out the necessity of an "international Joseph" and wondered if this might cause dictatorship or a 1984 situation. The only solution would be cooperation, but tastes are culturally bound. Heddendorf, who felt "like an Egyptian mummy, pressed for time", stated that chemical control of emotions, e.g., mood control by drugs or alcohol, produces a social equilibrium, but the individual has a responsibility to society to be himself. Mood drugs separate social and psychological factors. Physical scientists need to understand the social impacts of their work. Some of the more fearsome implications: (1) raising intelligence to a controlled level by implantation of knowledge (who would like to be in Education if IQ 150 could be implanted with electrodes?), (2) indefinite extension of life span, (3) genetic manipulations (man amplifiers - especially for athletes). The socio-economic consequences would be staggering.

Elving Anderson raised the question, "Is sex necessary?" Technology leads to the restructuring the hierarchy of values. If tissue cultures could be used for reproduction, how would you feel about raising your own identical twin? Who makes the decisions? Quoting Taylor: "Moral systems which preserve pre-rational tribal tabus because they are deeply ingrained unconscious prejudices and seek to endorse these with divine authority will simply be overtaken by events as they have always been in moments of crisis...The institutions which support them will either transform themselves or become obsolete."

Pollution

The subject was really introduced the night before when a truck spewing forth smoke for mosquito control drove through the campus!

Wayne Ault pointed out that pollution "is a patient assassin." The 40 tons of soot per month per square mile falling on us as flyash could be made into cement and bricks.

Presidential Address

Charles Hatfield, Jr., stated "Man understands so many things, but not himself.... The universities of our time are rather diversities .... nowadays you do not buy a man, you buy his time ... the worth of man7lies in synthesis: what man is capable of doing. Walk humbly with God... conduct has to be persistent ... we are rooted in love that is eternal and unchanging... we are assured it is unchanging by God Himself."

Space Exploration

Rodney,W. Johnson presented Apollo 8 and 11 film records to a meeting attended by many unregistered guests. He concluded his in4roduction to the films by stating that a Christian need not fear that science will find anything in space that would disagree with the Bible. The Word of truth will be challenged, but it will measure up. The important question is whether we Christian men of science will measure up to the challenge.

Morning_Devotional

Irving Cowperthwaite, on Wednesday morning, stated, "Time flows in opposite direction of events ... the present is only momentary. Life is made up of great moments and the time in between... The ASA can be a great moment for those in secular enviroments.

The American Student and Student Unrest

John A. McIntyre insisted he was selected for this topic because his campus (Texas A&M) has the largest ROTC unit! John T. Roscoe summarized the results of studies on 17 assorted college and University campuses. The answers to political, social and religious questions were all over the place, but the common core: rather conservative with racial tolerance and moral responsibility showing through. "Those who are distinctly committed to a Christian perspective are very much in evidence, but in the minority, perhaps k of the total."

Gary Collins pointed out that 95 to 99% of college students never riot but go about amassing credits for degrees. Dividing rioters into four groups, all reject present day values of society. "There is a spiritual vacuum", he said, "but science and humanities have no answers."

Mental Illness

With a majestic beard that outranked Frank Cassel's goatee, Norvell Peterson discussed mental illness and stated that spiritual relationship does make a difference in treatment. Psychadelic drugs save taxpayers money since patients can be treated ambulatory. Sly looks were exchanged throughout the audience as he said that one in ten are mentally or emotionally ill. Any suicide attempt is a cry for help. There is a difference between mental illness and "demon possession."
Project EAST

A fascinating bonus was a first chance for many to look at Project EAST (Electronic Answering Search Technology) which is the "New Story of the Computer, the Church and Christian Schools." Within three minutes, the man from CRI (Christian Research Institute) located, by means of tele-communication with a New York computer, all New Testament (New English Bible) texts containing the words "Isaiah" and "salvation" within ten lines (two: Acts 28 and Romans 10) and "Jesus" and "hand" (not hands) within five lines (nine: all in Matthew 3:8-9). Project EAST eventually plans to provide automation of practical Christian apologetics. Thus the Church will be strengthened, being able to "give an answer to every man", and may yet win its age old battle against skepticism, agnosticism and atheism. Further information on this is available from 116 Surrey Drive, Wayne, New Jersey 07074.

BOOK

The word has it that a book will be published covering the papers presented at this convention. We will have to wait for this book or papers in the Journal to cover the other subjects not reported above such as:

My Friend, The Enemy
Civil Rights
Changing Themes in the American Ethos
Civil Disobedience
Poverty

Acknowledgements:

We are very grateful to Dr. Marie Berg, Metropolitan State Junior College, Minneapolis, for reporting on the convention. She has worked hard on this at considerable personal inconvenience. Thanks also to Dr. Elizabeth Zipf, for her help and to Dr. J. G. Ashwin, whose press release has been extensively quoted.

JOB OPPORTUNITY

A letter has been received from Robert B. Fischer, Dean, California State College, Dominguez Hills, California 90247. We quote below.

It seems that we are always recruiting for mathematicians and I wonder if you may have any suggestions for us concerning possible applicants. Right now our Mathematics Department includes six full time faculty members along with several part-timers from nearby industries. A seventh full time professor found it necessary to resign just before fall classes started, which made it necessary for us to rely even more heavily upon part-time persons than we really wanted to do. Accordingly, we could make a regular appointment to start with either the winter or spring quarter this year, additional appointments will no doubt be needed for next fall. I would surely appreciate any suggestions which you may be able to pass on to us. We are interested in both experienced persons and the newcomers to the profession.

LOCAL SECTION NEWS

Southern California Section:

The Southern California group has recently elected the following new members to their Executive Committee.

Jerry D. Albert
Dept. of Pathology
University Hospital
San Diego

John Abernethy
Dept. of Chemistry
Cal-Poly
Pomona

The continuing members are:

Craig R. Allen
Naval Undersea Warfare
Microelectronics
San Diego

CHAMBERS TO INDONESIA

Willard F. Harley, Jr. Dept. of Psychology Westmont College Santa Barbara

Harold Key
Dept. of Anthropology
Cal-State
Long Beach

R. Clyde McCone
Dept. of Anthropology
Cal-State
Long Beach

Donald Tweedie
Counseling Center
Fuller Theological Seminary
Pasadena

Ralph Winter
School of World Mission
Fuller Theological Seminary
Pasadena

Dr. M. J. Chambers has left his teaching position at the University of Calgary and is enroute for Indonesia where he and his wife will be working as missionaries with Overseas Missionary Fellowship. At first they will be involved with young people's work in a large church in West Java,, but later he hopes to teach part-time in the Agriculture Faculty of Indonesian National University, Bogor. They will pause at the OMF compound in Singapore for language instruction. "I have found my membership in the ASA most helpful and stimulating", he writes, "I would like to maintain my connection with the Association."

A TIME FOR ACTION.... by Dr. H. Harold Hartzler, Executive Secretary, ASA.

All members and friends of the ASA who were in attendance at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Convention, held at Gordon College, were repeatedly told that Christians need to be vitally concerned about social issues etc. etc.

Most of us agree that a great need exists, but the important question remains, What am I doing about social ills such as poverty, war, civil disobedience$ pollution, mental illness, hunger and overpopulation? The writer believes that the time for action is now.

If ASA members really are those "who have made a personal commitment of themselves and their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior", then they should individually and collectively attempt to seriously follow His example as shown in the Gospel narratives.

Tom Skinner, writing in the September issue of the ASA Journal, asks the question, "Where is the Church?" He classifies church members as either pseudo-existentialists or hyper-Christians. The latter he describes as Bible-believing, fundamental orthodox conservative, evangelical Christians who have a Bible verse for every social problem. This may be a fair description of many ASA members. Tom goes on to say of such a Christian, "But he would never get involved. If you told him that a place like Harlem existed, he would give you some typical Christian clichÈ', but he, himself, would never go to Harlem to administer what he considered the dose of salvation."

As John Warwick Montgomery stated in an open discussion at Gordon College, "We need to get down on our knees, repent of our sins, and ask for God's help as we tackle some of these great social problems. Again the writer says that the time for action is now. It is so easy to do nothing to help in great need and so very difficult to pitch in and go to work.

Some specific suggestions follow: (1) each member can perform work which will help to alleviate some of the social ills in his own community, state or nation, (2) some can join the Peace Corps and thus help other people and help promote a better understanding of other people, (3) some can join the SSRS (Society for Social Responsibility in Science), "a body of scientific workers organized to foster throughout the world a tradition of personal, moral responsibility for the consequences to humanity of professional activity, with emphasis on constructive alternative to militarism", (4) some may wish to participate in the activities of the "Council for A Livable World." This organization unites committed American citizens in a sustained effort to reduce the risk of a nuclear war and to bring about arms control, disarmament and world order, (5) subscribe to the Newsletter edited and published by Charles A. Wells of Princeton, New Jersey. Mr. Wells gives many practical suggestions for those Christians who are interested in performing social good deeds. (6) Read the report by Frank Goble entitled "Return to Responsibility" published by the Thomas Jefferson Research Center of Pasadena, California. Their research showed currently accepted theories of behavior are hopelessly inadequate to deal with modern social problems. (7) Send any ideas and suggestions of what the ASA can do as an organization in meeting social needs to the National office. Perhaps the ASA can really do something instead of just talking about social problems.

KNOBLOCH IN THE GRASS

Dr. Irving 14. Knobloch, Professor of Botany, Michigan State University, recently published a paper on a plant which normally grows only in the Southwest which he found enconsed on a mountain in Virginia! A second paper reported for the first time a new species of fern. Still a third paper from his well-chewed pencil reported on the relationships existing in ferns between spore abortion (is this legal?), apogamy (I know this isn't) and hybridization.

Irving attended two congresses in 1969, one in Seattle, Washington, and the other in Monterrey, Mexico. His new book, "A Check List of Crosses in the Gramineae" is receiving wide publicity since the number of hybrids in the grasses has not been known up to this time.

LINDBERG FLIES AGAIN

This is really a testimonial to warm the cockles of an editor's heart from Dr. David C. Lindberg of U. of Wisconsin.

"Eighteen months ago I had an item inserted in the news letter regarding the History of Science program at Wisconsin, with such favorable results that I would like to try again!" Okay, same rates.

The Department of the History of Science at Wisconsin is the oldest and largest of its kind in the United States, including ten faculty members and forty graduate students. All fields are represented, including biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy,, medicine, pharmacy, and the social sciences, and the chronological span is from antiquity to the twentieth century. Students are admitted from a variety of backgrounds, including specific sciences, history, and philosophy. Every attempt is made to accommodate individual backgrounds and interests; we have even arranged quite a few joint Ph.D.'s with other departments. Our graduates have been placed in all kinds of positions, such as history departments, science departments, general science or general humanities programs, and departments of history of science or history and philosophy of science. Others have become museum curators and science writers.

David's own work is in history of medieval and early modern physics and also in science and religion between antiquity and the end of the seventeenth century. Others on the faculty are also interested in science and religion. Anyone interested in further information can obtain a descriptive brochure by writing to Prof. David C. Lindberg, Department of History of Science, South Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

MIXTER HONORED

Dr. Russell L. Mixter, Professor of Zoology at Wheaton College lo those many moons, has been named TEACHER OF THE YEAR. Honors like this are nice, but tenuous. The $500 check along with the honor is both NICE and material! Russ was cited, "for excellence as a teacher, a scholar, a Christian gentleman, and a genuine friend of students. One whose love for teaching and for people has kept him young over a career spanning forty years at Wheaton." This would look great on a tombstone, too.

FUTURE CONVENTIONS

Plan the family vacation with the following data in mind:

1970 - Bethel College

St. Paul, Minnesota

• Physical Science - Dewey Carpenter
  
• Biology - Donald Munro
  
• Philosophy - Peter A. Pay

1971 - Whitworth College 17-20 August
Spokane, Washington

PERSONALS