NEWSLETTER
of the  

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

VOLUME 19, NUMBER 1   FEBRUARY/MARCH 1977

ASA COUNCIL GETS WEISS; SADDLES HAAS

A. Kurt Weiss, professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, was elected by the ASA membership to serve the next five-year term on the Executive Council. He replaces Claude Stipe, outgoing president, on the council.

Many of us find the annual election frustrating because it's so hard to choose between two nominees of equally high caliber. But this year, in a sense, both won. The other candidate,, Daniel H. Osmond, associate professor of physiology and medicine at the University of Toronto, will be president of ASA's sister organization, the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation, for 1977.

The Executive Council of the American Scientific Affiliation has elected officers for 1977, who become the officers of the ASA. "Saddled" with the presidency is John W. Haas, Jr., Chemistry professor at Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts. Vice-president is Dewey K. Carpenter, professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Secretary-treasurer is Howard H. Claassen, professor of physics at Wheaton College, Illinois. Also on the Council is James 0. Buswell III, professor of anthropology at Wheaton College.

A WORD FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT...

In beginning a new year of ASA activity, it is encouraging to note the Christian commitment, professional accomplishment and high potential for Christian service found in the more than 2,600 men and women who comprise our membership. We owe thanks to retiring Executive Council member Claude Stipe who can return to full time study of the Marquette basketball team without the weighty concerns of ASA to distract his attention. In joining the ranks of ASA elder statesmen, Claude and his colleagues are reminded of our continuing need for their counsel. We congratulate newly-elected Council member Kurt Weiss, who added an extra dimension to the Annual Meeting at Bethany Nazarene College three years ago.

Executive Council objectives this year include improving our financial and membership base, evaluation and development of publication projects and the strengthening of local section activities. The Annual Meeting at Nyack College (near New York City) will feature Kenneth Pike. Plan to attend and contribute a paper to this stellar event held August 12-15, 1977. The geographical distribution of the membership prevents our all meeting together to discuss the direction that ASA should take or to evaluate our current activities. Thus we encourage you to take pen in hand and express your thoughts to Bill Sisterson at the ASA office in Elgin or to one of the Council members. We will listen.

WITNESSING TO OUR PROFESSION

When Paul R. Leiffer attended the Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology last month, he discovered that ACEMB treated Sunday like any other day, with technical presentaticn.s beginning at 9 a.m. Other facets of the meeting also convinced him of a need for Christian fellowship and organized Christian impact at scientific meetings. Some ideas that came to him: have an ASA book table or information booth; put on a panel discussion on some key issues raised in JASA or a social event to help Christians find each other; show a Moody Science Film or Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live; hold an informal worship service or prayer meeting, especially where papers are scheduled all day Sunday; publish a list of members attending scientific meetings.

Good ideas, Paul, and a good time to raise them. One person who has done something in this area is our new Executive Council member, Kurt Weiss. In 1961, he and Walt Hearn started the Federation Christian Fellowship, which met informally at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology for several years. Since 1964 FCF has managed to get itself listed on the official FASEB program, usually as an evening coffee hour.

An ASA breakfast gathering has often been held at AAAS meetings. At other meetings, Christians have found each other by scanning registration lists for the names of ASA members in that field or by putting a notice in the Newsletter in advance of a meeting that they would like to meet other Christians there. Lately, some local sections have "hosted" a get-together for out-of-town members attending a meeting in their city.

But much more can be done. The Newsletter is available to "catalyze effective collisions." To collide or collaborate with Paul on this topic, write him at 4756 Skyline Drive, Mission, KS 66205.

HOW TO SERVE GOD OVERSEAS No. 1

We've had many stories in the Newsletter about ASA/CSCA members who serve the Lord in foreign countries. We think it's time to start a new "HOW TO" series focusing on overseas opportunities open to technically trained men and women. We invite contributions from your own experience as an encouragement to others. Your contribution can be long or short, but try to provide specific information to help others follow in your footsteps. lie hope to hear from people serving under traditional mission boards as well as from "self-supporting missionaries" working for government or industry, from Peace Corps volunteers, from "careerists" as well as "short-termers."

For openers, consider John E. Mariner. John heard about ASA through Jim Neidhardt while working for West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co. in New York City. He was active in the New York local section and served as treasurer for a year or two. Then he was transferred to a paper mill in Virginia.

John and his wife sensed the Lord calling them to missionary service in Pakistan. He already had a mechanical engineering degree and an M.B.A., but he added to that a residency in hospital administration in a Boston hospital. From 1968 through 1976, John and Sally served in Sahiwal, Pakistan, under the Board of Foreign Missions of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. John spent about two-thirds of his time in the administrative development of the Nancy Fulwood Hospital there, tackling a sizeable modernization program. The other third was spent in Muslim evangelism, working with youth, Bible correspondence courses, and literature evangelism. John says "there is nothing I would rather be doing than standing on a street corner in that part of the world selling gospel portions." Last summer the Mariners returned to the States, from which John now coordinates the work of his mission board in Mexico, Pakistan, and Ethiopia. His new job means doing everything from stirring up interest and support of missions in the denomination to finding candidates whom the Lord chooses and helping them get to the field. He has to travel to each field once a year and do extensive speaking in the U. S.

John believes that "now is the time to be involved in missions around the world. Many doors are open which have not been before, and many areas are critical now that we have an opportunity to establish a beachhead for the gospel. I know that many members of our Affiliation are spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and that God must be calling many to overseas opportunities. The technical abilities of many of our members would enable them to get consulting jobs and employment as laymen in areas of the world like the oil-rich Middle East which are closed to traditional missions. Technically trained people are definitely part of God's strategy for reaching the world for Jesus Christ."

Interested? John would be "very pleased to correspond with any members who want to know more about how God could use their talents in mission." Write to John E. Mariner, Executive Secretary, Board of Foreign Missions, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 300 University Ridge, Suite 206, Greenville, SC 29601.

DO WE BEAR EACH OTHER'S BURDENS?

Request for news for PERSONALS brought one very personal response. An ASA member said he intends to drop his membership because "something important is lacking." His story is that when he was having a difficult time in graduate school, his request for prayer and support from ASA members was handled as a kind of routine matter: it, became aware of the inability of ASA to react to the real needs of fellow members, as members of the Body of Christ. It seems that when one rejoices all rejoice, but when one suffers seldom do all suffer, and I don't just mean 'with ASA', I thought it would be neat to be able to have a group of fellow scientists who were blood-brothers in Christ pray for me, perhaps encourage me. The answers I received and the things I've read don't indicate to me any 'philosophy' geared to meeting the spiritual and other needs of fellow members. In my church I have agonized at the same lack of concern for the Body."

I've written to him, telling him that my experience has been different. To me, just knowing that so many ASA members have been through the same struggles has been a great encouragement. Perhaps I haven't expected as much. In fact, I so often feel stretched by the burdens of others (family, friends, church, organizations, our nation, the world, etc.) that I'm painfully aware of my own limitations. I'm not surprised to discover that other Christians, or Christian organizations, also have limitations.

But maybe he has a valid point. Let's begin by praying for our members in greatest need, whoever they are. Are there other things we should be doing? I've asked our wounded brother for some practical suggestions.

HOW TO START SOMETHING No. 28. LAWRENCE STARKEY

Although North Dakota State University in Fargo has a heavy emphasis on agriculture, about 850 of its 7000 students are enrolled in nontraditional programs. The newest of these, a "Bachelor's Degree Program for Bible College Transferees," came into existence this year as a direct result of Lawrence H. Starkey's "HOW-TO-START-SOME THING" instincts.

Larry, M.Div., Ph.D., long-time ASA Fellow, and "philosopher-of-all-trades," has invented a program under which students can obtain considerable university credit for work transferred from a Bible school--even if unaccredited. With the help of an advisor, the students formulate some coherent career goal toward which their Bible school credits and proposed NDSU work will combine to form a reasonable pattern of studies. These students enroll in the College of University Studies, which can employ standardized tests and special techniques for evaluating unusual types of educational experience. NDSU is willing to evaluate credits from a nearby school of horsemanship, Larry thought, so why not from a Bible school?)

Under the new set-up, degree programs (which must be individually approved by a faculty committee) can be tailor-made to help Bible-institute transferees become better agricultural missionaries, missionaries with a technical skill that will enable them to get a visa, pastor's wives, seminarians, Christian humanists, or you name it.

In Larry's own words (more or less), here's how this program, evidently the first of its kind in the university world, got started:

"It amazes me how often I have backed into opportunity. Not long ago, I got the message that, in an age of analytic philosophy, of secular, superficial, and hip philosophy with 170 applicants for every teaching vacancy, no one wants a 56-year-old, serious, synthetic, Christian philosopher. In fact, the college where I was then teaching didn't want any philosopher--the Board, in financial despair, voted the department out of existence. I became one of those faceless economic statistics that did Ford out the presidency while enriching the U.S. Postal Service (with resume' letters).

"Eventually, I received an offer to apply my philosophical skills as a small-town city planner. Unable to see the connection or muster the enthusiasm required, I backed off. At the nearest employment office I desperately ran down the job list. "Coordinator of Adult Television Studies" caught my eye, for I had accumulated some TV experience years before, helping Irwin Moon with "Sermons from Science" films. Soon a group of directors and deans were urging me to thumb my nose at planning a city and instead to plan and produce for the University a series of 30 programs on management skills for aspiring career women. Could I finish the job in five months? Sure! Sure! Anything you say. And I did. (The series attracted 462 enrollees, not counting many thousands who watched the programs but did not register).

"Toward the end of the project, when I was taping the last few programs and writing up my report, I had some time to think about my future. Thus it happened that, during one TGIF evening letdown, the dean of the College of University Studies and I began to bandy some ideas about. Maybe we could do some TV programs on religion, I ventured. The conversation turned to the NDSU School of Religion, in danger of expiring with the imminent retirement of its director--then to the question of the 'action' in religion. Evangelicalism is 'where it's at' today, we agreed. Why, Trinity Bible Institute (a nearby school) has grown in three years from 250 to 430 students! And Trinity College near Chicago is another success story. Suddenly we pointed at each other at almost the same instant and each of us burst out: ?agricultural missions!' Why not recruit graduates of 3-year Bible colleges into the College of University Studies for tailor-made degrees in agricultural missions? And if agricultural missions, why not business (for Bible school business managers, etc.), or nursing, or counseling, or teaching?

"Or natural theology? I had met a man deeply interested in natural theology who had established a foundation. The next weekend I wrote a four-page proposal for a program for Bible institute transfers, with a natural-theology thrust. The dean was almost ecstatic. Soon he had enlisted the equally enthusiastic support of the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The three of us talked it over. Then the director of Continuing Studies, who wanted to keep me on the staff for future TV work, performed some budgetary miracles. Before long, I had a concrete offer from the Humanities dean for an additional year at NDSU with a salary gathered from funds here and there--a jerry-built position for the purpose of developing a Bible-school liaison project. I was to visit Bible colleges across the country to encourage their deans and presidents to send students to us for supplementary career studies, then follow this up by actual recruitment visits.

"We mailed the proposal to the wealthy natural-theology patron, prepared a program description for our own president, and began work on a more detailed proposal to submit to a larger foundation or government agency. Unfortunately, the theology patron turned us down. We still have hopes for funding from our other proposal--which deletes the natural-theology dimension in favor of a campaign for persuading Bible students of their need for further studies.

"Since the travel envisioned and the continuance of the program beyond the first year is contingent on further funding, we met with a committee of the University Development Foundation, chaired by a Texas millionaire. That committee referred us to the president of the University, whose support was required before they could move. I researched the Bible-school movement and prepared for the president a fact-filled description of the project and its potential. Two conferences with the president, vice president, and the two deans followed; in due time I submitted a detailed calendar of activities and a proposed budget for the current year.

"The results of all this groundwork are as yet unclear. Whether substantial travel money can be rounded up remains to be seen. But meanwhile the vice president has provided a modest amount from his own travel budget and I, at least, have my salary (and supplies) from the office of the Humanities dean.

"So far, I have personally visited 25 Bible schools and Christian junior colleges in five states and have contacted 40 other Bible-college administrators by attending the annual meeting of the American Association of Bible Colleges. Though my Fact Sheet describing the program has been out only a few months, students are already responding; some have enrolled for our Winter Quarter.

" An unexpected by-product of the program has been an action of a nearby Bible institute that has developed my liaison into a program for upgrading their faculty. This has already led to an agreement for the University to send a professor to teach one graduate class this spring on the Bible school campus, with the intention of ultimately establishing a permanent University extension program there.

"There are 26 Bible schools and Christian junior colleges within 300 miles of Fargo; and 85 within 600 miles. In the United States and Canada there are about 270 Bible schools and 157 church-affiliated junior colleges. I estimate that the total enrollment in North American Bible schools is roughly 61,000. If we could attract to NDSU as little as 5 percent of the graduating class from each Bible school within 300 miles and, from each junior college, attract as many students as from the average Bible school, we would be receiving into this program about 70 students per year. A comparable figure for schools within 600 miles would be about 220 students.

"Zoologist Frank Cassel, who has been on the NDSU faculty for many years as chairman of his department, says that respect and friendly tolerance from his colleagues give him a free hand to take a Christian stand on this campus. Other evangelicals here include horticulture and agricultural economics professors; a USDA research specialist; chairmen of the education, ag econ, and mechanical engineering departments; and the assistant to the president. The two deans under whom I work are men of faith with heartfelt sympathies for the work of God in the Bible-college movement; one of them has even had invitations to preach in churches."

Larry asks us to pray that this new venture might prosper and benefit the students of God's choosing. If you know of any promising students who ought to know about the program, please send their names to: Dr. Lawrence H. Starkey, College of University Studies, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102. (That's also where we'll send Larry a dozen copies of the "Scientist's Psalm" greeting cards, to thank him for contributing to HOW TO START SOMETHING. Where should we send yours?)

THE EXPERIENCE OF DYING

According to newspaper reports, conclusions in the new Prentice-Hall book The Experience of Dying, edited by E. Mansell Pattison, differ from those of Elisabeth KublerRoss in her widely acclaimed 1969 book On Death and Dying. She had suggested that people approach death in a series of recognizable stages: initial shock and numbness followed in turn by denial, anger, bargaining for life, depression, and final acceptance.

"There is really no clinical evidence to support the concept of a series of emotional stages--and Dr. Kubler-Ross never insisted these stages were a rigid order of progression," says Pattison. "Some people, however, who have applied her concepts too rigidly, become cross with dying persons because they haven't advanced swiftly enough into the so-called next stage."

"Our research shows that people use whatever coping resources are relevant to their position in the life cycle. There is considerable ebb and flow of emotions throughout the dying process, just as our emotions ebb and flow as we face conflicts and crises throughout our entire life. Dying people should be treated as you would treat anyone else with a problem. If you have a friend who is divorced or whose child is in some trouble, you respond in terms of sympathy and empathy from your own experiences. You draw on your common knowledge. It's the same with death."

Mansell is professor and vice-chairman of psychiatry and human behavior at the College of Medicine of the University of California, Irvine, professor of social sciences and social ecology at UCI, and deputy director of training, consultation, and education for the Orange County Department of Mental Health. The Experience of Dying is based on an analysis of research studies provided by more than twenty clinicians working in many fields involving death and dying patients. The book goes beyond a textbook presentation of the psychology of dying to case studies, a review of research into death and dying, and suggestions for professionals, family members, and friends for helping dying persons. Mansell feels that children need to be taught that death is just as much a part of life as living.

AN AFFIRMATION OF LIFE

A psychiatrist who coped with death in a more personal way was the late Orville S. Walters. Orville died on February 18, 1975, two years after learning that he had cancer of the stomach, and shortly after writing a brief testimony for the CMS Journal entitled "A Psychiatrist's Approach to Death." His statement is now available in pamphlet form from the Christian Medical Society, 1122 Westgate, Oak Park, IL 60301.

Orville, too, called attention to Kubler-Ross's Death and Dying, but felt that it
took little notice of the resources of Christian faith for the dying. He said that 11with the self awareness that is required in the competent psychiatrist, I cannot identify in my own experience the stages commonly attributed to the dying patient."

After presenting the biblical basis for his faith in God and describing his two years of "living with death," Orville ended his witness with an affirmation of life: "I approach death with a deep sense of gratitude for the abundant life that has been mine through grace ministered by the Holy Spirit and through the fellowship of God's people. 'Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."'

OBITUARY NOTICES

Donald E. King passed away unexpectedly on October 14, 1976, from a coronary. Donald was chaplain at Lebanon Community Hospital, Lebanon, Oregon. We learned of his death from La Vernae J. Dick, now the interim chaplain.

We have been notified by Mrs. Shirley Johnson of Los Gatos, California, that her husband, Duane E. Johnson, died of leukemia on November 29, 1976. Duane, 47, was a research chemist for IBM Corporation. Shortly before his death, company officials came to his room at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto to present him with a substantial bonus in recognition of his discoveries in electron-beam litography, which make possible the production of finer lines in printed circuits. He had been hospitalized for nearly two months. Duane, a native Iowan and graduate of Iowa State, received his Ph.D. from UCLA. He was active in Calvary Baptist Church of Los Gatos, where his funeral service was held. Besides his widow, he is survived by two sons and a daughter in Los Gatos, a brother in Iowa, and a sister in Nebraska.

PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS

Robert W. Manweiler (646 Main St., Collegeville, PA 19426) seeks a faculty position in physics in a liberal arts college or university. After a B.S. in physics at Kansas (1967), Bob received an M.S. in 1969 and Ph.D. in 1972 under Hans Bethe at Cornell. He studied effective interaction for unbound nucleons and its relation to the optical potential, collaborating with W. Schmidt on theoretical high energy calculations using fixed-t dispersion relations. A year with an experimental group using the Cornell Electron Synchrotron to investigate KO interactions gave him extensive experience with computer calculations. Bob spent 1972-73 and the summer of 1974 at Oak Ridge National Lab working under Eugene Wigner on a variety of problems in nuclear physics and engineering. Since 1973 Bob has been an instructor in physics at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, teaching lecture and lab for both science-and non-science major courses. At the same time he has been pursuing theological and biblical-studies at Westminster Seminary and Biblical School of Theology, receiving an M.Div. from Westminster in December 1976. Bob has served as faculty advisor to Ursinus Christian fellowship and enjoys working with students. He is interested in teaching physics, working in the interdisciplinary areas of science and Christianity, and perhaps continuing investigations in nuclear structure theory. Bob has a number of publications from his work at Cornell and Oak Ridge, and a paper on "The Relationship Between Prophecy and the Authentication of Revelation" to be published. He is 31, married, with no children.

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE

Houghton College in New York expects to have an opening in its Sociology Dept. for the fall of 1977. Preference is for a committed Christian with a Ph.D. degree and some teaching experience or experience in administering internship programs. Submit letters of application to: Dr. Katherine W. Lindley, Chair of the Division of History & Social Science, Houghton College, Houghton, NY 14744. (Received 15 Dec 1976)

Bread for the World, "A Christian Citizens' Movement in the USA," learned of ASA through our mention of them in the Oct. 1976 issue. Art Simon wrote to thank us, adding that it "occurred to me as I read your newsletter that somewhere along the line persons may surface who might be candidates for our staff. A paragraph about someone with a background in economics and American studies prompted this thought. At some time in the future, one of your members with extensive background in areas such as those might be available just when we are looking for someone to work on issues here. I hasten to add that we do not at present have staff openings, so I cannot encourage you to make an appeal, but from time to time we do seek additional staff." For more information about the organization, or to let them know that you might be interested in employment, write to: Arthur Simon, Executive Director, Bread for the World, 235 East 49th St., New York, NY 10017. (Received 23 Jan. 1977)

LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

PERSONALS