NEWSLETTER
of the
AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION
VOLUME 21 NUMBERS 4,
5
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1979
DID I MISS SOMETHING?
If you're asking that question about the
ASA/CSCA Newsletter because you
haven't heard from us since June, the answer is "No." Primarily for financial reasons in the wake of the May 15 fire at our
Elgin (Illinois) headquarters, the executive
council decided we should skip an issue this
year. For the benefit of librarians and
others who might lose sleep over a missing
number, we've declared this a double issue
even if it doesn't turn out to be twice the
size of a regular one.
But if you're asking that question because you didn't attend the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation at Stanford University, August 10-13, the answer is "You sure did!" But don't lose sleep over it. Just mark the second weekend in August on your 1980 to attend the 35th ASA Annual Meeting at Taylor University in Upland, IN.
NEWS THAT SPRINTS TO FITOne reason this issue is late is that the editor was busy writing news stories on the Stanford meeting for Christianity Today, Moody Monthly, and Science. Looks like we need not have bothered, although CT says they may use some of our stuff in a major article on energy later on. We know what it's like to run out of room for good stories. We do it all the time.
But hold the presses! Stephen Board, executive editor of Eternity magazine, attended the whole 1979 meeting and says there'll be a story and picture in his October issue. Meanwhile a one-page story by Steve has already appeared in the Evangelical Newsletter, published bi-weekly' by Evangelical Ministries, Inc., and associated with Eternity. Under the title "Christians in Science" Steve noted the World Council of Churches conference on "Faith, Science, and the Future lat M.I.T. in July and the Anaheim (California) Creation Convention of the Bible-Science Association in August as well as our own Annual Meeting. Having done his homework, he gave a good summary of the different approaches of the three meetings.
We hope Evangelical Newsletter won't mind our reprinting below most of what Steve Board said about our Stanford meeting. Since we had something to do with the program, modesty (or exhaustion?) keeps us from telling you how great it was ourselves. No doubt we'll recover soon and add our own observations.
SOME OF WHAT YOU MISSED"The ASA meeting at Stanford turned first to the problems of nuclear energy. drawing on such members as David Willis. a radiation biologist at Oregon State, and Joel Cannon, a nuclear engineer in Idaho. He and other speakers lamented the sloganeering and emotionalism that had obscured the validity of nuclear energy in public dialogue. The risks, it was frequently noted, for nuclear were better than for other forms of power, such as coal. Willis recalled that he had been approached by an Oregon group to oppose a Columbia River nuclear project because of radioactive wastes put in the river. But when he heard the amounts involved, he noted that ' put more than that down my laboratory drain.'
"There was little vocal opposition to this confidently pro-nuclear outlook, but all sides at the ASA meeting agreed that the political reality reduced atomic power's chances for the immediate future. Instead a modest reliance on nuclear plus a stronger confidence in coal could be expected for the next twenty years: nuclear is too expensive and too disliked to figure prominently in the North American energy picture.
"Despite the opinion of Richard Bube,
ASA Journal editor and Standford prof. presently researching solar cells, that
probably earth was not intended to support
our lifestyle, no one expects North Americans
to voluntarily gear down their consumption
in the face of imminent shortages. Political
scientist Stanley Moore of Pepperdine
U. offered no prospect for a strategic
shift in national policy, given our existing
shortsighted political system. Materials
scientist Jack Swearengen soberly listed
the significant metals necessary for
energy with the dates of critical shortages all within 30 years. "If there isn't
a war over oil, there will be one over
minerals." Southern Africa, he noted,
had all the cobalt and chrome. That
region will match OPEC for international
leverage.
"Even though the convention agreed
with one speaker who said 'we have no
reason to believe the right energy technology
will arrive just when we need it,' the
apocalyptic outlook was offset by a solar
engineer, Ken Touryan of Colorado, who reported some innovations in developing countries for sun power.
"In other topics, the ASA this year took
up the research in teaching language
to chimpanzees, including the widely-publicized experiments on the Stanford
campus. Some of the traditional uniqueness
of human beings seems to be shared with
animals; lacking is a sense of reverence
toward a God and an ethical sense. Brooks
Alexander, of the Spiritual Counterfeits
Project in Berkeley, reported the effort
of occult and Eastern advocates to coopt science, notably in the holistic health
movement, psychology and TM. An
earlier speaker by contrast predicted
that Christianity had an inside edge in
the technological challenges of the future,
because of its openness to experimentation,
unlike the East. The skids to the f uture
are greased for Christianity by science,
it was declared, observing that the 38
million test animals now in U.S. laboratories
would never be tolerated by Eastern
world views."
Steve Board also described our Affiliation quite accurately, including our openness on questions over which Christian opinion is divided. Contrasting our meeting with both the WCC conferences and the BibleScience convention, he saw that ASA represents "a middle way" and that our meetings are for "fellowship more than formal pronouncements." According to Steve Board, by the way, Evangelical Newsletter goes to about 5,000 "leader type individuals in the Christian world." For a subscription ($12 U.S.A., $14 elsewhere), write to Evangelical Ministries, Inc., 1716 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19103. (We figure if we give them a free ad they won't mind our quoting so extensively from their publication. Sometimes forgiveness is easier to come by than permission, -Ed.)
THE GIST, WITH A TWISTASA president Kurt Weiss added a new twist to the Annual Meeting program by giving a public address on Sunday afternoon. The audience, including a number of visitors from the Stanford area, was moved by Kurt's account of how a few members of his family escaped the Nazi holocaust. Born a Jew in the Catholic city of Graz, Austria, Kurt was arrested at age 15 and sent to the concentration camp at Dachau. After three weeks he was released and almost miraculously escaped with his father, mother, and brother to England and then to America. Equally miraculous, said Kurt, was his discovery in 1943 of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Kurt's personal Savior, after having suffered much abuse by people who called themselves Christians.
We suspect that Dick Bube's lectures will appear "in some journal or other" so you'll get to read them eventually. Meanwhile some of Kurt's personal story can be found in a chapter he contributed to a 1971 Tyndale House paperback, The New Jews edited by James C. Hefley. It's a powerful story, and like the devotions we had together each morning, drew us together in Christ in spite of any disagreements we may have had about energy, evolution, or what have you.
EVERYBODY'S BUSINESSWe'll find room in the Newsletter for most of them sooner or later.
Bill Sisterson has a new title. Instead of executive secretary" he's now ASA's "executive director." That's what's known in academic circles as a "dry raise," but it will keep Bill from having to explain to some people that he's not the boss's secretary, he is the boss. Our real secretary, Doris Parker, was missed this year's registration desk. Doris has resigned to move to Seattle and serve the Lord in new ways.
Everyone was interested in the executive
director's report on the effects of the
office fire on our operations and our finances. Replacement costs may run to
about twice what our insurance policy paid.
Some things are irreplaceable, such as back
issues of JASA from 1975 to date. Issues
from 1949--to--1974 were stored elsewhere,
and the reprint collection Origins and Change was stored at the printers. (If you
have surplus copies of JASA, the office
would be glad to receive them.
Gifts from the membership after Kurt
Weiss's letter about the fire rescued the
ASA from financial disaster. Operating
the office from the basement of Bill
Sisterson's home (P. 0. Box 862, Elgin, IL
60120; same phone as before) has cut expenses somewhat, but some income-producing activities were also cut into by the
fire. Bill estimated that we are running
about $7,000 behind budget; a collection
taken up on the spot brought in about $900
toward that deficit.
The new policy permits an ASA member to give anyone an introductory (one-time only) gift membership at half the cost of the dues or an introductory--subscription to the Journal at half price. Student gift memberships; remain at $7.50, the student dues rate. Dues f or associates are now $16, for members $22, and for fellows $30. Subscriptions to JASA are $15 for individuals, $25 for libraries. Thus a contribution of $7.50 pays for a student membership, $8 for an introductory associate membership, or $11 for an introductory full membership; you can give an introductory subscription to a friend for $7.50 or to a friendly library f or $12.50.
The IRS says ASA can't give you a tax deductible receipt for a gift designated for an individual. But you can send a check to ASA marked "scholarship fund," gift membership fund," or "gift subscription fund" and then in a separate envelope send in your "nominations." Although they won't be obligatory on the ASA, there is no reason why the Elgin office wouldn't honor your nominations.
Got the picture? Now think of a few close friends who ought to be members of ASA (full members must sign the statement ofThe Stanford meeting, put together almost completely from submitted papers, showed the kinds of strength we have: unity in Christ, diversity in outlook, competence in many areas, and "a touch of grace" in our dealings with others. Let's be encouraged and grateful as we build on that--and as we spread the word about ASA.
The Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation is definitely one of our strengths, earning us recognition outside our own membership. We should keep it strong. Editor Dick Bube wants to remind authors of papers from the Stanford meeting to submit them for possible publication in JASA. The Journal is strongest when the editor can select papers from a good supply to put together a particular issue. Manuscripts should go to: Richard H. Bube, Editor JASA, 753 Mayfield Ave., Stanford, CA 94305.Reaching out to the scientific community through the initiative of Ross Donovan, CSCA had a slot in the program of the 11th International Congress of Biochemistry held in Toronto, July 8-13. The display case and lots of brochures were on hand to explain what CSCA is all about. An "evening with CSCA11 was set up in the Royal York Hotel.
We haven't heard yet whether CSCA managed to attract any of the relatively large number of visitors from Iron Curtain countries who attended the Congress, but they were in there trying.
Not only that, but the Canadians are extensively revising their successful 4-yearold tape/slide show on Creation and Evolution. John Miller of Ste-Foy, Quebec wrote systematic suggestions for revision and Lance Nordstrom and Elizabeth McKinley of the Ui1versity in Toronto are spearheading the project.
CSCA ANNUAL MEETING FEATURES MacKAY
The Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation has planned an outstanding conference on the theme "Science, Chance, and Providence," to be held in Toronto on November 1-3 in connection with the 1979 CSCA Annual Membership Meeting. On that Thurday and Friday, Professor Donald M. MacKay, head of the Research Department of Communication and Neuroscience at the University of Keele in England, will give three public lectures at various colleges of the U. of Toronto. On Saturday, morning and afternoon lectures by three other speakers at Yorkminster Park Church in Toronto will be followed by the Membership Meeting at 4:30 p.m.MacKay, whose book Human Science & Human Dignity has just been released by Intervarsity Press (for sale through the ASA office - see back page of this issue) will lecture on "Brain, Consciousness, and Will," on "The Theology of Natural Science," and on "Fragmented Man: Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again."
The Saturday lecturers will be Rev. Charles Jackson, director of Christian education of Yorkminster Park Church, on "Lord of Scripture and Nature"; Robert VanderVennen, executive director of the Institute for-Christian Studies, on "Brain Mechanics and the Defense of Human Dignity"' and Daniel Osmond, associate professor of psychology at the U. of Toronto and president of CSCA, on "Freedom and Responsibility."Registration for the Saturday conference, November 3, should be made through Dr. Ian Taylor, Dept. of Anatomy, Medical Sciences Bldg., U. of Tornoto, I King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S IA8, Canada. Registration is $5 ($3 for a student or senior citizen) and lunch is a separate $3. Ian's office telephone is 416-9782642 (if no answer, call Rev. Jackson at 416-922-1169 or 416-425-8848).
AAAS MEETS-SAN FRANCISCO JAN 3-8At press time we're not sure if ASA members who usually attend AAAS meetings are planning a breakfast or other get-together. We don't know even if ASA local section honchos have recovered from hosting the Stanford meeting enough to plan something special.
But if you're coming to San Francisco for the AAAS meeting, drop Wait Hearn a note at 762 Arlington Ave., Berkley, CA 94707, or call him after you get to the Bay area at 415-527-3056. He'll think of something, even if it's only to suggest some churches to visit on Sunday. Aw, shucks, let's think of something right now. How about Saturday evening 8-10 p.m., January 5, for ASA Fellowship at the Troll House, 762 Arlington Ave., in Berkeley 'cross the Bay? If Bay Area Rapid Transit is shut down, as it often is, take an F bus from the S.F. Transbay Terminal (First & Mission Sts.) to Berkeley, get off at the corner of Alameda & Solano. Find Indian Rock Path on NE corner, walk up it three blocks to Arlington, turn left for a few blocks to 762. Easy. Meet the Berkeley ASAers for refreshments and conversation. (Alternative: from downtown Berkeley BART station, cross Center St., take No. 7 bus using free transfer from BART, ask driver to let you off on Arlington at Thousand Oaks, walk half a block down to 762.)
Another opportunity for Christian fellowship is the vigorous young New College for Advanced Christian Studies in Berkeley, which will be starting winter quarter classes on Monday, January 7. Visit a class or the Tuesday noon chapel service, at 2606 Dwight Way. New College telephone is 415-841-9386. The college occupies the first floor of a building on the campus of the American Baptist Seminary of the West. About 30 diploma students are enrolled and there's a lot of excitement about the place. (Easy walk from downtown Berkeley BART station or Shattuck and Dwight Way stop of F bus.)
THE GREAT EINSTEIN CONTROVERSYChappell accused the American Journal of Physics of editorial interferance for refusing to print "a large file of unpublished and constantly increasing protests" against the Special Theory of Relativity (including, no doubt, one by J. E. Chappell?). "WHY do physicists within the established order engage in continual self-delusion as to the degree of experimental proof backing up STR?...Why do they treat the expanding universe theory as proven fact, when it rests on only one slender thread of evidence which must be interpreted by relativistic dogma? ... "
Gosh, we didn't know physics was as lively as biology and geology! We always thought "THE GREATEST SELF-DECEPTION IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE" had something to do with fossils.
THINKING CHRISTIANLYThe 50-page booklet is designed especially for upper-division and graduate students on secular campuses, but all students would benefit from Kenn's perspective on their perspectives at the university. Faculty members may find Thinking Christianly useful in introducing students to that theme as well as to pertinent books, organizations, and periodicals.
For copies at $1.50 each, write to Kenn Hermann, Center for Christian Studies, Box 2336, Station A, Champaign, IL 60180.
CHRISTIANITY 101?Bob has heard claims that evangelical students are being "brainwashed" in secular classrooms and wonders how valid they are. How widespread are college courses on secular campuses that treat the Christian religion, or some aspect of it, in a serious way rather than as something to be debunked? How could the number of such courses be increased? What "works" in setting up such courses and what doesn't work? In Bob's experience, Christian students seem willing to put a lot more time and effort into something for which they receive college credit (and a grade) than into even an outstanding Sunday school class. And of course, many Sunday school classes, even at the college level, aren't outstanding. Bob is suggesting that iFm-ay be easier for a Christian teacher to develop a good course on the Christian faith at a place where study is emphasized, even if the institution is officially indifferent to faith, than at an evangelical church where Christians seem indifferent to serious
study! We've tried it in both environments and think he has a point. A third alternative is to set up a separate institution dedicated to both faith and learning, i.e. a Christian college. Historically, the tension has continued as Christian colleges begin to serve a wider clientele; Harvard may represent one end of the spectrum and Bible colleges the other, with durable evangelical liberal arts colleges in between. Since most North American students now attend secular colleges and universities, a recent trend is to set up a Christian school taking faith and learning with equal seriousness at the graduate level. Examples are Toronto's Institute For Christian Studies, Vancouver's Regent College, College Park's C.S. Lewis Institute, and Berkeley's New College for Advanced Christian Studies. - Ed.)
Bob Griffiths would like to hear from ASA/CSCA members in response to the questions he's asking (address Robert B. Griffiths, Physics Dept., Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213). If you write to Bob about your own experiences in setting up a course, send us a copy for HOW TO START SOMETHING. Held like to hear from "consumers" of Christian and secular education, too; students who write to him about their experiences should send us a copy for LIFE IN THE REAL WORLD.
LIFE IN THE REAL WORLD. No. 4
Students in science curricula sometimes
feel they grind away in lab courses while
other undergraduates have an easy life.
Graduate students in scientific fields get
depressed or discouraged when experiments
go wrong, when they have to put in months
of tedious analytical work, or when they
operate under the pressure of being
scooped by other investigators. Yet, if
we're careful to follow established procedures as far as they take us, we can have
confidence in the power of the experimental method to take us further. And
other scientists who evaluate our work will
be able to understand it and accept it,
whoever we are, wherever we do the work.
Grad students in science can expect criticism of weak points when they present their results, but they know that the professors on their committee will respect those results. Good experimental work stands on its own. Students who have done enough work and drawn careful conclusions have confidence that their dissertations will be accepted. Outside of science, that's not always true. To help us appreciate what's good about science, here's part of a letter from a friend in the "real world" of the humanities, slightly altered to protect the author, still (after 18 years!) a Ph.D. candidate:
"I have been disappointed (and upset) by the response of my adviser, who, it seems more than likely, is probably not going to grant me or anyone else a degree at all, ever. Af ter all there was a Ph.D. granted by my department last June.
It was the first since 1968. There have been only five granted in the department since about 1950.
"The woman who received her degree
in June had been here for 12 years (including
her M.A. work) and now she cannot find
a job at all. She has interviewed at four
different schools, including Yale, Minnesota,
and Illinois, but only for one-year positions
with no renewals possible (while a regular
faculty member is away). She was one
of 60 applicants for the job at Yale and
one of 80 at Minnesota. After talking
with other job-seekers at two placement
meetings, she f eels that our faculty counts
for almost nothing in its reputation among
other schools. After 12 years she has a
degree in which no one is interested. She
is angry.
"My adviser will only read my chapter I
and will not go on with what I have written
until he accepts that first chapter. He and
I have a basic philosophical difference on a
definition fundamental to my thesis. So I
will now have to alter my definition in
chapter 1, which will no doubt affect the
rest of the thesis. Also, I think he is
annoyed that I went to someone else in the
department a year ago to get my adviser to
read the dissertation--which I had originally written four years ago.
"Now I've rewritten a new dissertation following my adviser's guidelines and suggestions chapter by chapter and my adviser still won't read the whole. We have the same disagreement over definition, which I thought I had cleared up at the time I started rewriting. He is annoyed to see a completed dissertation without his having corrected and edited and torn it apart at every step along the way in weekly meetings. That's what he proposed to do now, but he still will not say whether the topic is acceptable--or whether it has any chance of being accepted at any time in the future.
"I was provoked when he said that my dissertation exists 'only in the realm of the possible' when it was sitting on his desk unread. That is exactly what he did f our years ago, until I went to someone else in the department to ask if at least my work couldn't get a reading before I had to begin on an entirely new topic. His giving me no guarantee that I could ever be successful (that is, pleasing to him) puts me in a quandry. I started graduate school in 1961. I ask myself, 'How much of one's life is it worth? On the other hand, having spent so much of my life in graduate school already, what's another year or two?
"At any rate, I have set myself to rewrite (again) the first chapter. I'll take things a chapter at a time, meanwhile paying over $400 tuition per quarter to the university. When I asked my adviser f or his advice about whether I should continue to invest more of my life in this project he would only say that he was in no position to counsel students and that I would have to decide my life-goals and priorities for myself!
"The last year I took classes, 1970, I recall that he said, 'Write anything. The dissertation is only a formality. You have a right to a degree and to being able to make a living.' On another occasion he said, 'The dissertation means nothing. It takes 20 years after the dissertation before you can be a scholar.' I sometimes wonder whether he can really be serious that the small problems we work on--studies of this or that author, and all the other little topics to which students devote their life-substance and the best years of their lives-mean very much at all. It's all been a pointless waste of years, and I attribute some of the blame to the educational establishment.
"So, I would appreciate your prayers that I make the right decision in the next several months either to continue with the dissertation or to give it up. If I do give it up I'll try to get my ideas read by someone else in the field away f rom here, and also try to get a chapter or two published in one of the more well-thought-of journals in our field. I think it would be amusing to have a dissertation accepted for publication after it had been refused by a professor. I'm sure it must have happened before."
TO REACH THE UN-REACHEDEarlier this year we were impressed with a book entitled Unreached Peoples '79 (Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook,, 1978. 349 pp., paper, $5.95). It is edited by C. Peter Wagner, who chairs the Strategy Working Group of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, and our own Edward R. Dayton, founder of the Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center (MARC) of World Vision International. The book gave us a sense of getting down to the business of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ "to every creature." It contained several good articles on missionary strategy, four case studies of evangelizing a particular "people group," expanded descriptions of about 80 groups as yet un-reached (defined as less than 20% practicing Christian), and finally a compilation of 666 un-reached people groups listed five different ways (by name, receptivity, principal religion, language, and country).
At the ASA Annual Meeting we met R. Boyd Johnson, new at MARC, who told us Unreached Peoples '79 is only the first in a planned series. Each book will focus on a particular theme presenting a different way of viewing world evangelism. Unreached Peoples 80 (to be released this December) will concentrate on Muslims (a religion), Unreached Peoples '81 on Asia (a geographical region), and Unreached Peoples 82 on urban peoples (a sociological grouping).Boyd says that Unreached Peoples '80 will have the same 4 parts as the first volume, only by now the number of people groups f or which MARC has data is over 2,0001 Ed Dayton and Peter Wagner make a convincing case f or basing mission strategy on cultural groups. Although one may be discouraged at first because there are so many of them, their relative homogeneity or isolation actually makes them more "reachable" with the gospel. An example of a North American group considered in the 179 volume is the 50,000 people who live ;in-d work at racetracks in the U.S.
Although the registry of unreached groups will be cumulative in each succeeding volume, that's the only way they'll overlap. World-minded Christians will probably want to have the whole series at their finger tips and prayer tips.
HOW TO SERVE GOD OVERSEAS. No-8public, provides information and orientation to help Christians become self-supporting (or "non- professional") missionaries overseas.
Directing the work of OCS is Ruth Siemens, an IVCF missions staff "member at large." She was asked to start OCS because the first six of her 21 years overseas were self-supporting (in elementary school administration), and because she discovered so much interest on a long speaking tour on her last leave before moving back to the U.S. What was supposed to be a part-time job mushroomed. Ruth has been able to burrow out f rom under hundreds of applications f or overseas secular jobs only by computerizing the whole service. A Christian who has his own computer firm has provided that service free of charge (thus "serving God overseas without even leaving the country).The Overseas Counseling Service is not a placement service but a source of information. Applicants receive lists of potential job sources from 35 different types of organizations that regularly hire Americans for overseas positions. Job data are coded in 54 main career areas, with over 430 job descriptions. Although most of these are in developing countries, the self-supporting missionary concept applies to the rest of the world, too. For example, Western Europe is even less evangelized than Eastern Europe (France has more Muslims than practicing Christians!), and less open to professional missionary work. OCS data are coded according to 12 major regions of the world (including over 230 countries and territories). Many of the jobs can be done in English, although learning the local language is necessary f or an effective Christian ministry.
Applicants to OCS who indicate they can be free to go overseas within a year have their personal data keyed into the computer so they receive information about current openings abroad. After a person accepts a position overseas, OCS can often help with (1) information about that country and Christian work within it, (2) a bibliography of selected Christian and secular books about the country, and (3) liaison with Christians already serving there.
OCS doesn't duplicate the work of INTERCRISTO, which helps people find positions with mission boards and other Christian organizations. OCS concentrates on salaried, secular positions abroad, but does not include mission-board openings for people with technical training. University teaching is the area in which OCS has most information. In both university and secondary school teaching the fields in most demand are math, any of the sciences, industrial arts, and English as a foreign language.
Doesn't that sound like ASA/CSCA members? Incidentally, Ruth Siemens says she
would welcome help at her booth at the
IVCF Urbana Missionary Convention, December 27-31, from any of you who have
had experience in technical work overseas.
So many students at Urbana 176 had questions about the opportunities and problems
that the 12 people she had helping her were
swamped. She will be giving one of the
plenary session talks at Urbana '79 on "New
Avenues for Missionary Work." Ruth is
also writing a book on the self-supporting
missionary concept.
To request a brochure and an application
form write to: Overseas Counseling Service, 1594 North Allen Ave., #23, Pasadena, CA 91104. There is no obligation to
OCS or IVCF-only to Jesus Christ and his
"Great Commission" (Matt. 28:18-20).
Ann Landers sometimes advises naive readers of her column to "wake up and smell the coffee." The scientific community seems to be getting a good snif f of what people with an anti-evolutionary outlook are up to, judging from news stories in scientific periodicals. Such stories almost always perpetuate the idea of an antithesis between creation and evolution, reminding us of the strategic significance of ASA/ CSCA. We must help Christians and scientists understand and respect one another by being good examples of both.
Earlier this year Scientific American ran a one-page story in its "Science and the Citizen" section, entitled "Creationism Evolves." It describes the shift in "the creationist assault" toward obtaining "state legislation or administrative regulations - requiring that courses and textbooks dealing with the origin and development of life and of man present creationism as a 'scientific' alternative to evolution. Creationism denies the geological evidence for a world billions of years old, the fossil evidence for the gradual appearance of new species and the biological evidence for the evolution of man from lower primates. The current creationist effort is exemplified by recent events in Iowa and California."
ASA/CSCA members believe in creation as a foundational Biblical doctrine, even if that earns us the name "fundamentalist" from our scientific colleagues. Yet of course, many of us have to part company with "creationists" so defined by what they reject as the false teachings of "evolutionists." Pitting creation and evolution
against each other seems to be advantageous for both anti-evolutionary "creationists" and atheistic, humanistic "evolutionists."
Zoologist Frank Cassel of North Dakota State University sent us a copy of a four page story in the "Features and News" section of BioScience 29, No. 9, pp. 513-16 (September 1979 -The story by Robin Marantz Henig, editor of that section of the American Association of Biology Teachers periodical, is entitled "The Battle Continues--Evolution Called a 'Religion, Creationism Defended as a 'Science.' " Henig's article seems more accurate and objective than much of the reporting about the controversy in the past. She even acknowledges that in public debates the experienced debaters of the Institute for Creation Research usually come out the "winners" over the pro-evolution side. Here's her final paragraph:
"Evidence of the new creationist push out of the classroom is the range of issues now pending resolution. A suit has been filed against the National Museum of Natural History by the National Foundation for Fairness in Education, a creationist group that says the museum's new Hall of Evolution glorifies the religion of 'secular humanism' at taxpayers' expense. Public comment will be heard on the New York State Education Department's decision, expected shortly, about inclusion of creationism in the state's biology courses and on its Regents examination. A new round of efforts is underway to pass 'equal time' provisions in sympathetic state legislatures. Campus lectures and debates will be in full swing with the new academic year, pitting creationist orators against evolutionary biologists to lay out their respective scientific evidence. Most observers believe that such lawsuits, hearings, bills, and debates are going to be part of the scientific scene for many years to come."Susan E. Halbert (International Soybean Program, Dept. of Agricultural Entomology, 172 Natural Resources Bldg., University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801) would like to work overseas, if possible, on intercropping research and pest management in labour-intensive cropping systems. Susan has a B.A. in zoology from DePauw, an M.S. and now a Ph.D. in entomology from the U. of Illinois. Her research has dealt with aphid transmission of soybean mosaic virus. In Urbana Susan has been an active member of New Covenant Fellowship, playing viola in the "worship corps" and participating in the social action committee. She's lived in a Christian cooperative house for more than five years.
Stanley W. Moore (1756 Campbell Ave., Thousand-Oaks. CA 91360; tel. 805-4592044) seeks a position in political science. He is presently associate professor of political science at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and has also taught at Cal State Fullerton, Stanislaus State College, the U. of Redlands, and the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies. His Ph.D. is from the Claremont Graduate School, where he did a huge thesis on "The Political Science of Robert A. Dahl." Stan has published many articles and reviews plus Teaching Manual in American Government (Hough -Mifflin,1979); his paper on "Christianity as an Ethical Matrix for No Growth Economics" has been accepted by Journal ASA. He is vice-president of the California Center for Education in Public Affairs, Inc., and for a number of years has directed a Sacramento Legislative Seminar in the state capital. For six consecutive years he and two colleagues have interviewed 243 children in a longitudinal study of their political socialization; he has presented several papers on that study but a number of articles and a book are still in the works. Stan has taught all kinds of political science courses and has a special interest in future studies, demonstrated in his paper on "Energy, Ethics, and Politics" at the 1979 ASA Annual Meeting.
Mark J. Stannard (443 School Lane, Harleysville, PA 19 38; tel. 215-256-9758) is seeking employment as an aquatic biologist in an entry-level position. Mark has a B.A. in biology from The King's College and an M.S. in general biology from the U. of Michigan.Jack H. Emerick (811 Briarcliff Rd. N.E. No. 12, Atlanta, GA 30306; tel. 404-3775430) is seeking employment as a Christian counselor. He wants a situation where he can spend a lot of time in actually counseling people with the freedom to suggest Christian truths as a possible alternative in appropriate counseling situations. He has a B.A. in psychology from Penn State U. in 1972, a D. Div. concentrated in psychology and pastoral counseling from Trinity Evangelical Div. School in 1975, and a M. Ed. in community counseling from Georgia State U. in 1979. His experience includes a one-year internship as an asst. pastor, positions as camp director, speaker, hospital student chaplain and service worker and counselor with troubled adolescents and their families. He wants to be involved in family counseling in the future and has no limitations on geographical location.
Our apologies to a number of institutions that were hoping to use our Newsletter to help fill late-breaking vacancies, especially to Bluffton College in Ohio (seeking a sociologist by October 1979), to Ed Olson of Whitworth College in Washington (seeking a president for 1980 with an application deadline of October 1979), and to J. A. Ireland of Hawkesbury Agricultural Co-heTe in ew South Wales, Australia (seeking a lecturer in environmental health with an application deadline of July 1979). It's bad enough that we're a bimonthly publication-and even worse when we skip an issue! (But at least the price is right f or our ads-Ed.)
Epiphanes K. Balian of Maine needs another psycharist with a comprehensive orientation to join him in private practice. "Commitment to Christian values as a way of life is essential." For details write or call: E. K. Balian, M.D., 45 Hogan Rd., Bangor, NM 04401. Tel. 207-947-7186. (Received 9 July, 1979.)
Counseling Services of Ohio Developmental Learning Center has been in "desperate need" of school psychologists who can be certified in the State of Ohio. CSO/DLC is a Christian organization providing auxiliary services in tutorial reading, math, and language skills, plus in-service training, counseling, and testing for area Christian schools. "This is an exciting opportunity for qualified candidates." Contact: David E. Oeschger, Ph.D., Counseling Services of Ohio/Developmental Learning Center, 2858 Arlington Rd., Akron, OH 44312. Tel. 216644-8483. (Received 12 July, 1979.)Harley and Nelson Clinic in Minnesota has several openings for Masters and Ph.D.s in psychology with five years or more of clinical experience. Salaries to $50,000. Send resumes and statements of Christian faith to: Harley and Nelson Clinic, Metropolitan Medical Office Bldg., Suite 501, 825 South 8th St., Minneapolis, MN 55404. (Received 16, July, 1979 from Willard F. Harley, Jr.,Ph.D., Licensed Consulting Psychologist.)
Donald H. Gent, M.D., of Pennsylvania is looking for a psychiatrist to join him in private practice of psychiatry with the hope of establishing a Christian counseling center with a potential outreach to the Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania areas. Don wants a committed Christian. Anyone interested in the position can call him collect. Contact Donald H. Gent, M.D., 275 Frederick St., Hanover PA. Tel. 717-632-3886. (Received 10 September, 1979.)
Taylor University in Indiana has a vacancy in chemistry for 1980-81 and beyond, a tenure-track position for a person to teach physical and general chemistry and be responsible for the associated laboratories. Interest and background for participation in analytical chemistry lab or a team-taught advanced lab is also desirable. The appointee will be expected to initiate and direct financially feasible research projects in physical or biophysical chemistry carried out by undergraduate students. Contact: Dr. Robert D. Pitts, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Taylor University, Upland IN 46989. (Received 25 September, 1979.)
John Brown University in Arkansas has a
vacancy in mathematics for 1980-81. The
appointee should have a Ph.D. in mathematics and an interest in computers; be able to teach algebra, trigonometry,
calculus, differential equations, linear
algebra, and geometry; and desire to work
in a small college town (7,000) in a conservative Christian atmosphere. "Smoking
and drinking of alcoholic beverages are not
permitted," for example. Academic rank
open, salary starting at $15,200 with additional increment for experience. Send resume to: Dr. Richard Ruble, Academic
Dean, John Brown University, Siloam
Springs, AR 72761. (Received I October,
1979, from Professor James Holliday of JBU.)
Wheaton College in Illinois is seeking an
organic and physical chemistry teacher for the Fall of 1980. Please forward
vita and references to Dr. Bernard A.
Nelson, Dept. of Chemistry, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187. (Received 19
September, 1979.)
PERSONALS
Miriam Adeney, who teaches missions and cross-cultural communications at Seattle Pacific University, taught a course on "What is Human" at New College for Advanced Christian Studies in Berkeley, California, this summer. In a New College public lecture on "Islam, OPEC, and Evangelism," she outlined positive approaches for witnessing to the thousands of Muslims suddenly coming into contact with Christianity. Pointing out that "Muslim" means "submitted," she said it may be easier f or converts to become "Jesus Muslims" (analogous to "Jews f or Jesus") than "Christians" because of the bad history of Muslim-Christian interaction stemming from the Crusades. Miriam had completed her anthropology dissertation at Washington State on ethnic identity in Philippino literature, and was expecting to receive her Ph.D. at the next commencement. She and husband Michael lived in the Philippines from 1968 to 1972.
Jerry D. Albert, of San Diego, California, who with sizzling Bill Sisterson led the ASA "fun run" all over the-Stanford campus, taught a general chemistry course at Mesa Evening Community College before attending the Annual Meeting. He found it challenging to be out of the research lab and back in the classroom again. In June Jerry was co-author of a poster session on his work in anti-androgen therapy of prostate disease at the Anaheim (California) meeting of the Endocrine Society. In a film on the three Society members who won the 1978 Nobel prize in physiology (Guillemin, Schally, Yalow) Jerry saw a shot of Roger Burgus (now at Oral Roberts Medical School whose biochemical work at the Salk Institute contributed to Guillemin's success.
James E. Berney, IVCF regional director based in Altadena, California, was a U.S. delegate to the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students' general committee meeting in Hurdal Verk, Norway, in July. Jim says that 160 delegates attended from 60 countries, his roommate being a Tanzanian now studying in Romania. Jim was particularly moved by a report on work among students in Islamic lands. He says there are openings right now for qualif ied IFES workers in about a dozen countries including Viet Nam--where the staff worker is currently in prison for his work.
Donald C. Boardman and wife Betty were honored at a potluck supper at LaSalle Street Church in Chicago in June before leaving for San Diego, California. Don, professor of geology at Wheaton College for many years, retired from that post this spring, and he and Betty retired from many responsibilities at LaSalle Street Church. The Boardmans agreed to come into the inner city from Wheaton to help the church f or one year, but when that year was up decided to stay on as active members.
James 0. Buswell, III, professor of
anthroporogy at' Wheaton College, has contributed
a paper to a festschrift honoring Glifford
Geertz. The volume published by University
Press of America, Understanding Religion
and Culture: Anthropological and Theological Perspectives, is edited by John
R.
Morgan. Jim's paper, "Javanese Ritual and
Geertz's Interpretation: A Rebuttal," will
also appear in the journal Kabar Seberang published in Australia.
Alan C. Elliott begins work this month in the Biometry Department of the U. of
Texas Health Science Center in Dallas,
while continuing to work on his dissertation
for the Ph.D. from Emory University in
Atlanta, Georgia.
Harold A. Henthorn has returned to Lexington, KY, after spending the summer in New Orleans, Louisiana, as an exploration geologist for Chevron, Inc. Harold is in his second year of graduate work in geology at the U. of Kentucky in Lexington after graduating from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1978. Besides studying for his masters degree, Harold also works with IVCF at the U. of K.
H. Wendell Hyde, who teaches high school physics and-math in Santa Barbara, California, attended the ASA Annual Meeting and showed us some of the good reviews his new book is getting in such periodicals as Datamation and Computer Reviews.George J. Jennings, associate professor of anthropollogy at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, is also executive secretary of the American board of Middle East Christian Outreach. In December George will do field research among the traditionally nomadic Bedouins now being settled in urban communities in the United Arab Emirates along the Persian Gulf.
Then he will lecture in Australia and New Zealand under auspices of the Outreach boards in those countries. His wife June will accompany him "down under."
David & Ingrid Kaar of Minneapolis, MinFe-s(5-ta, announce the birth of Brendan Richard Kaar on September 28. This has been quite a year for them. Besides their first child, 1979 brought Dave his Ph.D. in ceramic engineering at the U. of Illinois in Urbana and a new job at 3M Company's Central Research Lab. The Kaarls have been renovating an old house near the Mississippi River since their move to Minneapolis.Irving W. Knobloch, professor of botany and plant pathology at Michigan State U. in East Lansing, is author of The Plant Collectors of Northern Mexico, LASC Monograph Series No. 17 (1979). Irv didn't tell us what LASC stand for, but we'll guess "Latin American Scientific Congress" or something like that. Anyway, his monograph gives biographical information on collectors in northern Mexico plus information on their herbaria specimens, collection sites, and the locations of their collections.
Kenneth J. Kosow is an editor of science and mathematics textbooks in Toronto, Ontario. Ken paid the ASA/CSCA Newsletter a compliment for its readability--I think. At any rate he said the last issue was so "clearly written that I was able to read the entire issue on my subway ride to work between Runnymede and Warden stations (a 30 minute ride)." Keen-eyed Ken also pointed out that we sometimes use "newsletter" as one word, sometimes as two. Actually (?) we do that for diplomatic reasons, on the assumption that "newsletter" is U.S. usage and "news letter" is Canadian--Ed.)Charles H. Kraft, professor of missionary anthropology and African studies at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, gave a series of lectures on ethnolinguistics and biblical interpretation to graduate theologians at Wheaton College in Illinois last spring, about the time his big book Christianity and Culture was being released by Orbis Books.
Joseph H. Lechner has moved from the Department of Biochemistry of Northwestern's medical and dental schools in Chicago to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he has become assistant professor of chemistry at Mount Vernon Nazarene College.
H. Newton Malony, professor of psychology a't Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, published three books last year: Understanding Your Faith (Abingdon), Ways People Meet God (Tidings), and PsychoIogy and Faith: the Religious Experience of 18 Psycholists, University Press of America.Eric J. Miller and his co-workers in Twenyonehundred Productions, the multimedia ministries of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Madison, Wisconsin, are producing five new media tools to premier in December at "Urbana 79.11
Some 17,000 people are expected to attend that 12th IVCF Student Missions Convention at the U. of Illinois. In addition to shows on the innovative work of God's people in the mission of the church, they will see a special energy /economics show. One problem in preparing that show has been keeping up with daily developments and trying to assess their impact on missionary strategy.
Kim W. Mitchell has been at DOE's Solar Energy Research Institute in Golden, Colorado, for almost a year now, as a senior scientist/task manager in the Photovoltaics Program Office. Kim supervises programs in high-efficiency solar cells and in lowcost, thin-film solar cells. Kim received his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1976 (in materials science, under Dick Bube) and worked at Sandia Laboratories in AIbuquerque, New Mexico, on solar cells and optoelectronics before joining SERI in December 1978. Kim and Brenda who live in Indian Hills, Colorado, enjoy hiking, square dancing, and fellowship with the Ken Touryan family at SERI.
Robert & Pat Moreau moved to the UC, Davis in June. Pat received her Ph.D. in endocrinology from Rutgers and Bob his Ph.D. in plant biochemistry f rorn the U. of South Carolina. Bob has a postdoctoral position at Davis and Pat was hoping to find a position when we heard from them. They're eager to meet ASAers and other Christians in the Davis area.
David Myers, psychology professor at Hope College in Michigan, has been trying his
hand at magazine writing lately. He's had
articles in Saturday Review (with Thomas
Ludwig, Human Nature (March
1979), Psychology Today (with Jack Ridl,
August 1979), Saturday Review (forthcoming), Christianity Today,
and Christian Ministry with Thomas
Ludwig, forthcoming). AlI of them digest
psychological research and relate it, either
subtly or overtly, to Christian assumptions
about human nature. Dave and Tom Ludwig
have received a lot of response from the
paper they co-authored for the 1978 ASA
Annual Meeting and which subsequently
appeared as "How Christians Can Cope
with Inflation" in Christian Century (30
May 1979). Dave has also signed a contract to do a new social psychology text
for McGraw-Hill.
Kenneth C. Olson is now employed by Genentech in south San Francisco, CA, a company much in the news for its
commercial development of recombinant
DNA techniques. Ken is a biochemist working out procedures for isolating human insulin and human growth hormone that somebody at Genentech has taught those little E.
coli bugs to produce. Before moving to CA Ken was isolating various
fractions of thymus gland extracts for
Hoff mann-LaRoche pharmaceutical house in
New Jersey. An "isolationist" only in professional life, Ken would like to get in touch
with other ASAers in the Bay area (address:
1401 Palm Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010).
Too bad the Olsons didn't move until right
after the Annual Meeting at Stanford, just a
few miles down the pike!
Roy M. Paul of Mississauga, Ontario, has changed positions in the Toronto area. Formerly a quality assurance chemist at McGuinness Distillers Ltd., Roy is now group leader in research and development at Cheseb rough- Pond's (Canada) Ltd. He is responsible for R & D work for Canadian operations of that subsidiary of Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. Ray had been praying for a new job and is praising God for this new opportunity.
Helen M. Pollock, director of microbiology at the U. of Alabarna in Mobile has been elected a member of the board of the American Board of Medical Microbiology.
Charles E. Rogler has left the U. of Maryland to attend Westminster Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania in preparation
for full-time Christian ministry. On
August 5 he married Debbi Uttenreither.
The Roglers live in Philadelphia.
Robert L. Shacklett not only got married in
May, 1976 in God's beautiful garden, Yosemite
Valley") but brought his bride Edith
Fischer, to the ASA Annual Meeting in
August. In between they had a month-long
trip to Taiwan as part of a project of
familiarizing academicians with an Eastern
culture. Bob, "retiring after 24 years of
teaching physics at California State University, Fresno, hopes to investigate the
new field of psycho-physics with Edie, who
has been doing psychological research.
Bob's paper at the ASA Annual Meeting
mapped out some of the territory they
hope to explore. They now live in Newark,
California.
Weltanschauung with his academic discipline. Ward' wife Betty who has been doing psychiatric nursing in Lacrosse, was looking forward to being off night shifts after their move to Wheaton.