NEWSLETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

Volume 23 Number  4                                           August/September 1981




THE LATE GREAT PLANET NEWS

We doubt that anyone could have attended the 1981 ASA Annual Meeting without getting excited about astronomy. In that you news of Saturn from the Voyager 2 fly-by? Not quite. After more or less helplessly watching our August 1 deadline fly by, your Newsletter editor shrugged and soon took off to gather news at Eastern College.

Immediately after the Annual Meeting we put together a report on it for Christianity Today, hoping to give ASA some national publicity on ASA's 40th anniversary. If their news editor liked our story, we've helped the biweekly CT scoop our own bimonthly (by now a month late). Eternity magazine, a monthly published in Philadelphia, didn't need our help. Its editor, Steve Board, covered the Annual Meeting personally. (Since we met in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, it was only a few miles "from there to Eternity.")

From editorial deadline to the time we receive the printed issue in the mail seems to take about two months. We hope to shorten that, but we know you won't be reading this until at least October, maybe even November. What's more, we can't give full coverage to the Annual Meeting in this issue because of other stories that needed to be covered. We do have a running start on the Oct/Nov issue, which will definitely reach you before Voyager 2 approaches Uranus -unless the Lord has other plans.

Look at it this way: if the story of the universe really goes back 10 or 20 billion years, taking an extra month to report it won't make a lot of difference.

GOD'S GLORY DECLARED

Several hundred people attending the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation at Eastern College August 14-17 saw knowledge of the heavens displayed day after day and night after night. Even those in astronomy and related fields to whom the facts may not have been new found fresh inspiration in considering how "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God," the meeting's theme.

The three keynote addresses were delivered by Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich in a style that made even complex concepts understandable. His lectures by themselves would have been worth circumnavigating a big chunk of the globe to attend. (Tapes of the three keynote lectures and of Bob Herrmann's presidential address are available from ASA at $4 each or $15 for all four.)

The meeting opened on a historical note with Gingerich's lecture on "The Galileo Affair in Contemporary Perspective." Saturday morning's plenary symposium on "Theological and Scientific Explorations of Space" also jumped back and forth between historical and modern times. The audience was reminded of how old some "current" problems are, and vice-versa. The next Newsletter will try to bring you the gist of the plenary sessions and at least some of the contributed papers. Many papers, of course, ranged beyond the meeting's theme into other areas of science, technology, history, philosophy, or theology.

On Saturday afternoon, parallel sessions on the social and behavioral sciences and on the philosophy of science ended just before the ASA Annual Business Meeting was convened. Fatigue was beginning to set in but a fine banquet in the dining hall and a post prandial stroll back to McInnis Hall "through the starry night" revived everyone. The two evening events woke all to the tasks God has given Christian men and women of science. President Robert L. Herrmann's address was entitled "Walking the Secular Fences and Fishing the Gene Pools." In it he pointed to the spiritual resources Christians have to help the scientific world relate itself once again to eternal values. Then Paul Arveson gave a powerful illustration of how to do just that. His tape-slide presentation of "The Jupiter Story" showed many close-ups of that wondrous planet and its moons taken by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft. The audience was led beyond mere observation and curiosity into wonder by the musical background and appropriate biblical quotations on the tape.

Sunday morning was given to a Bible study led by Kurt Weiss and to worship in local churches. Early afternoon parallel sessions dealt with current and historical issues in science/ faith interaction. Several hours were then set aside for interest groups, most of which seemed packed out with people who wanted to get down to business on certain issues or explore special projects. After dinner a second keynote address, on the possibility of life on other worlds, ended a full day of glorifying the Creator in various ways.

Monday proved to be equally full, beginning with the final keynote address, on the origin and destiny of the universe. Parallel sessions filled the rest of the morning and afternoon. Choices were almost always difficult. For example, just before lunch one had to choose between a gallery talk by Sandra Bowden, an accomplished Christian artist from Clifton Park, New York, whose paintings on display in the McInnis Hall foyer proclaimed the convention theme, and another of Paul Arveson's dramatic slide shows, this one on James Houston's thoughts in I Believe in the Creator (Eerdmans, 1980). Even the final paper of the meeting, Bob Newman's 45-minute slide lecture on the meaning of the biblical "firmament," was lively enough to hold the attention of an audience that, for the most part, was just about "spaced out."

A quick rundown like this leaves out a lot. We haven't mentioned the well-attended devotions that began each day, the field trips to historic Philadelphia or the Amish country offered as alternatives to the technical sessions, or the outstanding geology field trip all day Friday.

The geology trip, organized and conducted by Frank Roberts of Delaware County Christian School, drew some 30 participants to Eastern College on Thursday night for an early start the next morning. Traveling 175 miles (280 km, that is), they saw metamorphic rocks, an unconformity, sedimentary rocks, coal beds, and fossils. Frank answered many questions about features of our own beautiful planet, its age, the origin of fossils, the biblical flood, and the fact of God's creation. It was a great way to begin a memorable ASA meeting.

The American Scientific Affiliation was declaring God's glory.

VOYAGE THROUGH TIME

Owen Gingerich's opening address went back to the 14th century to lay the groundwork for the famous disagreement between Galileo Galilei and the Roman Catholic Church. That "affair" culminated in 1633 but has 20th century overtones, not only because the Vatican wants to "reopen the case" but because of certain parallels to modern controversies. Galileo was tried not for heresy, as often stated, but for disobeying a specific injunction of the Congregation of the Holy Office. And the "real" argument was not over the Copernican heliocentric model versus the Ptolemaic geocentric model of the solar system. It was rather over the impact of science on biblical interpretation-and that argument continues.

Some of that lecture's content can be found in the article on "The Censorship of Cnnpmjcus' De revolutionibus" in the March 1981 JASA, but it was the speaker's anecdotes and slides that brought history to life. The slides included 17th century diagrams of the rival systems, the actual wording of the 1616 decree against Copernicus' work in the Index, and photographs of existing copies with parts obliterated by Inquisition censors. To see how much censorship was actually done, professor Gingerich has personally examined probably 90 percent of the 500 or so extant copies of the original edition.

On a trip to Bucharest later this year to speak at an international congress on the history of science, he will be able to examine several copies of De revolutionibus he has not yet seen-in museums in Moscow.

BACKUP SYSTEM

Lots of people helped get the 1981 Annual Meeting off the ground. The grounds, incidentally, were beautiful. St. Davids is a "main line" suburb of Philadelphia. The Eastern College campus was formed from three grand estates with the addi
tion of several new academic and dormitory buildings. The college dining hall is in the former mansion of the Charles S. Walton estate. (The Waltons' fancy stone stable was remodeled to house Eastern's physics and chemistry laboratories.) ASA sessions were held in the comfortably air conditioned new Mclnnis Learning Center near Walton Hall. Across a huge greensward and several lakes and streams, ASAers were housed in dorms clustered around the mansion of another big estate.

ASA's new executive director, Bob Herrmann, was officially in charge of "mission control," but our new office secretary. Joan Lipsey. seemed to function pretty well on her own. She came on board ASA this summer when she and her husband moved to Ipswich, Massachusetts, so he can study at Gordon-Conwell Divinity School. Joan presided over registration, greeting everyone with her Tennessee smile.

Interim executive secretary Harry J. Lubansky had worked hard setting things up before the meeting began but was still much in evidence, smoothing out rough spots and making necessary announcements. Program chair Gerald Hess of Messiah College had done most of his excellent work well in advance. too, except for introducing the keynote speaker.

The president of the Delaware Valley section hosting the meeting, Frank Roberts, had enlisted lots of local help. Jay Moore, professor of biology at Eastern College and vice-president of the section, served as coordinator with the host institution-and seemed to be everywhere doing everything. Tom Opie, local section secretary, helped with registration. Treasurer Helen Martin kept an eye on the childcare services provided by Michelle Bogolin and several friends. Ben Hatch helped with transportation and Lou Klauder worked on coordinating efforts with local churches. Larry Mark and Paul Farrell assisted with the biology field trip, for which Chris Maffet drove the bus. Paul also led two other trips during the meeting for families of attending members.

Thanks to all (and to any we missed) for a successful launch. All systems at Eastern were definitely "go."


DOWN TO EARTH

Most members at the Annual Meeting let their minds soar heavenward, though some may have been wondering how they'd get home if the air traffic controllers' strike shut down the airlines. The ASA Executive Council, meeting before, during, and after the four-day program, had lots of other things to think about as well.

The 1981 Council has consisted of Robert Herrmann, Kurt Weiss, Chi-Hang Lee, Ed Yamauchi, and Donald Munro. Chi Lee, elected vice-president, has become president after Bob Herrmann resigned to serve as ASA's (paid) executive director. This year's nominating committee (Ed Yamauchi plus David Moberg and Gordon Mills) had to submit two sets of nominees. For Herrmann's unexpired last few months of 1981, two former Council members were nominated: mathematician Charles Hatfield of the U. of Missouri-Rolla and biologist David Willis of Oregon State.

The committee's nominees for a regular five-year term, replacing retiring Council member Kurt Weiss at the end of 1981, are sociologist Russell Heddendorf of Geneva College and psychiatrist Mansell Pattison of the Medical College of Georgia. No further nominations were made from the floor at the Annual Business Meeting. All ASA members should soon receive a mailing with a double ballot of two names each.

NOTE: Since an appeal for contributions sent first-class in the past few months should have updated addresses on the ASA membership list, the ballots will be mailed as second class material as an economy measure. Please give all ASA mail "first-class consideration" when it comes to you.

Here's another important NOTE From the Business Meeting: Next year's ASA ANNUAL MEETING will be held at CALVIN COLLEGE in GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 13-16, 1982. The Newsletter will keep you posted as plans develop, but mark your calendars now.

LOOKING UP

Much of the council's time and the Annual Business Meeting was devoted to "the state of the Affiliation" after reorganizing and moving our national office from Elgin to Ipswich. By the end of 1981 the new executive director will have sorted out all the financial snarls and the Newsletter will publish a full report and budget for the coming year.

It's clear that ASA is in a deficit situation because the income from adding some 2,000 new JASA subscribers didn't pay the cost of the direct-mail advertising campaign it took to get them. We spent roughly $68,000 and got $48,000 back, with only a small amount probably still to come in from renewals. We owe our printer and must also pay back loans from several Council members. The situation is serious but not desperate. Bob Herrmann has been cutting back expenses while putting together an exact picture of our assets and liabilities.

The bottom line, as we read our notes from the Annual Business Meeting, is that we need about $18,000 in contributions in September and October to clear all our debts. We have about 2,400 members (plus another 2,600 Journal subscribers). A $10 extra gift from each member would bail us out. Of course, since some members are students or in other low-income situations, some of the rest of us need to give more than that. If you've been thinking of implementing Harold Hartzler's suggestion of assigning one-tenth of a tithe, 1 percent of your income) to support ASA's ministry, there couldn't be a better time to begin.

Address your contributions to the American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box J, Ipswich, MA 01938. Or cheer up Bob Herrmann by calling (617) 356-5656, our national office in Ipswich, and telling him how you can help.

Help is already on the way. In fact, change that bottom-line figure by at least $2,000. That's what fewer than 200 people attending the Annual Meeting contributed right on the spot.

Let's start the ASA's 41st year free and clear-and committed to serve.

GIMME THAT OLD-TIMER LEGION

Their number never was legion, of course, but they've made up for that in faithful support of ASA. We refer to the old timers who began putting their energies into ASA from its beginnings or soon thereafter. The Affiliation's first president and one of its five founders, F. Alton Everest, is a prime example. In a letter read at the opening session of this year's Annual Meeting, he referred to himself as a member of "the ASA fossil club." Unable to make it all the way from Whittier, California, Alton sent the ASA not only greetings but a check for $300, both warmly appreciated in this year of new beginnings. One founding member was able to attend. Irving A. Cowperthwaite of Milton, Massachusetts, says he's beginning to miss seeing some old friends at Annual Meetings. Yet he rejoices to see younger members getting the ASA spirit, taking over, and carrying on. Besides ASA's 40th year, Irving had something else to celebrate in 1981. June 10 was the Cowperthwaites' 50th wedding anniversary. A big reception was held for Irving and Fae at the Sheraton Tara Hotel in Braintree. Irving sent us a newspaper clipping of the event. Mostly The Patriot Ledger got everything straight, listing him as a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists and a "charter member of the American Scientific Affiliation." But Irving hastened to point out that before retirement he had been chief engineer and metallurgist for the Thompson Wire Company-not the "Thompson Wine Company" as reported.

Dating not quite so far back in ASA annals is psychiatrist John R. Howitt of Toronto, accompanied again this year by his equally white-haired nephew, physician John F. Stewart of Brockville, Ontario. Missing, and missed, was H. Harold Hartzler of Mankato, Minnesota, because of a heart attack suffered on July 18. Back in the'60s Harold served as ASA's first paid executive officer. A member for 37 years, he is the only person in attendance at all 35 Annual Meetings before this one. It was particularly ironic that he had to miss the Eastern College meeting. The keynote speaker, distinguished Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich, as an undergraduate studied physics and astronomy in Harold's courses at Goshen College.

Characteristically, Harold accepted his heart attack as a loving reproof from the Lord for being too proud of his perfect attendance record. He was learning other things, too, he wrote, "so I praise his wonderful name and count it a privilege that I can still serve him in my very limited way." Modern electronics helped Harold overcome some of those limitations, establishing a "first" for an ASA meeting. His paper on "Science of the Reformation" was actually delivered via a videotape of Harold propped up in his hospital bed reading the paper.

Harold also sent an audio cassette to St. Davids, part of which recalled professor Gingerich's days at Goshen College. That part was played at a plenary session before one of the main lectures. A cassette player set up in a special room enabled old-timers to hear Harold's special greetings to them and to share in his ASA reminiscences and his praise of the Lord's goodness.

So, in a sense at least, Harold Hartzler was present at the 36th Annual Meeting after all.

A JOURNEY HEAVENWARD

One piece of news shocked many ASA members at the opening session. Bob Herrmann announced that Marlin B. Kreider had died while jogging on April 19,1981, apparently of a heart attack. An active member of ASA in the Boston area for many years and a Fellow of ASA, Marlin had attended so many Annual Meetings that he was known personally to many in attendance at Eastern College. After years of being kidded about his "eligible bachelor" status, in 1977 Marlin married Elin Saunders MacDuff at Boston's Park Street Church, were funeral services were held for him this April.

Elin Kreider attended the 1977 Annual Meeting at Nyack College with Marlin a few months after their wedding. Participants this year stood in silence and prayed for her, and for Harold Hartzler's recovery (see above), after hearing the text of the telegram sent "from Bob Herrmann and other members of ASA" on April 20: "We feel with you the loss of our dear brother Marlin. We recall with deep gratitude his long service as leader and counselor in the ASA. We rejoice with you that he is now with his Lord."

Marlin Kreider received an A.B. from Houghton College in 1947 an M.S. (1950) and Ph.D. (1953) from the University of  Maryland. For over 20 years he worked for the Army QM Research and Engineering Center as a research physiologist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts. Then he became biology professor at Worcester State College in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was serving at the time of his death.

Marlin kept himself in excellent physical condition, and was something of an authority on the physiology of conditioning. He died suddenly while jogging with Elin and a cardiologist friend. As one long-time friend of his put it, "for an athletic physiologist to drop dead while jogging with a heart specialist, we have to conclude that the Lord needed Marlin elsewhere and simply arranged for a sudden and peaceful transfer."

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

1. Industrial Hygienists: At the national meeting of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in Portland, Oregon, in May 1981, a new group called the Industrial Hygiene Christian Fellowship met for the first time. Mare Sullivan had made up the name and arranged for the Fellowship to have a slot on the AIHA program. Because the meeting was scheduled for l p.m. on the first day of the conference, some
who would have been interested didn't learn about the gettogether until too late to attend. But 15 people did show that day, and 10 met the next evening in the home where Mare was staying for a home-cooked dinner and much good conversation.

Mare says "We all grew closer to each other and felt keenly the Lord's presence in our midst." She also says "We anticipate with excitement things He has in store for us as a group ministering to a profession that sorely needs a view of individual dignity and the value of truth and ethical decision making." To get on the Fellowship mailing list for future AIHA meetings, professionals and students in occupational health and safety should contact: Mare Sullivan, 4908 NE 193rd St, Seattle, WA 98155.

2. Social Workers: The National Association of Christians in Social Work will hold its 1981 Annual Convention and Training Conference at the Oakland Airport Hilton in Oakland, California, October 1-4. The theme is "Social Work and the Family: Enduring Values-Contemporary Issues."

Gordon S. Bear, director of residential treatment services at the Salvation Army's Door of Hope in San Diego, is cochair of the NACSW convention program. According to Gordon, NACSW was incorporated in 1953 as the Evangelical Social Work Conference, which grew out of a series of conferences at Wheaton College beginning in 1950. It now publishes a bimonthly newsletter (Catalyst), a semiannual journal (The Paraclete), and a national directory of Christian social welfare agencies. Besides special speakers and a symposium on the 1981 White House Commission Report on the Family. the convention will feature 30 workshops and seminars to choose from. For information write to: NACSW, Box 90, St. Davids. PA 19087.

3. Anthropologists: During the December 1981 meetings of the American Anthropological Association in Los Angeles, a Christian get-together on the William Carey International University campus in Pasadena will take place on Thursday evening, December 3. Jim Buswell of WCIU has personally invited the director of Survival International USA to attend, for a discussion of "The Anthropological Appraisal of Missionary Presence" (see "Anthropologist on Many Missions" in June/July issue).

The anthropologists who met in conjunction with the 1976 ASA Annual Meeting at Wheaton College didn't seem ready at that time to congeal into a frankly Christian organization. Maybe the time will be ripe in December 1981. For information on the AAA get-together, write to: Dr. James 0. Buswell, III, Dean of Graduate Studies, WCIU, 1539 E. Howard St, Pasadena, CA 91104.

DEVELOPMENT SYMPOSIUM SET

The third annual symposium of the International Association for the Advancement of Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries (IAAATDC) will be held November 2022, 1981, at the C. W. Post Center of Long Island University, Greenvale, New York. The symposium, on "Education, Appropriate Technology, and Development," is cosponsored by World Education Fellowship (an international organization over 50 years old) and the C. W. Post Center School of Education.

IAAATDC itself has been developing since our last mention   of it. It began whrn international students and scholars met at the 1977 and 1978 AAAS meetings to discuss the transfer of North American technology to their home countries. It now publishes a quarterly journal (Approtech) and is working on an annotated bibliography of research on appropriate technology. Membership is open to anyone interested. For information on IAAATDC or its upcoming symposium, write: IAAATDC, 603 E. Madison St, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

Proceedings of the first symposium, New Dimensions of Appropriate Technology, are available at $5 per copy, and proceedings of the second, Agriculture, Rural Energy, and Development, soon will be. Both can be ordered from: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

WATCHING OUR LANGUAGE

Lots of folks at the 1981 Annual Meeting had kind words for the Newsletter. At least one thought we had been unkind,

though. Richard H. Harrison, computer scientist at Educational Testing Services in Princeton, New Jersey, considered our remarks about the recent-creationist controversy in the April/May issue a bit testy. A letter from another computer scientist, Tom Pittman of U.C. Santa Cruz, is more specific. Tom says our references to the recent-creationist position .1 are usually accompanied with snide remarks like'the creationist argument is a bit like claiming that because some of the trains are cancelled or run way off schedule, the basic timetable is totally inaccurate' and 'Creationism is a slogan seeking to dress itself as a science.' "

Has the Newsletter ever claimed that recent-creationism isn't a valid position for Christians? We hope not. And we don't want to be snide about it, either. We disagree strongly with the idea that recent-creationism is the only valid position for Bible-believing Christians, an idea repeatedly expressed by Henry Morris and others. (See review of Morris's King of Creation by B. J. Piersma in the June 1981 JASA for such statements by Morris.) Our story in the April./May issue ("Now That We Mention It. . .") was basically a report of how the recent-creationist movement is going over in the secular press. The two statements Tom objected to were clearly indicated as quotations from Time magazine and a Berkeley newspaper. The "backlash" stirred up in the secular world against any doctrine of creation is upsetting to many Christians who witness in that world. We think that backlash is news of interest to ASA/CSCA members.

Oops. Here's another complaint, from David E. Laughlin of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: "If you plan to continue to have such editorializing as contained in the June/July 1981 issue ("But We're Also Feminists") I wish to have my name removed from your mailing list. Your remarks are neither new (this is not 1968!) or convincing." We're not sure why David refers to 1968 since the books on sexism and language we recommended were published in 1975 and 1977. But it's true that we slipped into an editorializing second-person style ("If you . . ."), and we'll try not to do that again.

So, thanks to all our readers for your responses, and for keeping our prose on its toes. Life would probably be less interesting without controversy. Personally, we'd much rather win a friend than an argument.

AN OPEN LETTER

Tom Pittman has addressed "An Open Letter to Ancient Creationists and Theistic Evolutionists." Noting that all of the dating methods used by evolutionists are claimed by recent-creationists to be unreliable and based on circular reasoning, Tom says, "If the creationists are only finding the small minority of problems and ignoring the vast majority of valid datings, then let's see a statistically valid sample that documents that fact." A second theme of his letter has to do with the argument "that Christianity does not require a belief in recent creation (i.e., six 24-hour days). I think I understand two varieties to this argument:

"1. The Bible is not a scientific textbook, and any conflicts with accepted science are to be resolved in favor of science. This is the issue in the Inerrancy debate, and I will not press the matter here.

"2. The Genesis account, though true and accurate in all that it teaches, does not teach a 144-hour creation period. I do not see how this position can be derived from the Biblical text. For the assertion to have meaning, it must be falsifiable. That is, if I claim the Genesis account is not intended to specify 144 hours of creation, then I should demonstrate how it might have been stated, had the author so intended, and show that the actual text is different from that. Try as I may, I cannot come up with any wording in the language available to the author of Genesis that more specifically limits the creation period to 144 hours than the way it is stated, though I can find many ways to make it less specific. Perhaps philologists or Hebrew scholars among ASA members and friends can help me out here. Failing that, I must conclude that the author did indeed intend to teach a 144 hour creation.

"I eagerly await any published or private reply to these two issues." (Tom's address is P.O. Box 6539, San Jose, CA 95150.)

LIFE IN THE BIAS SPHERE

Jerry Bergman has left Bowling Green State University in Ohio to become associate professor of psychology at Spring Arbor College in Michigan. Jerry is writing one introductory text in psychology and another in sociology (the field in which he is working on a second doctorate). He has several articles coming up soon in JASA and had another undergraduate textbook published this year, Understanding Education Measurement and Evaluation (Houghton-Mifflin, 1981).

Jerry's pamphlet, Teaching About the Creation/Evolution Controversy (1979), managed to treat all sides fairly. We understand it has sold well and is still available as Fastback No. 134 from Phi Delta Kappa, Eighth and Union, Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402 (Single copies 750; quantity discounts). Jerry says he would welcome correspondence with other ASA/CSCA members who would like to see more secular textbooks written without bias. Address: Dept. of Psychology, Spring Arbor College, Spring Arbor, MI 49283. (He'd probably also welcome some adoptions by members who could use his texts in their classes-Ed.)

In the July 1981 issue of Psychology Today we saw a long critique describing "Seven Biases in Psychology" claimed by the authors to arise from the interrelated ideologies of behaviorism, liberalism, and situationism. Johns Hopkins psychology professor Robert Hogan and graduate student David Schroeder examined six prestigious introductory psychology texts, not from a Christian perspective but from a broad understanding of "the state of the art" in psychological research. Among other things, they found a general bias toward "micro" rather than "macro" issues-just the opposite of the criticism secular biology texts usually receive from Christians.

Meanwhile, Charles B. Thaxton is beginning to work on the biology textbook situation. Charlie has just moved from Probe Ministries "down the road a piece" to the Foundation for Thought and Ethics, founded by Jon Buell, who had also been with Probe. The Foundation wants to produce "a sensitively written high school biology textbook that presents both evolution and creation while limiting discussion to scientific data." Charlie, as science advisor to the project, hopes to draw together an editorial board made up of both creationists and evolutionists. The author selected is "a teaching biologist who is a committed Christian, with two McGraw-Hill books in print." A program of market research for this possibly three-year project has been launched. To contribute financially or intellectually to the project, write to: Dr. Charles B. Thaxton, Foundation for Thought and Ethics, P.O. Box 721, Richardson, TX 75080.

DOWN PAYMENT ON ARMAGEDDON?

The U.S. govern me nt is budgeting $1.4tri I I ion for the military in the next five years-but hardly anybody seems to think that will make us more secure. An organization trying to work within the religious community to "raise a voice in concerted opposition to the nuclear arms race" is the Interfaith Center to Reverse the Arms Race. According to their RAR Newsletter, a report by the national SANE Educational Fund explaining facts and figures behind the biggest peacetime military buildup in history is available from the Center. The 23-page Military Budget Manual is subtitled "How to Cut Arms Spending Without Harming National Security." It is  available at $1.50 per copy from Interfaith Center  to Reverse the Arms Race, 132 N. Euclid Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101.


HOW TO SERVE GOD OVERSEAS. NO. ?

We give up trying to number this series. Why? Well, No. 12 appeared in 1980. Then No. 14 appeared in Feb/Mar 1981, referring to what we thought would be No. 13 in the Dec/Jan issue. But No. 13 got "bumped" from that issue because of too much copy, and hasn't made it in since. Recalling that King David once messed things up with a numbering scheme (2 Sam 24), we'll just rewrite that jinx entry and go on from here.

1. Over a year ago now, William D. Lausen wrote us from Pasadena, California. where he was studying at the U.S. Center for World Mission. He was then planning to spend a year at the Graduate School of Bible and Missions at Columbia Bible College in South Carolina before heading for Saudi Arabia as a partly self-supporting missionary. We don't know how all this came out but we know Bill had quit his job as management engineer at Stanford University Hospital, sold his furniture and gotten rid of a lot of his books, when his car was totaled in an accident. He thought that was the Lord's way of preparing him for service overseas.

Part of that preparation was the course he was then taking, "The Gospel of Islam."  He had high praise for the  Center for World Mission, established only a few years ago by enterprising Ralph Winter, formerly a missionary and professor at Fuller Seminary's School of World Mission. The Center is devoted to reaching the 80 percent of the world's 4 billion people who live beyond invisible cultural frontiers where as yet no viable Christian church has been founded. The challenging story of the Center is told in the 1978 paperback, Once More Around Jericho, by Ralph's wife, Roberta H. Winter. It's available at $1.95 at Christian bookstores or from the publisher, William Carey Library (1705 N. Sierra Bonita Ave, Pasadena, CA 91104).

Students at what has since become William Carey International University tune into the real world in which they will serve. Bill Lausen not only met Muslims during his stay in Pasadena but also studied the Koran, which he said gave him "a real thirst for the water of the Word of God" in contrast to the "desert" of the Muslim world without knowledge of Jesus Christ.

2. In the same erstwhile entry we reported getting a letter from Beijing (formerly Peking), China. Veteran linguist Kenneth Pike had written us about his hopes to build up in institutes and universities around the world the kind of field linguistics needed for Bible translators. At the Institute of Foreign Languages in Beijing, Ken had been lecturing (in English) on material in Ken & Evelyn Pike's 1977 Grammatical Analysis. Ken and Evie were encouraged by responses from some of the young Chinese graduate students and faculty in attendance. The Pikes, officially "retired," had dreamed for years of going to China. (This year they're in Africa.)

Ken saw little horizontal contact between scholars in different Chinese institutions, and said that the "cultural revolution" of 1966-76 did enormous damage to the academic scene. The government was trying to reverse that. Some scholars who were sent off to the farms feel out of date. Many have been let back into the system without examination but now normal entrance exams are being reinstated.

A reminder that this story never got into print came recently in the form of an issue of Waiyu Jiaoxue Yu Yanjiu, journal of the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages. A multilingual publication (Chinese. English. Russian. French-and phonetics). it seems to deal with how best to translate other languages into Chinese. One excerpt in English discusses the word "lunch": "A person who has not lived in the United States may not know that 'bringing a lunch' is not in itself a mark of being either a school-child or a member of a low social class: office workers, factory workers, managers, college professors all may do it." On the idiomatic "there's no such thing as a free lunch," though, they seemed "out to lunch."

(The one article we can read in toto-except for what may be a lengthy abstract in Chinese-is "Dreams of an Integrated Theory of Experience," written especially for the journal by "Kenneth L. Pike, professor emeritus of the Department of Linguistics, Michigan University, and president emeritus of Summer Institute of Linguistics." Some of Ken's references to his own "tagmemic theory of language" might just as well be in Chinese, by jing, but we applaud his effort at interdisciplinary synthesis. Borrowing from physics the terms "particle," "wave," and "field" for an analysis of language, Ken returns the favor by pointing out that even physicists must have prior verbal symbols to define their mathematical symbols.)

Language, a Possible key to an integrative approach, can also open doors to ministry. In his note from China, Ken pointed to a continuing need for linguists as Bible translators. The Summer Institute of Linguistics, which in spite of some local political pressures is working in over 600 languages, has openings for 700 more recruits where doors are still open. To inquire about the linguistic training needed, write to: SIL, c/o Wycliffe Bible Translators, Huntington Beach, CA 92648.

Mainland China is an example of opening doors, especially for those trained in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). We've just met a graduate of the TESL program at William Carey International University (now one of the largest such programs in the U.S.), on her way to teach at an institute in China. For information on TESL, write to: Dr. James 0. Buswell, ///, Dean of Graduate Studies, WCIU, 1535 E. Howard St, Pasadena, CA 91104.

The desire of many Chinese professionals to master English and to reach out to colleagues can open doors even to those who stay in North America. A note from China in the latest News and Reports of the Christian Medical Society says that Ted and Leona Choy, recently retired from Ambassadors for Christ, are establishing an English Tutoring Center there. They know many Chinese professionals who want to correspond (in English) with their American counterparts. The Choys write, "Why look for big mission strategies far down the line when we have all the contacts anyone would want in the People's Republic of China?" If you'd like to be a friend to a Chinese scientist, engineer, doctor, nurse, medical student, etc., describe your training and interests in a letter to Ted and Leona Choy, c/o ETC, Paradise, PA 17562.

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE

Philhaven Hospital in Pennsylvania has an opening for a board-certified or eligible psychiatrist. Philhaven is a mental health facility in the Mennonite Mental Health Services

ing a broad spectrum of services to the community. Near Hershey in Pennsylvania Dutch country, short drive from Harrisburg or Lancaster, two hours by car from Philadelphia or Baltimore. "An opportunity to work in a unique facility staffed by people from a wide variety of denominations but with a common language; warm interpersonal relationships in a deeply caring milieu." Contact: Dr. Rowland Shank, Executive Director, Philhaven Hospital, 284 S. Butler Rd, Lebanon, PA 17042. (Received 23 June, from Rowland Shank-who joined Philhaven through a note in this Newsletter 12 years ago!)

Calvin College in Michigan seeks someone to teach and help develop a new program in environmental studies. The position is half-time in environmental science, with a strong preference that the other half be in geography. Ph.D. and appropriate professional background required. Contact: Dr. Roger D. Griffioen, Chair, Search Committee, Dept. of Physics, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49506; Tel. (616) 949-4000-X408. (Received 10 July, from Davis Young, associate professor of geology.)

Westmont College in California has two positions for assistant or associate professors in chemistry. One is in physical organic or possibly bio-organic as a permanent replacement for a retiree. The other, in inorganic/analytical, is a possible two-year replacement for a faculty member on leave. Applicants must be committed to Christian liberal arts education, have some teaching experience in both their specialty and general chemistry, and be enthusiastically supportive of undergraduate research. Active experimentalists are sought, as evidenced by publications and grants. Opportunities exist for scientific collaboration in local industries and at U.C. Santa Barbara. Send resumed to: Dr. Stanley E. Anderson, Chair, Dept. of Chemistry, Westmont College, 955 LaPaz Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. (Received 24 July, from Stan Anderson, who needs the replacement for himself while he teaches overseas in 198283, perhaps in an institution where other Westmont chemistry faculty could teach in subsequent years. Applicants interested in overseas rotation are especially welcome.)

LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

OTTAWA

A report from Richard Herd says that some23 people turned out for the June meeting to take a Christian look at energy problems. By Richard's count, 11 of those were already CSCA members, including Sam McLaughlan all the way from Montreal. A number of brochures and membership application forms were picked up, though, so our newest section keeps growing. With the flux of scientists in and out of the capital city, the section may even start reproducing. Several members moving from Ottawa to Calgary, Alberta, have requested a list of CSCA members in the Calgary area.

(Canadians often seem to be "on the move." Of course, during one of those long postal strikes, that may be the best way to deliver a letter-Ed.)

SAN FRANCISCO BAY

The June meeting held in Cupertino made an outstanding finale for the year's program of four meetings on varied topics (Mt. St.-Hellens, homosexuality, John Calvin, cosmology). About 30 or 40 people heard Oxford astrophysicist John Barrow describe "things lying around in the universe" in such an engaging way that most of them thought they understood it. In one mind-boggling slide John managed to plot everything one can observe in the universe, with a scale of mass ranging from 0 to 1011 g on the ordinate and with sizes spread out from 10-11to 1020 CM on the abscissa. ASA members found themselves plotted between protons and galaxies, on a line of more or less uniform density. Half of the slide contained nothing because at very high densities black holes suck everything up.

A remarkable feature of the present cosmological situation is that the universe as a whole is turning out to be a "laboratory" for physicists delving into the tiniest things in it, the leptons and sub-quarks. And in the other direction neutrinos may dominate the overall dynamics of the universe, determining the size and structure of galaxies. No wonder cosmologists have funny feelings in their "guts"-GUT standing for "Grand Unified Theories," according to John.

In answer to the question, "Why would the Creator have made 100 billion galaxies," John's argument went something like this: "The universe is big because it has been expanding ever since the 'big bang.' Living stuff requires the properties of carbon atoms. The way to make C atoms is to cook protons in the interior of stars for about 10 billion years. So, even if God had wanted our little planet to be the only outpost of life in the entire universe, he would still have made the universe about as big as we now think it is." Gulp.

Local president Roy Gritter and vice-president Paul Mc Kowen both retire from the board this year. Nominated to replace them are Ken Lincoln, NASA-Ames scientist, and Larry Kells, computer programmer for Dirks Managerial Systems in San Jose. Remaining on the board are secretary-treasurer Carol Lind, Bob Miller, Dick Bube, and Hugh Vander Plas. Mail ballots (and local dues of $3) by September 1 to Carol (3727 Hamilton, Redwood City, CA 94062).

PERSONALS

James E. Berney received his landed immigrant visa in April, enabling him to move to Canada to become head of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship there. Jim.' and Marge (and daughters Chrissi and Sarah) were packing their belongings in a-renrt-a-trurck in July for a long drive  from southern California to their new home in Scarborough, Ontario. Jim's new business address is IVCF-Canada. 745 Mt. Pleasant Rd. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4S 2N5.

Rodger K . Bufford of the Psychological Studies Institute of Atlanta, Georgia, sent us a flyer about a book he thinks Affiliation members might be interested in: Christianity Con fronts Modernity (Ann Arbor: Servant Publications, 1981. $7.95). Subtitled "A Theological and Pastoral Inquiry by Protestant Evangelicals and Roman Catholics," it contains essays by Donald Bloesch, Stephen Clark, James Hitchcock, Mark Kinzer ("Christian Identity and Social Change in Technological Society"), Paul Vitz ("From a Secular to a Christian Psychology"), and Dale Vree, with responses by Richard Lovelace, James 1. Packer, and others.

James 0. Buswell, 1/1, of William Carey International University in Pasadena, California, participated in Sonrise '81, a conference for Native American church leaders held on the U. of Oklahoma campus in Norman in May. The conference, sponsored by Christian Hope Indian Evangelical Fellowship (CHIEF), also brought some 40 Indian Christians from Central and South American countries to Norman. According to a Christianity Today report, Jim encouraged evangelicals to respect the holistic features of Indian culture while witnessing in love. In July, Jim, who did his anthropology doctoral studies on religion in the Seminole tribe, taught cross-cultural communications at the Candi dates School of the Navajo Gospel Mission on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Jim expresses great respect for the mission's chief administrator, Dr. Thomas Dolaghan, "a scholar and culture-conscious missionary, fluent in Navajo and trusted by the Indians."

Tony Carnes of Columbia University was in Berkeley, California, this summer and expects to be back in 1982, studying the sociology of Chinese science. Tony introduced himself to Newsletter editor Walt Hearn at one of the summer lectures sponsored by New College for Advanced Christian Studies. That raised Wait's hopes that New College can serve as a spiritual and intellectual home for many visiting scholars. If enough scholars on sabbatical were to show up in the same year, some kind of ongoing seminar or evangelical "think tank" could be organized. So, before heading for Berkeley, contact Walt or: Dean David Gill, New College, 2606 Dwight Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Donald DeGraaf, physics professor at the University of Michigan in Flint, also showed up in Berkeley this summer. He and wife Mae were making the rounds of good friends in fourorfive western states on a special Amtrack family tour package. Don is also the proprietor of Crystal Press, publishers of his own physics textbook and of Dan Wonderly's God's Time-Records in Ancient Sediments -(1977).