1. Is our life on earth like
NEWSLETTER
of the
AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION
VOLUME 19, NUMBER 5
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1977
THE BEHINDER WE GET
Copy for this issue is going to Elgin almost a month late--the day after the Aug/
Sept issue reached California. Our special apologies to those who sent in hot
items months ago and have yet to see them in print. Ed Karlow's contribution to
HOW TO START SOMETHING dates back to February! (We hope to be back on schedule for
December, although the editor's family isn't out of the wringer yet: the Lord
blocked us from having Ginny's surgery done in the midwest by the specialist we had
in mind, so that's still ahead.)
Excavating the strata on the editorial desk turned up a note (dated April 20 from
Warwick Smith of Wellington, New Zealand, who joined ASA while doing graduate work
in geophysics at U. C. Berkeley and then went back to work as a seismologist for the
N.Z. equivalent of the U.S. Geological Survey. Warwick got a chuckle out of my
apology for the tardiness of last year's December issue and my hope that it would
arrive before February: his copy arrived in mid-April. Most scientists in New
Zealand "tend to get philosophical" about three-month delays of their scientific
journals from the U.S. and Europe. But Warwick added (bless him) that JASA and the
Newsletter are worth reading--and therefore worth waiting for.
SUMMER OF WINTER'S DREAM
The story we most regret delaying concerned Ralph Winter's project of buying the
17-acre campus of Pasadena College to establish a permanent U.S. Center for World
Mission. The strategic property, vacated by the Pasadena Nazarene College when it
moved to San Diego and became Point Loma College, had already been occupied by a
number of mission-oriented organizations renting space there, but was dominated by
Summit International, a syncretistic religious cult of "Ascended Masters" headed
by Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Summit International, with evident financial resources,
was likely to take over the whole campus unless the Center for World Mission could
exercise its option to buy by October 1. By that date $1.5 million was needed--so
Ralph hoped we could get word out in time for Affiliation members to get in on the
action.
We haven't heard whether the Christians or the lions won that one. But we know that
Ralph, former Presbyterian missionary to Guatemala and professor in Fuller Seminary's
School of World Mission, founder of the William Carey Library and the Order for World
Evangelization, and a lot of other things, is one of the world's outstanding strategists in evangelism and church planting. His attention, and that of the Center for
World Mission, is directed primarily at the 84 percent of the world's non-Christian
population presently beyond the reach of either western missionary agencies or indigenous church activity.
If the Christians won the first round we'll have a more detailed article on the future
of the U.S. Center for World Mission and the part you can play in it. (For one thing,
the Center will need about $13 million more to pay off the mortgage.) Meanwhile,
Dr. Ralph D. Winter, U.S. Center for World Mission, 1605 E. Elizabeth St., Pasadena,
CA 91104, would gladly receive your contribution or send you information.
ANTHROPOLOGISTS HEAD FOR HOUSTON NOVEMBER 30
According to Jim Buswell, the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Houston, Texas, includes a symposium chaired by
Claude Stipe on Wednesday,
November 30, at 9 a.m. The subject is "Anthropologists, Missionaries, and Culture
Change." Among the participants the names of Charles Kraft and Bill Merrifield caught our eye but other ASA members may be on the program. That evening a gettogether will give Christian anthropologists a chance to discuss the symposium informally and enjoy a time of fellowship: Time, 7 p.m.; Place, to be posted at the
Message Center.
(A similar get-together of Christian sociologists took place at the recent meetings
of the American Sociological Association in Chicago, we hear, with over 50 in attendance. Likewise, according to
Craig Ellison, at the Western Psychological Association
meeting in Seattle in April, about 40 attended a WACPS-sponsored conversation hour
and groups of 10-25 Christian psychologists got together on several evenings for
fellowship and discussion. How's that for "social" scientists?)
BARCLAY AND MacKAY NAMED HONORARY FELLOWS
The ASA Executive Council recently elected two distinguished British "statesmen of
Christianity and science" as Honorary Fellows of the American Scientific Affiliation:
Oliver R. Barclay and Donald M. MacKay.
Oliver R. Barclay received his B.A. in natural sciences in 1941 and Ph.D. in zoology
in 1944, both at Cambridge University, where he stayed on to do some research and
teaching for a year or so. But from 1944 onward he served as Secretary of the Research
Scientists Christian Fellowship (RSCF) while doing other jobs for the Universitias and
Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) of Evangelical Unions, formerly Inter-Varsity
Fellowship (IVF). Eventually he became General Secretary of all of UCCF, the post
he still holds. Oliver Barclay has written many articles and reviews on science and
faith throughout his career, most of them appearing in The Christian Graduate, magazine of the Graduates Christian Fellowship (GCF) of IVF. He has also presented
papers at meetings of the Victoria Institute and at the annual RSCF Conferences,
including the first one (in 1944).
Barclay played a significant role in bringing two important InterVarsity books into
being, Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe (D. M. MacKay, ed., 1964) and ' The Scientific Enter2rise and Christian
Faith (M. A. Jeeves, ed., 1969). In his own name he
authored the early IVF pamphlet on Guidance and the recent paperback book, Reasons
for Faith (IVP, 1974). To avoid embarrassing the constituency of the Fellowship of
which he is General Secretary, Barclay has always written under a pseudonym whenever
he had anything to say that was at all controversial. Therefore, hardly anyone knows
the extent of his published writings.
The index i serves to count the elements in the series. Let the index be a counter
of sorts for events in life. Then ai will be our response to or participation in
those events. The sum over the ai will then represent the "sum of what we are."
For example, i = 1 could be birth a1 = environment at birth, i = 2 might be first breath
a2 = consciousness
i = 1000 might be first step a1000 , motor control
i = 2000 might be first word a2000 = cognition
For some i = k we will meet Christ. Our response at i = k will be a k
1. Is our life on earth
like
To help you answer this read Hebrews 11:1-16, and see especially vs. 13. Justify your choice of series type in light of this text.
2. Some series converge, others diverge. What spiritual analogy can you make with these mathematical concepts? Mention specific Bible characters whose lives illustrate your analogy for convergent and divergent series
3. The sum of the first k terms of any series is finite so long as the ai are finite. Also the terms of the series have a value which is a function of the index i , and is the same function throughout the series. Conversion to Christ might be likened to changing the function of the index. What is the nature of this change in the spiritual sense, and what kind of change does it suggest for the series? How will successive a i behave after i = k ? What affect will this change have on the convergence or divergence of your series?
4. Find a spiritual analogy for S = lim Sn
n -> infinity
5. What aspect of series is like faith?
SABBATH PROBLEM #2
What spiritual application can you find for the concept of the interval of convergence?
See John 8:32 - 36, Romans 8:1 - 4, and I Corinthians 6:12.
Since Ed said he would welcome comments pro and con, I asked Virginia_Johnson, mathematics professor at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, to take a
look at the sheet Ed sent me. Here is her response:
"Before looking at the 'Sabbath Problems,' I tried to imagine what they'd be like.
I was entirely wrong; I would never have guessed infinite series. I confess, though,
that I found some benefit in trying to put spiritual concepts into mathematical terminology. I found myself pondering: 'Can one person's life converge, another diverge?
If a person's life converges to a finite quantity, can that quantity be non-zero?
What is the nature of ultimate reality, anyway? Is there only God--infinite, eternal,
unchangeabie--and our participation in him? That sounds like pantheism. Or are we
humans, for example, little finite hunks of reality, whose episodes of being and
anti-being converge to some nice positive quantity, at least in the case of God's
children?'
"I'm of the latter persuasion, although I confess that I don't know what answer
Karlow is fishing for. It might be that he is thinking of our Lord's life as an
example of an infinite series and the rest of us as converging to something finite.
I don't see a clear answer to his Question 1. The verse he mentions, Hebrews 11:13,
seems to suggest finitude. However, Hebrews 11:4 tells us that Abel "still speaks"
although he is dead.
"Another light dawns. Karlow might be thinking of eternal life, and that idea raises
the question of whether 'eternal life' describes an infinite time sequence, or a transformation from a time sequence to an everlasting 'now,T or the transformation of a
series which converges to zero to one which converges to a positive quantity. One
could discuss these questions a long time. Anyhow, I find the questions provocative.
"What I had expected was something like the kind of thing one discusses in considering
the foundations of math--definitions, postulates, the nature of proof or of plausible
inference, paradoxes. One could also get some mileage out of the nature of the creative process and problem solving. But the more I think about
Karlow's questions,
the more I like them. I wonder what spiritual principles can be modeled by derivatives or integrals."
Our thanks both to Ed and to Virginia for a fine example of HOW TO START SOMETHING
and also "how to keep it going." Those of you whose math goes beyond keeping score
in that finite World Series can enter this discussion by writing to Prof. Edwin A.
Karlow, Columbia Union College, Tacoma Park, MD 20012; or to Prof. Virginia M.
Johnson, 260 West "H" Street, Benicia, CA 94510. That's where we're sending each a
dozen "Scientist's Psalm" greeting cards to express our appreciation. Have you done
something similar in other courses? Or tried other kinds of experiments to share
with us?
RALPH WINTER, ET AL.
The story on the Center for World Mission reminds us that Ralph Winter's accomplishments are described in an interesting little book called
Breakthrough, published in
Ireland. Edwin H. Robertson chose 11 persons representative of "the 20th century
breakthrough which has changed the face of the church," under categories derived from
I Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11,12: evangelists (Bill Bright, Billy
Graham;
prophets (Charles Birch, Kenneth Cragg, Sir Bernard Lovell, Henri de Lubac); pastors
(Kyung Chik Han); teachers (William Pollard, Ralph Winter); administrators (Cardinal
Suenens); and speakers in various kinds of tongues (David du Plessis).
Robertson, a Baptist minister in England trained as a scientist (once assistant head
of religious broadcasting for the BBC), has an evangelical perspective broadened by
an international and ecumenical outlook. His choices include a high proportion of
scientists: Besides Ralph Winter, Pollard (American physicist and Episcopal priest)
is familiar to most of us; Birch is an Australian biologist who addressed the 5th
Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Nairobi in 1975 on "Creation, Technology,
and Human Survival"; Lovell is an English astronomer, largely responsible for the
Jodrell Bank radio telescope installation, who gave a presidential address ("in the
Centre of Immensities") loaded with theological insight at the 137th Annual Meeting
of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in August 1975.
Breakthrough was published by Christian Journals Ltd., 2 Bristow Park, Belfast BT9 6TH,
Ireland (paper, about $2 U.S.). Wilbert Forker, Director of Christian Journals Ltd.,
sent us a copy of the book, saying also that he had "enjoyed reading the Newsletter
from the ASA."
HOW TO RECYCLE SOMETHING No. 17
Wayne Linn, on "Frugality in Malawi," continued:
"While my family and I were in Malawi, we frequently received notices that there was
a world-wide paper shortage. So we used all our paper sparingly. But now that we
are back in the States we can see why there is a shortage elsewhere; we are creating
it here. our excessive paper consumption and waste would appall my Malawian friends.
Many records and prescriptions are kept on any scrap of paper that can be found. The
same is true for paper for younger students in schools to use in their creative art
work. The Malawian school kids have very little paper on which to work, and it is
rationed out. Our own teenage children were penalized in the schools if they were
not thrifty with paper and notebooks. We in the States have molded a society of
addictive consumers and compulsive wasters. "One thing I always appreciated about Malawian frugality-in addition to making me
more aware of my own excesses-was the availability of used Item at the local-market.
Used cardboard boxes, tin can& and containers, burlap bags or cement-type sacks, and
glass containers could be purchased at the market. Used wood could also be bought,
either for construction or for firewood.
"But most firewood was obtained out in the bush. All the trimmings from trees were
used. All the shavings from sawmill operations were collected and used for firewood.
Wood is a precious resource and It was used sparingly, no matter what form or where
it was found. Aside from the village huts made of local materials, mud, and thatching
grass, most of the other construction in the country depended on the local production
of building materials from natural resources present In the country. If timbers
weren't straight or bricks were broken, they still were used.
"Finally, I cannot overlook the use of foodstuffs. Many of the items we in the U.S.
would throw away as unwanted would be food for the less fortunate-fish skins or
bones, fish heads, outside leaves of lettuce or cabbage, certain vegetable leaves, and seat
bones. One particular incident of food saving sticks most vividly in my memory. Once
in my travels I passed a group of people gathered at a spot where a bag of maize
(corn) had broken and several pounds had spilled on the muddy road. They were beginning to
pick it up, kernel by kernel. When I came by later, all that spilled maize was gone.
"I don't expect the U.S., with all its resources, will ever become so frugal. But
I personally have come to appreciate the point made by developing nations that we
need to justify our excessive use of natural resources and production before they are
compelled to listen to our advice on what to do about their own resources." --from
Conservation News, Vol. 41, No. 9, pp. 12-14 (May 1, 1976), an educational service
of the National Wildlife Federation.
Many thanks, Wayne, for helping us see ourselves through the eyes of others. (For
any newcomers since the June/July issue, Wayne's observations were based on two years
in Malawi in the Peace Corps; now he's back on the biology faculty of Southern Oregon
State College in Ashland.
According to Eric Sloane's A Reverence for Wood (1965; Ballantine paperback, 1973)
the English once criticized-us, saying that Americans "seen to hate trees and cannot
wait to cut then down." Wood once seemed so plentiful that American pioneers moving
westward would burn down their cabins and sift through the ashes just to recover any
nails for their journey to the frontierl Nails were scarce; trees were not. In
many respects frugality was part of our own heritage. Growing numbers of Christians
are rediscovering the challenge of frugality as they "cut down" for one reason or
another. It's a habit that grows an you once you begin, largely because it's fun.
How about sharing your experience with readers of HOW TO RECYCLE SOMETHING?
OBITUARY NOTICE
We have learned from his widow, Mrs. Melva Mills, that Francis J. Mills, Jr., of
Bellaire, Michigan, died on August 18, 1977, from carcinoma of the stomach after
a long illness. He was 61. Dr. Mills was born at Douglas, North Dakota, and graduated from Penn State College of Optometry. He practiced as a Doctor of Optometry
in Lansing, Michigan, for 33 years, and had attended Michigan State University in
East Lansing. He retired in 1976. He was a member of the Christ United Methodist
Church of Lansing. Funeral services and burial were in Bellaire. Besides his wife,
he in
survived by two sons and a daughter, his mother, four brothers and a sister.
(Details from a Lansing newspaper clipping sent by Irving Knobloch of MSU)
Prof. Joseph A. Scimecca, Chair, Dept. of Sociology, George Mason University, 4400
University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030. (Received 21 October 1977 from Nicholas J.
Tavani, who adds "I sure would like some Christian sociologists to come aboard.11)
WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE
The meeting scheduled for the evening of October 29 at the Jack Masur Auditorium
of the N.I.H. Clinical Center in Bethesda was advertised with a very attractive
mailing piece. H. Harold Hartzler was to speak on "Christianity and the Origin of
Modern Science." The high-quality offset printing job on the flier reproduced a
remarkably good photograph of Harold that made you want to go hear his lecture!
CHICAGO
No "hard" news this fall but we've heard a rumor that Bill Sisterson met with
several Chicago area members in September to see what could be done to revive
what has often beena very active section. Gareth Jones of Australia was to be in
the area early in October, so maybe something was arranged to coincide with his
visit.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY
D. Gareth Jones, senior lecturer in the Department of Anatomy & Human Biology of the
University of Western Australia, traveling in North America this year, was scheduled
to speak at the Tressider Union of Stanford University the evening of October 29.
Gareth's topic, "Our Fragile Brains," was elaborated on in the flier with this paragraph: "It is no exaggeration to say thei% that our brains are at one and the same
time the objects of biological manipulation and also the instigators of such manipulation. We are the manipulators and the manipulated--the masters and the slaves,
the tormentors and the tormented. This is the paradox of our brains--they make us
what we are and thereby threaten to destroy what we hold dear."
That should bring out a good crowd! Gareth is author of Teilhard de Chardin: An
Analysis and Assessment (Tyndale, London, 1969) but is probably better known to
ASA/CSCA members for his many articles in JASA.
There is always hope that members in the northeast Bay area centered around Berkeley
will either start taking an active part in southwest Bay activities centered around
Stanford--or else get their own act together. Almost every year faithful John Amoore
who lives in El Cerrito and works at the USDA Western Regional Lab in Albany (both
essentially adjacent to Berkeley), hosts a meeting hoping to catalyze something. On
June 3, John and Annie invited not only the local ASA membership but also many friends
and neighbors to hear Gary Allen talk about his fascinating ministry to international
students on the U.C. Berkeley campus. The Amoores' living room was packed, but only
a few ASA members were there besides John and Gary to feast on the goodies Annie had
prepared. (Walt Hearn recalls seeing Fred Lott and Steve Bell from U.C. and Virginia
Johnson from Diablo Valley College).
Gary's talk was entitled "Would God Waste a Scientist on Full-Time Christian Work?"
Gary has spent 12 years in neurophysiological research, the last 7 in the laboratory
of Nobel laureate Sir John Eccles, considered by many to be the world's greatest brain
research scientist. Gary actually succeeded Eccles as director of the Laboratory of
Neurobiology at the U. of Buffalo Medical School when Sir John retired. But God
convinced Gary and his wife Elaine that he wanted them to serve him in other ways.
In April 1976 Gary resigned his position and moved to the Bay area to do evangelistic
and discipling work among international students as part of the Campus Crusade for
Christ ministry. Since many of his contacts are graduate students or research scholars in the sciences, his background has not been wasted. Gary convinced his audience
of the strategic nature of his ministry, and, through slides, introduced some of the
young people from around the world who are now learning about Jesus Christ and the
Scriptures through Gary and Elaine.
Miriam Adeney of Seattle, Washington, is teaching half-time in the Department of
Missions of Seattle Pacific University's School of Religion. Her five-hour course
this fall is entitled "Christian Communication in the Third World.11 Miriam and
Michael (who runs The Alternative bookstore near the U. of W.) are anticipating an
additional Adeney at the end of November.
Jerry D. Albert of the Mercy Hospital Medical Center Research Facility in San Diego,
California, was elected to membership in the 3200-member Endocrine Society at the
Society's 59th annual meeting in Chicago in June. Jerry was recognized for his
continuing work with Jack Geller on steroid metabolism in the human prostate.
W. Henry Benner completed his Ph.D work at the U. of Florida in Gainesville and is
now doing postdoctoral work at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the U. of Calif-3,
Berkeley. Henry's work at LBL is in atmospheric chemistry, related to air pollution
problems. His wife Cyndy is an occupational therapist, employed in a curriculum
development project at San Jose State.
John C. W. Bliese, professor of biology at Kearney State College, Kearney, Nebraska,
was awarded life membership in the Association of Midwest College Biology Teachers
at AMCBT's annual meeting in Monmouth, Illinois, on October 7. John has been on
the Kearney faculty since receiving his Ph.D. at Iowa State in 1953, and has been
full professor since 1958. An authority on the ecology of sandhill cranes, John is
only the eighth member of AMCBT to be honored with life membership.
Rodger K. Bufford has moved from Huntington College in Indiana to Psychological
Studies Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is associate professor and in charge
of training and clinical service. Rodger gave a paper at the American Psychological
Association in San Francisco in August, discussing "Effectiveness of Written and
Quiz Procedures in PSI." (Programmed Student Inquiry? Personalized Science Instruction? Psychological Self Inventory?) Rodger was hoping to meet other ASA members at
APA. Some must have been there. Hope they got together. (We were away from the Bay
area on our own PSI--Prolonged Summer Itinerary--at the time.)
Roy E. Cameron works for the Environmental Impact Studies Division of the Argonne
National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois. Roy was formerly deputy director of the
Land Reclamation Program, is now director of Energy Resources Training & Development.
He is in charge of conducting environmental technology training programs for Native
Americans--Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Assiniboine, and Sioux (Ft.
Peck tribes). Roy asks our prayers that somehow good will come from the recent
breakup of his marriage; his wife divorced him and returned to California with
their two teenage daughters.
Miguel A. Capote spent the summer at Argonne National Lab as a resident associate in
the Chemical Engineering Division. He graduated from Harvey Mudd College in June
with a B.S. in physics (and a second major in religion). In September Miguel married
Valicia Lawson of Claremont, California, and began work toward a Ph.D. in physics at
the U. of Southern California. He has a teaching assistantship at USC.
Michael L. Chambers moved to Springfield, Illinois, at the beginning of 1977 to work
on his M.Div. degree while serving as associate minister of Lakeside Christian Church.
The Chamberses, now occupying a 10-year-old 12' x 60' trailer with their two small
children, have learned to "make do" with minimal space and minimal income. But Mike
says "It's been a valuable experience for us and healthy in every way." (The lighter
the load, the lighter the heart, right?)
Roger David Cole, professor of biochemistry at U.C. Berkeley, is on sabbatical leave
this year at Cambridge University in England.
Donald G. Davis, Jr., associate professor of library science at the U. of Texas in
Austin, was also in England recently. At the centenary meeting of The Library Association in London, October 3-6, Donald represented the American Library History Round
Table of the American Library Association as chairman-elect. A new reference volume,
American Library History: A Bibliography, co-edited by Don and Michael H. Harris of
the U. of Kentucky, was published by the U. of Texas Press this summer.
Edward R. Dayton, director of Missions Advanced Research & Communication Center of
World Vision International, has since 1969 written a short personal essay for each
bimonthly MARC Newsletter. A number of Ed's "Page 3" essays have been reprinted in
various publications around the world. Now 13 of them have been collected in a small
pamphlet, And He Knew Me All the Time, available for $1.00 from MARC, 919 W. Huntington
Dr., Monrovia, CA 91016. (In the July 1977 issue, Ed described his joy at seeing wife
Marge receive her M.A. in theology at Fuller Seminary from his seat among the faculty.)
Donald DeBruyn graduated from the U. of Michigan Medical School in June and has begun
a residency in internal medicine at the U. of M. affiliated hospitals in Ann Arbor.
Eric J. Emerling of Sparta, New Jersey, works at Roche Diagnostics, a division of
Hoffmann LaRoche, Inc. Eric says the fellowship there is great, as he and two brothers
in the Lord who work together are able to minister to each other in the Spirit and
witness to their coworkers day by day.
Nils Friberg has become professor of pastoral care and counseling at Bethel Theological
Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nils served many years on the faculty of the Baptist
Theological Seminary in Sao Paulo, Brazil, then came home on furlough in 1972 and
resigned from the Board of World Missions in 1976. He received his Ph.D. this summer
from the U. of Iowa's School of Religion, his dissertation being "An Assessment of the
Religious Coping of Women Cancer Patients for Purposes of Pastoral Counseling." Nils
expressed his gratitude to ASA for his missionary membership and appreciation of material in ASA publications he was able to use in his classes or in witnessing to
Brazilian university students. Now he's glad to be carrying his part of the load
with a fully paid membership. (Obrigado! Que prazer encontrar um homem direito e
leal!)
John R. Gehman is an M.D. who has spent 20 years in family practice in Michigan and
seven in Ontario. This summer he moved from Woodville, Ontario, to Bartow, Florida,
to become assistant director of the family practice residency at Polk General Hospital.
John was anticipating quite a multicultural challenge, since many of the residents
are foreign graduates, others are Americans who trained in Mexico or Italy. Further,
the large county charity hospital treating primarily blacks and Spanish-speaking
migrants is balanced by a fee-for-service Family Practice Center. John would like
to correspond with other Christians working in family practice residencies (Address:
Apt. #38, 260 W. Van Fleet Dr., Bartow, FL 33830).
Fred H. Hafner of Plymouth, Minnesota, retired from General Mills last year and says
he is enjoying his retirement more than he thought possible. Fred now has time to
pursue many interests he had to neglect before, but he's still making a significant
contribution in his own field of expertise: in January 1977 he began working for a
Japanese company as a nutrition consultant.
Wesley Howard is doing an internship in medicine at the Providence Medical Center in
Portland, Oregon. Wes would like to make contact with other Christians in Portland
with scientific training and an interest in dealing with the spiritual/ethical challenges. His home address is 4216 NE 132nd Ave., Portland, OR 97230.
G. Archie Johnston is director of counseling & guidance at Newport International
University, a school offering masters and doctors degrees in any academic area
through an Oxford-Tutorial approach. Archie works with pastors and others in the
behavioral science field in "a very unusual program." (Some readers may be skeptical
about completing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology in 6 to 12 months "while keeping
your day-time job"--but that's what the brochure says. To check it out, write
Newport International University, 4100 Birch St., Suite 100, Newport Beach, CA 92660).
Michael Krebs, psychology graduate student at Cal State, Chico, is developing an
interest in community holistic health centers. This summer Mike was a supervisor of
a Youth Conservation Corps camp, working in King's Canyon Sequoia Park for the
Forest Service.
David A. Lewis has been elected one of 16 worldwide members-at-large of the International Peace Association and Research Institute of Jerusalem, Israel, of which G.
Douglas Young is vice-president. David, a Bible teacher and minister of the Assemblies of God, has made 13 trips to the Holy Land, most of them leading tours. (Two
of his 11-day 1978 tours will depart on February 13 and March 6 at a cost of less than
$1,000 per person. For information write David A. Lewis, P.O. Box 1051, Fairmont,
W.V. 26554).
Jeffrey C. Lynds received his B.S. in biochemistry from the U. of New Hampshire and
is now enrolled in a joint Ph.D. program at the U. of Wisconsin in Madison. His two
fields of specialization are nutrition and pathology. Jeff hopes to work in public
health after receiving his doctorate.
David 0. Moberg has stepped down from the chairmanship of the Department of Sociology
and Anthropology at Marquette University in Milwaukee after serving three 3-year terms.
Dave is on sabbatical this year, doing exploratory research on social indicators of
spiritual well-being. He gave a paper on the subject at the September meeting of the
American Psychological Association in San Francisco. (Did he encounter Rodger Bufford
there?) A week later Dave was in Chicago for the annual meeting of the Association
for the Sociology of Religion, of which he is president.
Dale E. Moelker graduated from Michigan Technological University in May 1977 with a
B.S. in biological sciences specializing in animal and community ecology. Dale's
postcard came from Wyoming (not the state; from a town in Michigan by that name).
James F. O'Bryon of Bel Air, Maryland, works as a research mathematician at the
Ballistic Research Labs. Recently he's begun ("on faith") a small publishing house
to release Christian songs, hymns, and choruses by people who are to date unpublished.
Jim calls it New Creations Publishing House (1608 S. Tollgate Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014).
New Creations has released at least one album of solo music. Jim wonders if ASA
should provide a forum for members to offer their publications for sale to other members, with ASA assuming the profits of such sales. (What about that, Elgin?)
Dean C. Ortner travels around the country and the world presenting live Sermons from
Science demonstrations. He presented the series in upstate New York this sunner and
an open weekend gave him a chance to take in two days of the ASA Annual Meeting at
Nyack College. (To schedule the live SFS series in your area, contact Dean at
Moody Institute of Science, 12000 E. Washington Blvd., Whittier, CA 90606.)
E. Mansell Pattison, professor of psychiatry at the U.C. Irvine Medical Center in
California, covers quite a range in his recent books. His college-level text on The Experience
of RyinA (Prentice Hall, 1976) is now available as a Spectrum paperback (see Feb/Har 1977 Newsletter, p.6).
Emerging Concepts_of Alcohol Dependence (1977) is a Springer-Verlag research monograph usable by college students but also
supplying technical data for professionals. Pastor and Parish: A Systems Approach
(1977) is a small Fortress Press paperback using general systems theory to illustrate
the social structure of the parish. Mansell hopes it will help pastors implement
parish-wide participation in the ministry of the church.
Ghillean T. Prance, now director of botanical research at the New York Botanical
Garden, edited Extinction is Forever (NYBG, 1977), a symposium on endangered species
of plants in the Americas. Ghil is currently on another Amazonian expedition in his
14th year of Amazonian exploration. He spent February and March on the Alpha Helix,
Oceanographic Research Vessel of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, traveling
from Manaus, Brazil, to Iquitos, Peru, doing an electrophoretic study of seed protein
variation. Ghil's 50th scientific paper appeared in June, but he still has time to
serve as chairman of the board of deacons of the First Baptist Church of White Plains,
New York.
Bernard Ramm. has left the east coast, but left his foot in the door with a visiting
professorship at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminar'y in Philadelphia. Bernie now
lives in Modesto, California, where he is professor of Christianity at the Simpson
College branch campus and theologican-in-residence at the First Baptist Church of
Modesto.
Harold J. Reed, Jr., of Beaumont, Texas, received his Master of Engineering degree
this spring at Lamar University in Beaumont.
Benjamin F. Richards, Jr., of New Jersey, is a Professional Engineer in private practice. He offers consultation on energy conservation in church buildings through
out the east and northeast. Ben got into that business after dramatic results were
appreciated at his own church, where a 57 percent reduction in energy consumption
was noted the first year. (Address: 1417 Harding Highway, Mays Landing, NJ 08330.
Phone 609-625-2200.)
Larry S. Riedinger did some work toward an M.S. in corrections at Xavier University
in Cincinnati but has now entered the social work program at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Larry will be doing crisis intervention and researching problems
in the area of juvenile delinquency legislation. After seminary he hopes to complete
his M.S. Larry would like to hear from people interested in greater church involvement in juvenile.justice (Address: 18 Westwind Rd., Louisville, KY 40207).
R. Waldo Roth, associate professor computer science at Taylor University in Upland,
Indiana, spent five weeks this summer teaching at Navajo Community College in Tsaile,
Arizona. Wally has developed a keen interest in Indian education, particularly in
computer-related courses. The whole Roth family enjoyed their "working vacation" in
Arizona. With Stan Burden of Taylor, Wally also participated in a solar energy
project this summer, investigating simulation techniques and microprocessor-based
systems.
Howard Shirley left Sterling College in Kansas this summer, where he had been assistant professor of psychology & religious counseling, toopen up a private counseling
practice in Albany, Missouri. His new Upper Missouri Counseling Center is the only
facility available to help residents of rural northwest Missouri with psychological
and spiritually-related problems. Howard is also associated with physicians in a
clinic and half-time professor of psychology in the graduate school of Northwest
Missouri State University in Maryville.
W. Douglas Smith, Jr., has returned to La Paz, Bolivia, after completing his D.Miss.
at Fuller Seminary's School of World Mission. His dissertation, Toward Con ' tinuous
Mission: Strategizing for the Evangelization of Bolivia, has just been published by
the William Carey Library. Doug and Audrey look forward to the Lord's doubling of
church growth in Bolivia (if everything goes according to his dissertation).
Charles Thaxton, now of Dallas, Texas, was back east this summer raising support for
his work with Probe Ministries International. Earlier in the year Charlie had participated in an Update Forum at SMU in Dallas that brought several campus ministries
together and drew positive comments from 80 percent of the students evaluating the
Christian presentation. Charlie also spent two weeks in Connecticut interacting
with faculty and students at Yale and using the Yale library.
Aldert Van der Ziel of the Electrical Engineering Department of the U. of Minnesota
in Minneapolis participated in an international symposium on "1/f (Flicker) Noise"
at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, July 11-13. Aldert stopped off in
17-
Berkeley for a good visit with Newsletter editor Walt Hearn on the way over. Aldert
and his wife also visited a daughter in the Bay area and were hosted by a number of
former students and associates in Japan.
REVIEW OF NEW BOOK FOR SALE
William W. Watts of The King's College, Briarcliff Manor, New York, had an article
in the September issue of Eternity entitled "A Layman's Guide to the Science/Faith
Debate." (Alas, our subscription ran out too soonl)
Mark Wolgemuth, associate professor of chemistry at Messiah College, Grantham,
Pennsylvania, has returned to Messiah to teach chemistry after a year's sabbatical.
Mark spent the year teaching at Choma Secondary School in Choma, Zambia, Africa.
Davis A. Young, author of Creation and the Flood (Baker Book House), the book that
attracted so much favorable comment from participants in the geology symposium at
the 1977 Annual Meeting, is associate professor of geology in the Department of
Earth Sciences at the U. of North Carolina at Wilmington. Dave's fields of interest
are mineralogy, petrology, and geo-chemistry. He's started work on a new book dealing with the age of the earth.
Lester J. Zimmerman expects to be back at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, in
January, after two years at the University of Zambia in Africa. Lester has had the
challenging task of teaching the Introduction to Mathematics course (algebra, trig,
analytic geometry, beginning calculus) to 475 students divided into two lecture
groups and 20 tutorial sections. The weekly problem sheets and lecture notes have
to be mimeographed; there are no textbooks.
CREATION AND THE FLOOD, an Alternative to Flood Geology and Theistic Evolution, by
Davis A. Young. Baker Book House, 1977. (Reviewed by Dewey K. Carpenter)
Davis Young, Associate Professor of Geology at the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington, has written what is probably the best of the recent books which treat
the relation between Genesis and geology. He follows his father, the late E. J.
Young, closely on theological and Biblical matters, holding therefore a very conservative view of Scripture. On this basis he rejects theistic evolution, which
he thinks is not sufficiently faithful to Biblical teaching about human origins,
and which does not take a sufficiently historical approach to the interpretation of
the early chapters of Genesis. His criticisms of theistic evolution are familiar
enough, covering ground known to most people interested in these matters. This part
of the book will reinforce the views of those who already reject theistic evolution
while appearing superficial and unconvincing to those who hold such a position.
The real value (and surprise) of the book lies in its forthright and thorough repudiation of flood geology and late-earth views which are normally considered the alternatives to theistic evolution. Young is especially concerned to reject the
Whitcomb/Morris theory that the Genesis flood was a universal catastrophic deluge which left
abundant geological evidence of its occurrence. Young argues that neither geology
nor Scripture can legitimately be used to support flood geology. His own position
combines conventional reviews of geology with a view of Genesis 1-3 which is essentially historical. For Young, the Genesis flood occurred, but did not leave worldwide geological evidence of its occurrence. It will be interesting to see how great
an influence this well written book will exert on the apparently unending dialogue
on Genesis and the flood.
(Available from Elgin office for $6.25 to members. See instructions on ordering
on back page.)
MODIFYING MAN: IMPLICATIONS AND ETHICS, Edited by Craig Ellison, Washington, D.C.:
University Press of America, 1977. 294 pp., paperback. List Price-$9.45; Member
Price - $9.00. At last! This is the edited collection of papers from the 1975
conference on human engineering held at Wheaton College. This highly significant
conference featured Donald MacKay and Senator Mark Hatfield along with nationally
known experts in the" field including, Daniel Callahan, Robert Sinsheimer, Elliot
Valenstein and Perry London. Responses to these major addresses by evangelicals
included: Carl F. H. Henry, Bernard Ramm, John Scanzoni, Norman Geisler, Elving
Anderson, Robert Herrmann, as well as several others. This book contains the full
complement of major addresses and the responses to those addresses. There is nothing
available on this subject to compare with the excellent quality of this meeting.
Every evangelical scientist should study this book.
GOD'S TIME-RECORDS IN ANCIENT SEDIMENTS, by Dan Wonderly, Flint, Michigan: Crystal
Press, 1977. 258 pp., paperback. Member Price - $5.50. This is a highly detailed,
carefully documented presentation of some of the leading non-radiometric evidence
for great age of the earth. This book is a formidable answer to the position of the
young-earth flood geologists by a scientist well within the conservative evangelical
framework. It is a book that fills a gap of long standing in available published
material on the creation/evolution debate. The book is especially suitable for use
in undergraduate courses on the subject.
To order books, send your check made out to the ASA to our Elgin office (5 Douglas
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120). Ask for your book(s) by title. Book(s) will be sent postage
paid for the price indicated (no handling or postal charges) by return mail.