of the
American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation
VOLUME 32 NUMBER 2
APR/MAY 1990
NEWSLETTER of the ASA/CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, 55 Market St., Ipswich,
MA 01938. Tel. 508-356-5656. Information for the Newsletter may be sent to the Editor: Dr. Walter R. Hearn, 762 Arlington Ave.,
Berkeley, CA 94707. 01990 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.
[Editor:
Dr. Walter R. Hearn / Production: Nancy C. Hanger]
MESSIAH IS COMING!
A superb program on "VIEWING
THE NATURAL WORLD AS
CREATION" is shaping up for the
1990 ASA ANNUAL MEETING, to
be held at MESSIAH COLLEGE in
Grantham, Pennsylvania, AUGUST
3-6. The program is being
organized by ASA's Commission on
Creation, chaired by David Wilcox.
Three plenary addresses are lined
up, beginning on Friday evening
and Saturday morning with two
"Historical Views of the Natural
World as Creation." Theologian
Duane Priebe of Wartburg Seminary
in Waverly, Iowa, will open the
meeting Friday with views from the
early church. Saturday morning,
science historian David Livingstone
of Queens University in Belfast,
Northern Ireland, will present views
from the 19th century. (Many
ASAers met David at the 1985
Annual Meeting in Oxford,
England.-Ed.) The two opening
speakers will then interact with
each other and answer questions.
Their historical perspective will orient us as we deal with modern
controversies over creation and
evolution.
Saturday evening's plenary
speaker will bring us into the 20th
century and right into present
controversies. Phillip Johnson,
professor of law at U.C. Berkeley,
will present ideas from a book he
is writing on "The Defense of
Darwinism." According to Johnson,
many defenders of evolution, not
merely its attackers, resort to
scientism rather than science. It will
be informative to hear the
"evolution as fact" school of
thought challenged by a scholar
experienced at analyzing the logic
of arguments.
Professor Johnson will also take
part in a Sunday afternoon plenary
symposium on "Teaching Evolution
in the Science Classroom: Education
or Indoctrination?" The two other
symposium participants will be
Calvin College astronomer Howard
Van Till and Eastern College
biologist David Wilcox. Howard,
current president of ASA, is known
for his "creationomic perspective"
set forth in The Fourth Day
(Eerdmans) and Science Held
Hostage (IVP). Dave is a
population geneticist who has made
significant contributions to the
dating of "mitochondrial Eve"; he
has been writing a book on
creation/evolution during a sabbatical
at the Pascal Centre for Advanced
Studies in Faith & Science at
Redeemer College in Ancaster,
Ontario.
Five outstanding speakers
shedding light on an important,
controversial theme-what more could one ask? Actually, much more is in store, including the
opportunity to get feedback on your
own ideas. The call for contributed
papers went out in January with a
note anticipating that some papers
proposed might not be accepted this
year. With so much interest in this
theme, the program committee may
face a selection problem. Complaints
from former Annual Meetings
indicate that when more than two
simultaneous sessions are set up to
accommodate large numbers of papers, people feel they miss too
much. Papers will be chosen on the
basis of one-page abstracts, due in
Ipswich by April 15.
As we understand it, special
programs for both the Affiliation of
Christian Geologists and for teachers
of biology are being planned for
Friday, before the ASA meeting
officially begins on Friday evening.
Contact Davis Young at Calvin
College about the ACG session and
Gerald Hess at Messiah College
about the biologists' session. Jerry
Hess is also chairing the local
arrangements committee for the
Annual Meeting.
Registration materials will be
mailed shortly. Plan to be at this
instructive, inspiring gathering of
several hundred people devoted to
both science and Jesus Christ.
Come to Messiah.
MID-EAST TOUR READY
0n the final evening of the 1990
Annual Meeting, Monday, Aug
6, ASA's MID-EAST TOUR will
depart from New York via KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines, arriving the
following evening in Cairo, Egypt.
Seventeen days in three countries of
the Muslim world for $2,550 (twin
occupancy) would be a fantastic
travel bargain even without such
great companions.
The final itinerary, instructions,
and application forms were mailed
in February to all who had
expressed interest. Maybe it's not
too late to sign on. A deposit of
$600 per person is required by
May 1, another $300 by June 1,
full payment by June 25. Call Becky Petersen in the ASA office
at (508) 356-5656 for an
application form. Catch ASA's
flying carpet, returning Aug 22.
BIOCHEMISTS TO MEET
The Fellowship of Christian
Biochemists will meet at the
ASBMB meeting to be held in
New Orleans this year, June 3-7.
FCB scribe Bob Bateman expects
to reserve a room for an early
breakfast on Tuesday, June 5. Exact
time and place will be listed in the
ASBMB program. Bob is assistant
professor of biochemistry at the U.
of Southern Mississippi in
Hattiesburg. He has talked to ASA
executive director Bob Herrmann
about affiliating FCB with ASA in
some way, so he is hoping that
any biochemists or molecular
biologists who are already ASA
members will try to attend.
For further information on the
Fellowship of Christian Biochemists,
contact Dr. Robert C. Batemen, Jr.,
at 281 Sunny Meadows, Hattiesburg,
MS 39402, or by phone at (601)
268-6839. If you have a modem,
Bob can be reached by electronic
mail at:
RBATEMAN@USMCP6.BITNET.
ORIGINS
LIKES TSCC
The following brief review of
Teaching Science in a Climate
of Controversy appeared in the
current issue of the Seventh Day
Adventist publication, Origins (Vol.
16, No. 1, pp. 30-31, 1989):
This is a well-prepared document
that is both factual and interesting.
It is designed to help the teacher
cope with the creation-evolution
controversy and has an attractive
format suitable for student use. Its
most basic themes are that there
are many unanswered questions
about origins and that science is
limited in its scope of expertise. In
general the book takes a guarded,
sympathetic view of the general
concept of creation, while at the
same time presuming that life
developed over eons of time. In
this respect, the book will do little
to help solve the problems faced
by the student who believes in a
recent creation. Specific themes
covered are: classroom guidelines,
the origin of the universe, the
origin of life, the origin of basic
kinds of animals, and the origin of
man. In all these themes a
gratifying sensitivity to various
views is exhibited.
Origins (semi-annual, $4/yr;
Geoscience Research Institute, Loma
Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
92350) has consistently presented
the "scientific creationist" case with
openness and gentility. An
accompanying review of the NSTA
booklet by James Skehan, Modern
Science and the Book of Genesis,
accurately describes its basic thesis
("science is factual and Genesis is
allegorical; hence there is no
conflict between the two"),
concluding: "While one can generate
sympathy for this attempt to solve
the classroom evolution-creation
problem, it is doubtful that this
publication will have much impact
on the knowledgeable reader. It
may have a significant impact on
the unwary student."
The lead article in the same
issue of Origins was written by
ASA member Kurt Wise. A
paleontologist who did his Ph.D.
work at Harvard under Stephen J.
Gould, Kurt is assistant professor of
science and director of origins
research at Bryan College in
Dayton, Tennessee. In "Punc Eq
Creation Style" (pp. 11-24) he set
forth the two aspects of punctuated
equilibria ("statis and abrupt
appearance") and discussed the
range of possible mechanisms that
might account for those features.
SOR LIKES TSCC
SOR (Students for Origins
Research) publishes Origins Research,
a semiannual newspaper
sent free to students and educators
on request. Each issue lists the
twenty or so recommended books
carried in the SOR Book Catalog.
Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy
is one of them,
described as a "nicely illustrated
booklet" written by members of the
American Scientific Affiliation "for
high school teachers who struggle with the teaching of topics related
to origins."
The lead article in the
spring/summer 1989 issue of
Origins Research was by San Francisco State biologist Dean
Kenyon, on "Going Beyond the
Naturalistic Mindset in
Origin-of-Life Research." Another
major article was by ASA member Thomas Pittman. With a B.A. in
math (U.C. Berkeley) and a Ph.D.
in information science (U.C. Santa
Cruz), Tom has taught computer
science at Kansas State U. and
continues to consult on
microprocessors. In "Another Look
at the Blind Watchmaker" (pp.
10-11), Tom told of his effort to
claim author Richard Dawkins's
$1000 reward for the first genetic
formula for a particular biomorph
in Dawkins's computer simulation
of evolution.
Having missed the prize by only
three weeks, Tom Pittman told a
fascinating tale of seeing his own
"directed evolution" program churn
out biomorphs at the rate of 1000
per second and test them for
similarity to the target. Only by
applying a little "creative design"
could he solve the problem in a
reasonable time. (The prize-winner
later told Tom that he
also
gave
up on random generation after
finding that it was "undoing the
work I had already done.") Tom's
article argued that his experience,
far from proving "the viability of
incremental evolution as a means of
explaining order and diversity in
nature," as Dawkins had intended,
showed instead that "a well designed information system can
effect any sort of natural laws that
the designer cares to program into
it." Finally, considering the
timescale requirements for
incremental evolution, Tom wrote:
"I think we can conclude that The
Watchmaker is not blind; the
biologist looking over His shoulder
is blind."
Origins Research
editor Dennis
Wagner, technical editor David Joharmsen, and SOR director of
information services Kevin Wirth helped found SOR at U.C. Santa
Barbara as a stricly volunteer
organization. Now SOR has taken a major step, appointing Mark
Hartwig to a salaried post as
executive director. Mark, a relatively
new ASA member, spent a year
and a half with the Biological
Sciences Curriculum Study
evaluating BSCS materials. SOR
director of research is Paul Nelson, Ph.D. candidate in philosophy of
science at the U. of Chicago, and
a "Friend of ASA."
These energetic young Christian
guys (and their spouses) have
accomplished a lot, earning a
reputation for openness and fairness
in the process. Besides publishing
Origins Research for 12 years,
they've published The SOR Bulletin
for six years and maintained the
CREVO electronic bulletin board for
three, mostly out of their own
pockets. They may soon have the
opportunity to present weekly
one-hour, Saturday afternoon
"science talk shows" on a radio
station in the Washington, D.C.,
area. Contact Mark Hartwig (SOR,
P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs,
CO 80937) for information on any
of these projects, or to offer
support. Financial support would be
especially welcome at this time of
transition.
IBRI LIKES TSCC
Another outfit that not only likes
ASA's Teaching Science in a
Climate of Controversy but lists it
among books and booklets available
through its Book Service is
Interdisciplinary Biblical Research
Institute (IBRI, P.O. Box 423, Vittleld, PA 19440-0423).
IBRI describes itself as "a group
of like-minded Christians who see a
desperate need for men and women
who believe in the complete
reliability of the Bible to (1) get
training both in Biblical studies and
in some other academic discipline,
and (2) use this training to help
other Christians deal with the many
areas where non-Christian teaching
is so dominant today." The Institute
maintains a close relationship to
Biblical Theological Seminary in
Hatfield and with Pinebrook Junior
College in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.
The way to get acquainted with
IBRI is to request a copy of its
1990 Catalog. Besides listing
available literature and cassette
tapes, the 32-page catalog details
IBRI's objectives, doctrinal
statement, and categories of
membership, from "Friend" to
"Fellow." ASA members show up
not only among the list of Fellows
but also as authors of many of the
research reports, books, booklets,
and cassettes in the IBRI catalog.
For example, Robert C. Newman is director of IBRI and author of
over a dozen IBRI Research
Reports. John Bloom, ARan
MacRae, and Perry Phillips are
Fellows who serve with Bob on
IBRI's Board of Control. Other
ASA members we spotted on the list of IBRI Fellows are Frank
Roberts and John Studenroth.
ASAers Dallas Cain, Jim
Neidhardt and Dan Wonderly have
authored IBRI Research Reports.
Besides Bob Newman's Genesis
One and the Origin of the Earth,
books available from IBRI include
The Genesis Connection (1983) by
John Wiester and Dan Wonderly's
two books on stratigraphic evidence
for an ancient earth, God's
Time-Records in Ancient Sediments
(1977) and Neglect of Geologic
Data (1987). Tapes available include
those from a public IBRI-ICR
discussion on "Models of Special
Creation" and an IBRI Seminar on
Creation & Evolution ("Dice or
Deity? How Did We Get Here?").
The Seminar was repeated in March
1990 with IBRI speakers Bloom,
Newman, Phillips, and Studenroth,
plus biologist Wayne Frair of The King's College in New York.
CLS LIKES TSCC
In August 1989 the Christian
Legal Society sent a letter to
3,000 attorneys and 11,000 friends
of the Society, offering them a free
copy of Teaching Science in a
Climate of Controversy. The letter
from CLS executive director Samuel
Ericsson said that "The battle over
design versus chance, fact versus
theory, and religion versus science
did not begin or end with the
famous Scopes trial in 1925."
Commending the ASA publication
to Christians who care about how
science is taught in public schools,
he added that those who believe
that human life must be explainable
as a purely mechanical phenomenon
with no intelligent plan "are entitled
to their opinion, but no law says
that only their opinion may be
taught."
Ericsson has since stepped out of
his administrative role to become
CLS senior counsel. His successor,
acting executive director Michael J.
Woodruff, has the same high
opinion of the ASA booklet. As
director of the CLS Center for Law
& Religious Freedom (a post he
still holds), Mike Woodruff has
played a role in producing a
number of significant publications.
Scientists and lawyers have a
somewhat different slant on "getting
at the truth." (If you've ever been
"deposed" in a legal action, you
know the difference.-Ed.) While
rejoicing in our common
commitment to Jesus Christ, ASA
and CLS members have a lot to
learn from each other.
For example, discussion of the
scientific, ethical, and legal aspects
of human in-vitro fertilization (IVF)
begun at our 1989 ASA Annual
Meeting continues via CLS
publication of the 72-page LeJeune
Testimony from the 1989 Tennessee
"frozen embryo" case that was
going on at the same time. In that
well-publicized case (Davis v
Davis), Jerome Lejeune, M.D.,
professor of genetics at the Faculty
of Medicine of Paris and winner of
the Kennedy Prize for discovering
the genetic basis of Down's
syndrome, testified as an expert
witness. His crisp, clear testimony
as to why he regarded the
contested embryos, beginning at the
three-cell stage, to be tiny human
beings has far-reaching public policy
implications.
Mike Woodruff considered
LeJeune's examination and cross examination extraordinary. The CLS
Center publication sets it in context
by providing the full opinion of the
Circuit Court for Blount County,
State of Tennessee. Copies of the
LeJeune testimony can be ordered
at cost for postage & handling
from the Center for Law &
Religious Freedom, 4208 Evergreen Lane, Suite 222, Annandale, VA
2203.
CLS has been drawn into a
number of significant "equal access"
cases where, say, a student Bible
study group's right to meet as a
high school club has been
challenged. CLS has also worked
hard out of court to educate
educators about what is and is not
permitted in the classroom. It had
a strong hand in publication of two
pamphlets aimed at clearing up
misunderstandings. The pamphlets
were jointly sponsored by a
remarkably broad coalition of
sixteen organizations ranging from the NAE to the NEA (National Association of Evangelicals to the
National Education Association).
The two pamphlets take the form
of questions and answers about
Religion in the Public School
Curriculum and Religious Holidays
in the Public Schools. Over 250,000
copies of the first have been
distributed. (See Christianity Today,
15 Jul 1988, p. 42; 5 Feb 1990,
pp.52-53). Both pamphlets are
available on request from CLS,
P.O. Box 1492, Merrifield, VA
22116.
We understand that a preliminary
meeting has taken place to explore
interest in a similar pamphlet on
classroom discussion of "science &
religion" issues, as addressed in
ASA's Teaching Science in a
Climate of Controversy.
CSCA/ASA IN PRINT
The Canadian Scientific &
Christian Affiliation achieved
excellent media coverage of its
1989 Annual Meeting in three
Christian publications with
nationwide circulation. That's
because CSCA president Bob
VanderVennen took the trouble to
write up three slightly different
"exclusive" news stories about the
meeting and supply three different
photographs of the principal
speakers for Faith Today, Christian
Week, and Calvinist Contact. A
small ad for CSCA was also
placed in the issue of Christian
Week carrying the news story. The
favorable reception was probably
helped by the fact that the Nov 4
CSCA meeting was on a
controversial topic of medical
interest (organ transplants) and that
the speakers were well-known
experts. One was Dr. Calvin Stiller,
chief of multi-organ transplant
services at University Hospital in
London, Ont.; the other was Dr.
Abbyann Lynch, ethicist at the
Westminster Institute for Ethics &
Human Values, also in London.
Happily, the Faith Today editor
didn't bother to delete the CSCA
address at the end of Bob's story.
The Canadians always seem to
do things right but the rest of us
are leaming. A major story mentioning ASA appeared in the Chicago Tribune on 1 Feb 1990
under the headline, "A matter of
faith: Looking for God in the halls
of science." Frankly, we weren't
expecting much, having just read a
story in the Jan 21 New York
Times that was a lot less satisfying
than its heading: "Cold war
between science, religion may be
ending, too." The Times story,
about a conference in Moscow
sponsored by something called the
"Global Forum of Spiritual &
Parliamentary Leaders on Human
Survival," was written by Peter Steinfels.
According to Steinfels, the
Forum's appeal for an alliance
between religion and science to
preserve the world's environment
was drafted by Carl Sagan. (Carl
who? Not the high priest of the
Cosmos! Yep.-Ed.) Evidently a hundred religious leaders cheered
the appeal, but one theologian,
Lutheran Richard J. Neuhaus,
worried that Sagan might be
spawning a new nature religion.
Neuhaus: "Christians and Jews don't
stand in awe and reverence before
the universe. They stand in awe
and reverence before the Creator of
the universe."
(Way to go, R. J.-Ed.)
In comparison, the Tribune story
by writer James D. Davis was
downright inspiring. It began with
some serious thoughts from Robert
Russell, director of Berkeley's
Center for Theology & the Natural
Sciences. Quoted next was Robert
Herrmann, director of the American Scientific Affiliation, "a 48year-old scholarly association based
in Ipswich, Mass" with a membership of 2,500, "most of them
theologically conservative Christians."
Also quoted were Charles Ehret of
the Chicago Center for Religion &
Science, Zygon co-editor Karl
Peters, Lutheran physics prof. John
Albright of Florida State U., and
Russian emigre Alexander Polterak,
an Orthodox Jew in electronics who
amended the recent Second Intenational Torah-Science Conference sponsored by the Aleph Institute of
Miami Beach. Who else? Stanford
materials scientist Richard Bube,
Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich, and Minnesota geneticist
Elving Andersen, no less.
Typically for a news story, no
addresses were given for any of
the organizations mentioned.
"Ipswich, Mass" was enough for a
number of people who read the
story. They used directory assistance
to reach ASA by telephone and
request membership information.
(Where it's at, AT&T.-Ed.)
Even the Newsletter editor got
ASA's name in print when a
reporter from Religious News
Service called in November for an
opinion on the California Science
Teaching Framework, which had
just been adopted. Both "sides"
were claiming victory but at the
same time complaining that the
State Board of Education had
knuckled under to the other side.
One side was bragging about
forcing the deletion of a statement
saying "evolution is a fact." The
other side was bragging about how
many times the E-word still
remained in the document. (Big
deal. Better to define it carefully at
least once.-Ed.)
We've misplaced the clipping of
the published RNS story, but we
recall that the Newsletter editor's
name was spelled right and that his
comments weren't construed as an
official ASA position. The quote
that made it into print was
something like, "If neither side got
what it wanted, that's probably all
to the good."
BULLETIN BOARD
(1) The North American
Conference on Christianity &
Ecology (NACCE) will hold a Bay
Area Conference on Christianity
& Ecology on April 7 at the First
Unitarian Church on Franklin Street
in San Francisco. The emphasis of
this inclusive and ecumenical
conference will be on lifestyle
change, examined in workshops and
major presentations, an art show,
and the way the program is carried
out (e.g., by encouraging public
transportation, doing without
throwaway materials, etc.). NACCE
hopes to get churches as well as
individuals to commit themselves to
ongoing ecological action, such as sponsoring Earth Day programs later
in April. Dennis Hayes, national
chair of Earth Day, will give the
opening presentation. Contact
Fredrick W. Krueger, NACCE, P.O.
Box 14305, San Francisco, CA
94114.
(2) A summer internship in
wildlife ecology in Montana
studying elk and moose populations
with ASA member Fred Van Dyke is available through AuSable
Institute of Environmental Studies,
Mancelona, MI 49659. The
internship, which pays $1,500 plus
health insurance, is an excellent
opportunity for anyone interested in
a career in field biology. To apply,
write to the AuSable Institute,
enclosing 1) a letter of interest; 2)
transcripts; 3) names, addresses, and
telephone numbers of three
references; and 4) a curriculum vitae.
BITS & PIECES
(1) We spotted articles or
communications from three different
ASA members in the Fall 1989
issue (XXV) of CreationlEvolution
(quarterly, $12/yr; P.O. Box 146,
Amherst, NY 14226-0146). In a
major article, " 'Faithful in the
Little Things': Creationists and
'Operation Science' " (pp. 8-14),
biologist Stanley Rice criticized
some sloppy work and hasty
conclusions not directly related to
origins, which he found in Creation
Research Society Quarterly; Stan
urged young-earth creationists to use
their scientific talents wisely,
mindful of Jesus' words in Matthew
25:21. Theologian Norman Geisler
explored the question, "Was
Clarence Darrow a Bigot?" (pp.
5-8), acknowledging that the now famous Darrow quote ("It is bigotry
to teach only one theory of
origins") is probably not authentic.
In an exchange of letters (pp.
54-56), geologist John Armstrong defended a middle position on
archaeological evidence for a major
Mesopotamian flood in OT times, a
position he thought had been
dismissed too readily in an earlier
article.
(2) Latest addition to the "other
ASAs" listed in the Dec/Jan
Newsletter (p. 8) comes from Paul
McKowen of Fremont, California.
Somebody mailed him a brochure
about a conference on "Aging &
the Human Spirit" in conjunction
with "ASA's 36th Annual Meeting.
It turned out to be from the
American Society on Aging. "Too
bad it wasn't ours," Paul says. "It
was a very attractive brochure."
WHEREVER GOD
WANTS US: 11.
Last fall the powers-that-be in
Ipswich had a flash of doubt
about this column, which encourages
readers to see themselves as "world
Christians" prepared to go overseas
if they're needed there. That's
because, after about six months on
the job, ASA operations manager
Cynthia Larson started packing up
to go to China. She would be hard
to replace.
The Newsletter series wasn't
fully responsible, of course, because
Cynthia was already emphasizing
missions in her studies at
Gordon-Conwell Seminary. The
Larsons' "call" actually came to
Cynthia's husband Toby, who had
worked in broadcasting before
enrolling in Gordon-Conwell. A
missionary speaker with connections
in China told Toby of an
immediate opportunity in Beijing for
a specialist in broadcasting willing
to make a long- term commitment.
The Larsons were soon scheduled
to begin their overseas orientation.
Cynthia expected to find a job
teaching English in Beijing. (We're expecting to receive at least a
postcard.-Ed.)
As if to confirm the Lord's
hand in this unexpected turn of
events, Rebecca Petersen arrived on
the scene and since January has
been taking Cynthia's place in the
ASA office. Becky was an English
major at Wheaton College, where
she met her husband Tom. Tom
Peterson is an ASA member who
went on for a Ph.D. in clinical
psychology at Northern Illinois and
is now employed at the same
Willowdale Center for Psychological
Services as Frances Polischuk's husband Pablo. Meanwhile the
Petersens had twin girls (now eight
years old) and Becky began a
publishing career, first with Campus
Life, then with Advertising Age.
The Larsons' sudden opportunity
reminds us of two emphases
stressed in registration materials for
the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
student missionary convention
coming up at the U. of Illinois,
Dec 27-31. "Urbana 90" will stress
(1) "creative access" countries, those
that do not grant visas to regular
missionaries; and (2) "marketplace
ministry," aka. tentmaking or
bivocational missionary work.
Present trends indicate that by the
year 2000, almost 80% of the
world's non-Christians will live in
countries requiring creative access,
open to Christians only with
marketable skills.
IVCF expects Urbana 90 to draw
18,700 people, mostly students, to
learn from experienced world
Christians what it means to "be
there." The registration folder
depicts a tentmaking couple, none
other than ASA member Fred
Hicknernell and wife Elaine. Fred
has taught mathematics at Hong
Kong Baptist College for years. The
Hickernells are quoted as saying
that "Urbana 79 played a key role
in building and clarifying our vision
for missions."
We don't know if it's Fred's
replacement the College was looking
for, but last fall they were
advertising an opening for a Ph.D.
in math. The deadline was 15 Feb
1990 but that job might still be
open. Indeed, two-year contracts for
Ph.D.s in many fields seem to be available regularly there. Contact the
Personnel Section, Hong Kong
Baptist College, 224 Waterloo Road,
Kowloon, Hong Kong.
According to East Asia's
Millions, magazine of the Overseas
Missionary Fellowship, Hong Kong
is a very unsettled place these
days. China will gain sovereignty
over the former British colony in
1997. Hundreds of thousands of
citizens who demonstrated in
support of the students in
Tiananmen Square last spring have
become very pessimistic about their
own future. Many people simply
want out. Perhaps a sixth of Hong
Kong's population of one million
will actually emigrate by 1997.
Many pastors and church leaders
are determined to stay on, but
some feel the churches must move
toward the house-church model that
enabled Christianity to survive
persecution in China.
After 1997 Hong Kong will
surely need some marketplace
Christians who can gain creative
access from outside. Some could be
making a place for themselves there
now.
OBITUARIES
E. Mansell Pattison, of Augusta,
Georgia. Mansell chaired the Dept
of Psychiatry & Health Behavior at
the Medical College of Georgia.
Lewis S. Salter of
Crawfordsville, Indiana, died 19
Nov 1989. Lewis was president
emeritus of Wabash College. The
1989 Annual Meeting at Indiana
Wesleyan was the first national
ASA meeting he had been able to
attend.
Elver H. Voth of Newberg,
Oregon, died 26 Aug 1989 of cancer at age 66. Elver was a
highly respected professor of
biology at George Fox College.
(Personal friends and professional
associates of these members are
asked to submit to the Ipswich
office any material about their life
or work appropriate for a Memorial
Resolution to be read during
worship at the next Annual Meeting.)
THE EDITOR'S
LAST WORDS: 8.
With too much
other news to get
off my chest, I'll save my insider's
view of state-of-the-heart diagnostics
for another issue. This time I'll
quickly summarize the results to get
the editor's chest off the news.
The good news is that what I
had was the relatively rare "single
vessel" heart disease, affecting only
the main coronary artery.
Radiothallium visualization showed
no evidence of occlusion in my
other two coronary arteries. I may
not be having a ball, but there's
only one strike against me. So I'm
no more likely to drop dead than I
was before my Dec 2 heart attack,
a big relief to Our Wedded Editor.
The bad news is that I lost
about a third of my functioning
heart tissue for keeps, even if I
develop collateral circulation to help
out the other two coronary arteries.
As cardiologist David Anderson
says, my reserve is used up.
Instead of pumping about 60% of
its volume with each beat, my
heart now pumps about 40% of its
volume. (It beats, though:
"Flubbed-up, flubbed-up.")
The prognosis is basically good
if I keep to a regime of daily
aspirin and regular exercise, losing
weight for good measure. Most
afternoons (under Ginny's watchful
eye) I take a nap to regain my
spizzerincturn. Generally I feel so
good that I have to practice
looking sick to maintain fie respect
to which heart- attack victims are
entitled.
The Weary Old Editor (WOE is
me) and Ginny (OWE) appreciate
the cards and calls and especially
the prayers of our friends. I may
not get around to thanking each of
you personally. I've had to let a
few things slide. Consider this a
big THANK YOU for your
concern, however it was expressed.
LOCAL SECTIONS
METROPOLITAN NEW YORK
Four section members, Jim
Neidhardt, Ernst Mouse, Robert Hsu, and Bob Voss, staffed an
ASA exhibit table at IVCF's
"Marketplace '90" conference held
Jan 6 on the 106th floor of the
World Trade Center in New York
City. The conference brought about
450 students and recent graduates
together with some 80 "mentors" in
business and the professions.
Between plenary sessions addressed
by popular speakers such as Wes
and Rebecca Manley Pippert,
mentors led workshops focusing on
Christian faith and values in the
workplace. Many students were
introduced to the resources and
fellowship of ASA through
conversations at the section's
booktable. Almost 200 ASA
brochures and 100 copies of
SEARCH were picked up, and a
number of copies of Perspectives
and Teaching Science were sold.
The executive council for 1990
is composed of Jim Neidhardt
(pres), Dennis Roark (v.p.), Ernst
Mouse (see), Stanley Rice (treas), Robert Hsu, Randy Issac, Richard
Rommer, and Linda Wanaselja. The section's newsletter, now in its
8th year, is edited by Bob Voss.
The Jan 1990 issue reported that
the "gratifyingly successful" fall
meeting addressed by Thomas
Torrance drew over 100 people.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
For Saturday, March 3, the
chapter scheduled an afternoon
lecture and discussion at Stanford
University, co-sponsored by the
Stanford IVCF Graduate Fellowship.
Dr. Arthur Amman, director of
clinical research at Genentech, Inc.,
of South San Francisco, spoke on
"Ethical Issues Related to the
Treatment of HIV Infection."
A Christian trained in both
pediatrics and immunology, Amman
was formerly director of pediatric
immunology at UCSF. He now
chairs the Science Policy Committee
of the American Foundation for
AIDS Research and the Health
Advisory Board for the Pediatric
AIDS Foundation. At Genentech
part of his responsibility has been
the development of rCD4 as an
anti-HIV therapeutic agent. Section
chair Ken Lincoln, anticipating
keen interest in the topic, said that the discussion would continue
informally over dinner at a
convenient campus location.
PERSONALS
Daniel Andersen is a physics
professor at Grand Valley State
University near Grand Rapids,
Michigan. He also edits and
publishes a small periodical called
This I Believe, exploring Scripture
in what one could call the
Plymouth Brethren tradition. Issue
23 (Dec 1989, 22 pp.) contains a
study based on a morning devotion
Dan presented at the 1982 ASA
Annual Meeting at Calvin College.
Many ASAers (including the
Newsletter editor) gained fresh
insights that morning from Dan on
the meaning of "glory" in John
1: 14 and elsewhere in the NT.
Among them was Robert
Greenhow of Windsor, Ontario,
who edits Open Forum, another
small Bible study periodical. At
Bob's urging, Dan finally put those
thoughts into writing so they could
appear in both publications. This I
Believe is distributed free on
request, but a note in #23 mentions
a need for contributions to make
that possible, while pointing out
that gifts to TIB Ministry (0-2611
Winans St., Grand Rapids, MI
49504-9526) are fully tax-deductible.
Roger C. Burgus was a
professor of biochemistry at the
medical school of Oral Roberts
University in Tulsa for over ten
years. A Sept 1989 announcement
1hat the entire medical complex
would close down, caught him by
surprise. Most of the med students
found places in other schools, but
many faculty members were simply
out of work. A toxicology lab
Roger ran continued to do drug
testing for a few outside clients
after the Nov 1989 closure, but it,
too, soon shut down. When we
talked to him, Roger was pondering
what God wants him to do, with
research or consulting among the
possibilities. His wife Jackie's
opportunities for writing and
speaking on spiritual renewal have
grown beyond the U.S. and both
are open to serving Christ overseas.
Roger says that the peace he has
about the situation really "passes
understanding-just like the Bible
promises." (Anybody out there need
an experienced biochemistry
professor? For that matter, does
anybody want to take over a whole
medical complex?-Ed.)
David K. Carson is a
psychologist and associate professor
in the Child & Family Studies
Program at the U. of Wyoming in
Laramie. With two other faculty
members he has established a
Center for Child & Family
Research connected with the
university. Dave & Megan and their
two children Seth & Sanya enjoy
the Snowy Range Evangelical Free
Church in Laramie and Dave hopes
to work with other Christian faculty
in ministry on campus. He wrote to
"thank the ASA/CSCA leadership
for doing such a great job" and to
"encourage the members to stay
active and make it a priority to
recruit new members." Dave feels
that our Affiliations "bring glory to
Christ in a unique and important
way in today's world."
Bill Durbin, Jr., of Cary, North
Carolina, touched bases with the
Newsletter office in February on his
way to attend a "far out"
conference (far out on the west
coast). Bill has put his graduate
work in religious studies at Duke
on hold to complete a book on
new trends in the science/religion
dialogue. The conference on the
scientific study of consciousness was
sponsored by the Bhaktivedanta
Institute of SF (that's San
Francisco, not "science
fiction"-Ed.). It featured such
speakers as A. G. Caims-Smith,
John Searle, and Karl Pribram. A
bit of lagniappe for Bill was being
able to explore ideas with
conference speaker and Nobelist Sir
John Eccles, his seat-mate on the
flight west.
Owen Gingerich is a Harvard
astronomer who may someday
become a star himself-if the ASA
TV series, "Of Time and Space,"
ever moves from scripting to
production. Meanwhile, NSF has
granted $650,000 to the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, for development of
inexpensive telescopes to allow
astronomy students to view stars in
the daytime by enhancing starlight.
(Thanks to David Siemens of
Mesa, Arizona, for spotting Owen's
name as principal investigator in a
list of recent major grants in The
Scientist, 8 Jan 1990.-Ed.)
Robert C. Newman is a
professor of New Testament at
Biblical Seminary, with a Comcll
Ph.D. in astrophysics. In 1990 he
is teaming up with James M. Boice
of the Bible Study Hour to present
a series of 22-hour weekend
seminars on "Genesis: The Book of
Beginnings" (New York City, Jan
26-27; Washington, DC, Mar 30-31; Stone Mountain, GA, near Atlanta, May 18-19; Philadelphia, Sep 21-22;
possibly two other cities; for info,
contact Bible Study Seminars, 1716
Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19103).
Bob's book Genesis One and the
Origin of the Earth (Ist printing,
IVP, 1977; 2nd printing, Baker,
1981) is now in its 3rd printing,
available from IBRI, P.O. Box 423,
Hatfield, PA 19440, for $6.95 plus
$1.50 p&h. (The cover has evolved
but the contents have been "highly
conserved "--Ed.)
Edwin A. Olson and wife
Marlene got a wonderful surprise
from Santa Claus this Christmas.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus, at least for the faculty of
Whitworth College in Spokane,
Washington, where Ed teaches
geology. An anonymous Whitworth
alumnus, who likes to be called
"the Mystery Man" has been
offering expense-paid trips to
individual faculty couples (a total
of 17) since June 1988. The Olsons
spent 25 days in January in New
Zealand and Australia, including a
delightful evening at the home of
Gareth Jones & Beryl in Dunedin,
NZ. A story in the Spokane
Spokesman Review about the
Mystery Man's largesse went out
on a national wire service and was
picked up by papers all over
America. Ed Yamauchi saw it in
an Ohio paper. Everybody loves
Santa Claus, Olson says-and Santa
Claus stories.
Robert E. Slocum of
Richardson, Texas, is an atomic
physicist who left Texas Instruments some years ago to found Polatomic,
Inc., a high-tech consulting firm in
Dallas. He has been a strategic
planning consultant for NASA. In
March Bob was a featured speaker
at the 4th national conference on
"Growing the Church through Small
Groups" held at Fuller Seminary in
Pasadena, California. During the
5-day conference he also taught a
course on "Using Small Groups to
Equip the Laity," one emphasis of
Bob's book, Ordinary Christians in
a High-Tech World (Word, 1986).
Edwin R. Squiers directs the
Environmental Science Program at
Taylor University in Upland,
Indiana. He is pretty "cited these days about a new 19,000 sq ft
Center for Environmental Studies to
be constructed on the Taylor
campus at a cost of about S3.4
million (which includes S1 million
endowment to maintain the center).
The building, to be used to train
future environmental scientists, will
be located at Taylor's 65-acre
campus arboretum. Ground-breaking
ceremonies are scheduled for April
22, National Earth Day.
Jay E. Valusek of Houston,
Texas, works for Landmark
Graphics Corp., a vendor of
interactive workstations for
petroleum exploration. He was
recently promoted from marketing
communications coordinator to senior
writer in geoscience communications.
With a B.S. (Wichita State) and
M * S. (Colorado School of Mines) in
geology, Jay spent several years as
a production geologist for Pennzoil
in Houston before being laid off.
That nudged him into pursuing a lifelong dream of becoming Z a
writer. Jay says that the Lord has
been good to him: in two years at
Landmark he's published over 20
articles and book reviews in
industry trade journals and won an
Excalibur Award for excellence in
writing.
Dorothy Woodside's Christmas
letter, like those of many ASAers,
was full of interesting observations.
Dorothy, a nurse in the Baldwin
Park Unified School District in La
Verne, California, is also an inveterate traveler, a veteran of ASA
tours to Europe (1985) and China
(1987). As a member of the
Pomona Valley Amateur
Astronomers, she was amazed on a
trip to Spain and Portugal this
winter at the darkness of the night
skies there. Light-pollution around
Los Angeles, she says, has become
a problem for star- gazers as far
out in the desert as the PVAA's
viewing site near Victorville.
Dorothy was able to visit missionaries in Madrid and a Brethren
assembly containing many young
believers. At home, her sociological
observations include a growing influx of immigrant children from
Latin American and Asian countries
with health problems that have not
been taken care of, for many of
them a school nurse is their
primary form of health care.
POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE: Engineering: (1) Dept Chair needed to lead development of program seeking ABET accreditation:
civil, mechanical, or electrical; (2) faculty position in civil or mechanical; candidates should have (or anticipate) earned doctorate or
equivalent experience plus P.E. license. Contact (ASA member) Dr. John Cruzan, Engineering Search Committee, Geneva College, Beaver
Falls, PA 15010