of the
American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation
VOLUME 33 NUMBER
2 APRIL/MAY 1991
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. 0 1991 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.
[Editor:
Dr.
Walter R. Hearn / Production: Rebecca Petersen]
YEAR OF JUBILEE
THE ASA AT 50: CELEBRATING THE PAST AND LOOKING TO THE FUTURE is the
official theme of the 1991 ANNUAL MEETING to be held July
25-29 at WHEATON COLLEGE
Wheaton, Illinois.
In the Old Testament, Leviticus
25 set forth the idea of a "Jubilee"
following the last of seven "Sabbath (7th) Years" of special care
for the land. The Jubilee Year was
intended to bring people back to
the land of their fathers every
couple of generations. It was a way
of recovering old traditions while at
the same time affording a fresh start.
That's the spirit of this year's
Annual Meeting celebrating ASA's
50th year, with plenary lectures on
the interaction of Christianity and
science in the middle ages (David
Lindberg) and in America in the
1930s (Darryl Hart); on Wheaton
biologist Russell Mixter as exemplar (Dorothy Chappell); on the
ASA in the period 1941-56 (Mark Kalthof and on the future of
ASA (Dick Bube).
Contributed papers are welcome,
especially those related to the
theme. Deadline for abstracts: April
15. To guarantee lodging on campus, register by May 3 1, even if
you've already submitted an
abstract. If you missed the Call for
Papers, send your 200-250 word
single-spaced abstract to Jack Haas, Program Chair, ASA, P.O. Box
668, Ipswich, MA 01938.
Join us for Jubilation. Get
serious about science as your Christian vocation. Get yourself to
Wheaton, July 25-29.
STATISTICAL
SIGNIFICANCE
Christians in statistics have made
a significant move. Associate
prof. Phillip Rust (2319 So. Lander
Lane, Charleston, SC 29414) was
on the alert for other Christians
within the American Statistical Association when he met Y. Jack Lee
in Nov 1987. The two were thrown
together as fellow members of an NIMH site-visiting team. The discovery that they were fellow
believers led to a determination to
collect at least a handful of Christians at the Aug 1988 statisticians'
meeting (referred to by them, of
course, as "the ASA Annual Meet
ing"). At that New Orleans meeting
six people gathered for a luncheon
discussion.
At the 1989 meeting in
Washington, D.C., Phil posted a
couple of flyers in the registration
area announcing an evening gettogether of a Christian Statisticians'
Informal Group Discussion (CSIGD).
Twelve people showed up, most of
them new. With a growing roster '
plans were drawn for a semiannual
newsletter. The first issue of
Counted for Righteousness was
mailed in Nov 1990. Editor Linda
Davis (11539 Mamie Lane, Fairfax
Station, VA 22039-2332) invites interested statisticians to add their
names and addresses to the mailing
list.
In Aug 1990, CSIGD gathered at
the American Statistical Association
meeting in Anaheim, California. The
group has set the Monday evening
of that meeting each year to get
together for fellowship and witness
within their professional society. Instead of adding the names of associates to their roster, they're
passing the word on a person-toperson basis, allowing each Christian to decide whether to be "a
public or a private disciple." James
Ward of Glaxo Corp has agreed to
speak at the Aug 1991 get-together.
The first CSIGD newsletter offered
words of encouragement from Walt
Hearn about how Christian groups
in other professional societies got underway, such as the Federation Christian Fellowship he helped establish
over 30 years ago.
BIOPHYSICAL BASIS
Three ASA members who regularly attend meetings of the
Biophysical Society have laid the
groundwork for a Fellowship of
Christian Biophysicists (FCB). They
are Raymond Sjodin (Biophysics of U. of Maryland med school), Tom Hoshiko
(Physiology & Biophysics,
Case Western Reserve med school)
and Fred Sigworth (Physiology,
Yale med school).
Fred Sigworth and David Chester
(BSAC, U. of Connecticut Health
Center, Farmington) arranged a breakfast meeting on Jan 29 at the
Biophysical Society's 1991 meeting
in San Francisco and Fred sent out
a notice. Attendance was up from
the four at their first informal gettogether (1989, Cincinatti) but down
slightly from the 18 at the 1990
meeting (Baltimore).
Tom Hoshiko and Ray Sjodin
had lined up Wait Hearn from
nearby Berkeley to speak to the
group. Walt spoke of the significance of such fellowships in the
various scientific disciplines and offered ASA's assistance in promoting
FCB. He brought along sample
copies of ASA literature and
described some of the things ASA
is doing to serve as a bridge between the scientific and Christian
communities. Discussion afterward
centered on goals for the group,
how to get on the Society's official
program, and who would make the
arrangements for next year's meeting in Houston (Fred Sigworth,
Yale Univ. School of Medicine,
333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT
06510). Grad student Mark Strand of the U. of Minnesota told of enthusiasm for ASA's Teaching
Science in a Climate of Controversy among parents in his home
church. Other ASAers present included Gregory Needham of Eli
Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis and Barbara Hoshiko.
GEOLOGISTS, ET AL.
The first scientific specialty group
to constitute itself as a division
of ASA was the Affiliation of Christian Geologists (ACG). The organization has grown beyond expectations
in numbers and activities. According
to Vol. 2, No. 1, of its semi-annual newsletter, The News!, ACG
has 130 dues-paying members and
a mailing list of over 300
geologists. They meet during the annual meeting of the Geological
Society of America (GSA); in Oct
1990 at Dallas the ACG evening
get-together had a formal place on
the GSA schedule, featuring a panel
discussion on "Communicating Geology to the Church" organized by
Wheaton's Jeff Greenberg and
ACG president Davis Young of Calvin College.
Both ACG and the even newer
Affiliation of Christian Biologists
(also officially affiliated with ASA)
plan sessions immediately preceding
the 1991 ASA ANNUAL MEETING at WHEATON COLLEGE,
JULY 25-29.
All the rest of us who care
about science and Christian faith
are the "alia" of that et al.
Whatever your field or your
denomination, expect a stimulating,
integrating, worshipful experience at
the 1991 ASA ANNUAL MEETING.
BULLETIN BOARD
1. Au Sable Institute in
Michigan is a Christian outdoor
study center offering college courses
in field ecology, chemistry, and environmental stewardship in winter,
spring, and summer sessions. In
1991 the spring session is from
May 15 to June 4. For information
write Dr. David Mahan, Associate
Director, Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies, 7526 Sunset
Trail N.E., Mancelona, MI 49659;
tel. 616-587-8686. The Au Sable curriculum is one of four special
programs mentioned in the 2nd Edn
of Peterson's Consider A Christian
College (1990), official guide to 78
Christian College Coalition schools.
The guidebook is available at
$12.95 at bookstores or from the
Christian College Coalition, 329
Eighth St, N.E., Washington, DC
20002-6158.
2. A two-week continuing education course for clergy on "The
Church in an Age of Science" will
be held at the Graduate Theological
Union in Berkeley, California, June
16-28. The course, sponsored by
GTU's Center for Theology & the
Natural Sciences and taught by
CTNS director Robert Russell, will
cover both theoretical and ethical issues, using Ian Barbour's Religion
in an Age of Science and Technology, Environment, and Human
Values as texts. Classes M-F, 9
a.m. to I p.m. Tuition $325, GTU
dorm housing, $180. For information contact CTNS, 2400 Ridge
Road, Berkeley, CA 94709; tel. 415649-8152.
3. "History of science is one of
the most exciting and fastest growing disciplines of the last few
decades." So said a flyer announcing the Oct 1990 annual meeting
of The History of Science Society
(in Seattle), and inviting new members. The Society publishes a
quarterly journal, Isis (Vol. 81 in
1990), an annual, Osiris (Vol. 6 in
1990), a Guide to the History of
Science (new edn., 1990) and other
publications. Annual membership,
$40; students, $22. Address: History
of Science Society, 215 South 34th
St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-6310.
4. The biennial meeting of the International Society for the History,
Philosophy, & Social Studies of
Biology, to be held 11-14 July
1991 at Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois, will include a session on "Science & Religion." For
information, write -Dr. - C. G.
Winder, Dept of Geology, U. of
Western Ontario, London, Ontario,
Canada N6A 5117.
5. "The Creation of the
Universe," an outstanding 90-minute
documentary hosted by prize-winning science journalist Timothy Ferris on PBS a few years ago, is
now available as a home video. It
is listed (VHS: 1668557) for $19.95
plus $4 s&h by Bames & Noble,
126 Fifth Ave, New York, NY
10011-5666. (Geoffrey Stiles, who
produced this program, is now working on the ASA-sponsored TV
series.-Ed.)
6. International Book Project
(IBP) has sent 1.5 million free
books to people in over 100
developing countries. Mentioned in
this Newsletter in the past as an example of something ASA/CSCA
might do in the future, IBP
celebrates its 25th anniversary in
May 199 1. It hopes to raise an additional $50,000 to improve its
facilities and expand its program.
Until we set up our own program
for sending science books and journals to needy schools, ASA/CSCA members can contribute to International Book Project, Inc., 1440
Delaware Ave, Lexington, KY 405059979.
KENYA/ASA: 2.
Kenya was the site of a conference for East African rural
physicians and dentists from Feb 25
to Mar 1, cosponsored by the Christian Medical & Dental Society (CMDS), Medical Assistance
Programs International (MAP), and
Butterworth Hospital, Grand Rapids,
Michigan. CMDS members helped
update their African colleagues
through lectures and consultations.
To sponsor the Christian national
doctors invited, CMDS requested contributions to the Burkitt Fund for International Continuing Medical &
Dental Education (c/o CMDS, P.O.
Box 830689, Richardson, TX 750830689). The fund honors Dr. Denis Burkitt, a distinguished Christian
physician in England "who has
done so much in the training of national physicians around the world."
The Burkitt Fund was set up by
a CMDS Committee on International
Medical Educational Affairs, which
sponsored educational programs in
Pakistan and Romania in Oct 1990
and has set up additional teaching
opportunities in India and Nigeria
for CMDS members in 1991.
(These post-graduate educational
programs are distinct from the
CMDS overseas clinical programs
called Medical Group Missions)
Dcnis Burkitt's name is also attached to a tumor he studied in
the 1960s (Burkitt's lymphoma). Oat
bran fans know of his epidemiological studies on intestinal cancers,
which played a major role in recognition of the necessity for fiber in
the human diet. Most ASAers will
recognize Burkitt's name from his
"Flexibility in Interpretation"
(Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith, Dec 1989, pp. 232-5).
In that communication he drew
analogies between some of his clinical research experience and the
need to sort out interpretation from
evidence in our understanding of
Scripture.
Denis Burkitt is an exemplar of
a Christian researcher making a contribution to Kenya. Those of us not
in clinical research can help in the
scientific development of Kenya,
too. ASA is trying to work out
good ways to do that-in association with our Kenyan friend and colleague, Dr. George
Kinoti.
WHEREVER GOD
WANTS US: 17.
More on the Mideast: John W. Brabner-Smith,
director of the
Institute of Jurisprudence (1026 Sixteenth St., N.W., Washington, DC
20036) writes that a Dutch
businessman whose firm has traded
for three centuries with Russian
traders told John last summer that
President Gorbachev's primary concem is the Soviet Muslim population.
Noting Bill Campbell's comment
in the Dec/Jan issue that Muslims
consider the Bible to be a book altered by Christians, John says that
the Institute of Jurisprudence has undertaken to "translate" into more
modem English Thomas Jefferson's
copy of The Truth of the Christian
Religion by Hugo Grotius (15831685). Grotius was a statesman in
the Netherlands in the 1600s when
Muslim armies were threatening
Europe, reaching to the gates of
Vienna. For expounding the principle that all nations should follow
certain international rules of conduct, Grotius is today known as
"the father of international law."
Hugo Grotius wrote The Truth
primarily to educate Dutch sailors
and traders about Islam. One of his
objects was to refute the claim that
Wi
the Bible had been changed.
11
tried to help Christians defend their
faith and to help the more intelligent actually convert Muslims to
Christianity. The book was a bestseller in its day, with over a
hundred issues published in
numerous languages.
Grotius's book can still be of
value but publishing technology has
changed radically since his day.
Dozens of books on Saddarn Hussein were probably rushed into print
this winter, destined to disappear
about as rapidly as their subject. In
contrast, a new edition of Arabs,
Christians & Jews by James &
Marti Heney should have a longer life. Although it tries to explain the
mixed feelings of Arabs toward Saddam Hussein, the religious and political issues it deals with date back
to the first century. The first edition was praised for its "balance"
and "realism." The 1991 edition
came off the press on Feb 15, just
before Iraq was finally forced out
of Kuwait. The trade paperback is
available at $10.95 from the
Hefleys' own Hannibal Books (921
Center, Suite A, Hannibal, MO
63401).
Another ASAer influencing
opinions on the Middle East is Alonzo Fairbanks, an IVCF staffer
working with international students
in Minnesota. Al spent 11 years in
Beirut on the faculty of several colleges. In December he spoke at a
forum at the U. of Minnesota on
"Is Blood Thicker than Oil?" The
forum, sponsored by Bill Monsma's Maclaurin Institute, also featured a
Muslim Arab-American woman who
had been interviewed on National
Public Radio. Some highlights from
that dialogue:
The 5% of Arabs who are Christians feel forgotten by the West,
and Muslims in general feel that
the Christian West is once again interfering with their world-after the
Crusades, the carving up of Arab
territory in the 18th and 19th centuries by imperial European powers,
and Western sponsorship of Israel
after WWII. Although the panel expected resentment against Christianity to grow after the bombing
of Iraq, individuals who have
shown understanding of Arab concerns have found doors opening for
discussion with Muslims about Christian faith.
SQUIBS
Two books by Gary North (Unconditional Surrender and The Sinai
Strategy) evidently left behind by
someone at the 1990 Annual Meeting were picked up by Art Peterson (3200 Gordon Drive, Greenville,
NC 27834), who will gladly return
them on request.
By mid-March, Phase III of
the direct mail campaign to increase
subscriptions to Perspectives on
Science & Christian Faith had yielded 319 paid subscriptions plus
582 other inquiries. That seems like
a low yield from 60,000 pieces
mailed, but compare it with the
yield from advertisements placed 'in
magazines: our most productive ad,
in
Christianity Today,
yielded 19
paid subscriptions and 5 other inquiries.
According to Gary I. Allen,
president of the Christian Mission
for the United Nations Community,
that ministry has changed its mailing address to P.O. Box 159, Monroe, CT 06468.
The article, "Calls of Ivy," by
physicist Jack McIntyre, with accompanying sidebar by psychologist Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen
(Christianity Today,
5 Nov 1990), drew a
number of comments from CT
readers in the 14 Jan 1991 issue
Library science prof Donald Davis
at the U. of Texas echoed Jack's
criticism of the nonacademic emphasis in evangelical circles, adding
that he sees even less encouragement of scholarship in the
humanities and social sciences than
in the physical sciences. Randy
Bare of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship pointed to IVCF's new ministry among "groups of graduate
students committed to the very principles affirmed in this article."
With their I I Jan 1991 issue
of
Science,
the 140,000 members of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science received a 20page booklet,
Science: The End of
the Frontier?
The pessimistic report
on research funding was compiled
by AAAS president-elect Leon Lederman (Nobelist and physics professor
at the U. of Chicago) to expose
44
signs of extreme stress" in
American science. Lederman attributed that stress primarily to "the
impoverishment of basic research."
The Jan/Feb 1991 issue of
Advocate
(newsletter of Evangelicals
for Social Action, 10 Lancaster
Ave, Wynnewood, PA 19096) was
devoted entirely to the pros and
cons of a voucher system for education. ESA's staff had not reached
consensus on the topic, but executive director Ron Sider (who spoke
at the 1990 ASA Annual Meeting)
concluded that, on balance, to expenment with a voucher system offering parents greater educational
choice for their children is "worth
the risk."
The Jan 1991 issue of
American Biology Teacher
had a
guest editorial, "A Biologist in
Wonderland: The Texas Biology
Textbook Adoption Hearings," by
Joseph D. McInerney, NABT president and director of the Biological
Sciences Curriculum Study in
Colorado Springs. McInerney, who
testified at the Nov 1990 hearings,
called creationist testimony at the
hearings "a monument to scientific
illiteracy," reminding science
educators that their perspective is
"not as universal as we might
wish." He found encouragement in
the 11-4 vote to approve eight
books with pervasive treatment of
evolution-and in "the very fact
that the creationists found all of
the books objectionable" for that
reason.
High school science teacher Ronnie Hastings, a physics Ph.D .
in ASA's Friend category who
served on the 1990 Texas Secondary Science Textbook Selection
Committee, was also encouraged by
that committee's performance. In
"Good News from Texas About Biology Textbooks"
(NCSE Reports,
Nov/Dec 1990), Ronnie praised a
strong Proclamation 66 explicitly requiring evolution as a major theme
for biology texts; an improved
method of selection, which he
described; and "a commendable
response by the publishers."
A lot of other ASAers turned
up in the same Nov/Dec issue of
NCSE Reports.
Walter Bradley,
Charles Thaxton, and Kurt Wise were listed among "well-known
creationists" featured on the John
Ankerberg TV show early in 1991,
which the editor anticipated as "a
breath of fresh air" compared to
Ankerberg's 1987 series with
Florida evangelist D. James Ken
nedy. A writer cited science his:
torian Owen Gingerich's evidence
(Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society,
78, part 71
1988) that Tycho Brahe lifted his
astronomical system from the wn*tings of Paul Wittich. A review compared G. L. Schroeder's
Genesis
and the Big Bang
(Bantam, 1990)
-4-
to John Wiester's
The Genesis Connection
(Nelson, 1983). Gillette &
Lockley's
Dinosaur Tracks and
Traces
(Cambridge U. Press, 1989)
was mentioned as including two
papers by Glen Kuban on the
Paluxy River tracks. A squib on
the Nov 1990
Bible-Science Newsletter
mentioned a young-earther's warning against Hugh Ross's
The
Fingerprint of God.
Finally, a
review of the nontechnical sessions
of the 1990 International Conference
on Creationism described two talks
by Jerry Bergman and one by Mark Hartwig. Bob Schadewald's
editorship of the National Center
for Science Education's
Reports
ended with that issue. New (interim) editor is anthropologist John
Cole, 1990 president of NCSE.
The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) Graduate School in
Santee (near San Diego) is in its
10th year of offering M.S. degrees
in sciences related to origins and in
science education. Its courses and research are based on the interpretation that the earth is only a few
thousand years old. Despite several
years of attempts to revoke its state
license to offer degrees, the ICR graduate school seems to have won a
reprieve of perhaps two to three
years while legal maneuvering continues. A story in
Science (15
Feb
1991) described the current standoff. The February Acts & Facts,
ICR's monthly publication, warned
that ICR's troubles are but "one tip
of a massively dangerous iceburg,"
citing the imminent passage of a
bill to establish a National Board
for Professional Teaching Standards.
ICR is concerned that the Board
would be able to "mold all curricula to promote the evolutionary,
humanistic goals of the so-called
,new world order.' "
OBITUARIES
Charles H. Troutman, Jr., died
on 18 Nov 1990 in Tucson,
Arizona, at age 76. Born in Butler,
Pennsylvania, he received a B.S.
from Wheaton College in 1936, intending to go into medicine. Instead
he accepted a one-year appointment
with the fledgling Canadian InterVarsity. His visits to student groups
in Michigan led to many years of service with IVCF-USA, culminating
in his years as general director
(1961-64). After serving with the
Army Corps of Engineers in
Australia in WWII, he spent eight
years (1953-61) as general secretary
of IVF-Australia. From 1966 to
1980, he and wife Lois served with
Latin America Mission, working
with students in Costa Rica. Lois
died on 8 Dec 1990.
Linda Wanase1ja died on 13
Dec 1990 of a heart attack in her
home in Whiting, New Jersey. Born
in 1920, she served as a missionary
in India from 1951 to 1966, and
as an assistant professor of Bible at
The King's College in Briarcliff
Manor, New York, from 1967 until
her retirement in 1986. Linda, who
was trained in nutrition, faithfully
served the Metropolitan New York
ASA local section as a Council
member over the years.
Aldert van der Ziel, emeritus
professor of electrical engineering at
the U. of Minnesota, died in Minneapolis on 20 Jan 1991 at age 80
after a long, progressive illness.
Born in Zandeweer in The Netherlands, he completed a thesis on
spectroscopy at the U. of Gronigen
at age 24, then joined the
Natuurkundig laboratorium of N.V.
Philips, where he developed a lifelong interest in electronics and
"noise." Aldert and his family endured the Nazi occupation of Holland, emigrated to the U. of British
Columbia, Canada, in 1947, then to
Minnesota in 1950. He advised over
80 doctoral students and published
hundreds of research papers, continuing his research activity after becoming Emeritus in 1980. Since 1968
he had also taught part-time at the
U. of Florida in Gainesville. Aldert
wrote some 15 textbooks and two
books on science and religion: The
Natural Sciences and the Christian
Message (1960) and Genesis and
Scientific Inquiry (1965). He
received many honors, including two
honorary doctorates and membership
in the National Academy of Engineering. He had once participated
actively in the North Central section of ASA and contributed to
ASA's Journal.
(Former colleague Carolyne Van
VIiet of the U. of Montreal sent extensive information for a Memorial
Resolution on Aldert van der Ziel
to be read during worship at the
1991 Annual Meeting at Wheaton
College. Friends and professional associates of other ASA members
who have died in the past year are
invited to submit such material to
Karen Brunstrorn at the Ipswich
office.)
THE EDITOR'S LAST
WORDS: 14.
I intended to begin an ongoing
seminar on "How to edit this
Newsletter" but have run out of
space. Maybe the first topic should
be something like 'The elastic
modulus of copy space," sort of a
corollary to Murphy's Law. A
simple way of putting it is that the
amount of space available in the
Newsletter is inversely proportional
to the importance of the news
items on hand. An abundance of
space is usually correlated with loss
of the most timely items in piles
of press releases, advertisements,
and what-have-you on the editor's
desk (and the overflow on the
floor). Then when the hot news
items turn up, it's either too late
or the next issue is already full.
I'll try to squeeze in a little follow-up on the Forrest Mims story
from installment No. 13. Forrest
didn't go to the AAAS meeting because the Council told him the statement of their Committee on
Scientific Freedom & Responsibility
would stand as AAAS policy. The
Feb 18 issue of The Scientist,
handed out at the meeting,
however, carried a major "debate"
in its Opinion section under the
heading, "The Mims Case: Defending Science or Persecuting
Religion?" Mims contributed an effective piece titled "Intolerance
Threatens Every Scientist-Amateur
or Not." U. of Minnesota ethicist
Arthur L. Caplan opposed Mims in
a piece titled "Creationist Belief
Precludes Credibility on Science Issues."
Back in May-June 1987, when
The Scientist published two reviews
of ASA's Teaching Science booklet
and my reply, the editor told me
that draw the largest response from their
readers. It will be fun to see what
kind of mail they get about the Forrest Mims debate-and if they publish the Letter to the Editor I
faxed to them on Feb 24.
Another story on the dropping of
Mims for his beliefs by Scientific
American was scheduled to appear
in the March issue of Harper's
magazine.
LOCAL SECTIONS
METROPOLITAN NEW YORK
The Spring meeting will be held
Saturday, April 6, in the Main
Bldg (2nd floor) of The King's College in Briarcliff Manor, New
York. Walter R. Thorson, professor
of chemistry at the U. of Alberta
in Edmonton will speak on the
philosophy of Michael Polanyi.
Thorson's 3 p.m. lecture is entitled
"Biblical Teaching and an Epistemology of Personal Knowledge." After
a brief business meeting and dinner
in the college dining hall, Thorson
will give a 7 p.m. lecture on
"Tacit Presuppositions and Current
Scientific Enterprise." (For more information, call Bob Voss at 908-6890910 or Jim Neidhardt
at
201-584-0436.)
This year marks the centennial
of Michael Polanyi's birth in
Budapest, Hungary. He began his
career as a physician but made a
name for himself in physical
chemistry, especially after joining
the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin in 1921. In 1933, in protest to
Hitler's policies, he moved to the
U. of Manchester in England and
was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society in 1944. A broadly ranging
scholar, he accepted a chair in the
social sciences in 1948. After retiring from Manchester in 1958, he
continued his work in philosophy as
a senior research fellow at Merton
College, Oxford. Polanyi died in
1976, leaving a legacy of philosophical challenges to the concept of objectivity dominant in the sciences.
All knowledge is personal
knowledge, he insisted, including
scientific knowledge, integrated
within a living person with that
person's tacit knowledge, which cannot be fully described or communicated.
Special attention is being paid to
Polanyi's thought in 1991. For example, at 8 p.m. on Friday, April
19, Walter Thorson will lecture on
"Michael Polanyi and the Presuppositions of Modem Science" at the
Center of Theological Inquiry, 50
Stockton St (Rte 206), Princeton,
NJ 08540. (For information, call
Kate Le Van at 609-683-4797.) A
major three-day symposium on
Polanyi's life and work will be
held April 11-13 at Kent State
University in Ohio, with eight
speakers, including theologian
Thomas F. Torrance. (For information, contact Bursar's Office, Dept
N, Kent State University, Kent, OH
44242, or call 216-672-3100.)
Four new members of the
Metropolitan New York ASA Council were elected at the Fall 1990
meeting: Gregory Bezilla, Ralph Ellenberger, Jack Haynes, and
Donald Walker. Continuing into
the second year of their terms are Robert Hsu, Ernst Mouse, Jim
Neidhardt, and Richard Rohmer. Officers for 1991 are Neidhardt,
president; Ellenberger, vice-president;
Bezilla, secretary; and Monse,
treasurer.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Saturday, Feb 2, marked the
section's fourth meeting, held on
the Foothills Campus of Colorado
Christian University in Morrison,
Colorado. The morning was devoted
to a keynote lecture by Hugh
Ross, founder and director of
Reasons to Believe, Pasadena,
California, on "The Extradimensionality of the God of the Bible."
Hugh, author of
The Fingerprint of
God, fielded questions from the
audience after his lecture.
After lunch and a half-hour business meeting, the afternoon was
devoted to contributed papers:
"Teaching Values for Planetary
Citizenship," by educational research
professor Dean Turner of the U.
of Northern Colorado, Greeley;
"Science and Politics in the U.S.
AIDS Epidemic," by clinical
psychologist John Vayhinger of
Colorado Springs; "Alexander
Winchell and the '17heory of Pre-
Adarnism: A Case Study in Late
Nineteenth Century Scientific
Racism," by geologist and seminarian Phillip Harrold; "Effects of
Greenhouse Sea Level Rise:
Australian East Coast," by earth
sciences prof. William Hoyt of U.N.C., Greeley; and "Natural Selection or Providence: The Bed Bug
Case," by biology prof. Richard
Beal of Colorado Christian U. at
Denver.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
The Feb 9 potluck dinner meeting featured Jack Swearengen, back home from his two-year stint
as Scientific Advisor for Arms Control in the Office of the Secretary
of Defense, including a role in the
START negotiations with the Soviet
Union in Geneva. Jack's talk on
"Arms Control and God's Purpose
in History" gave 30-some ASA
members and guests an inside look
at the Pentagon, where 28,000
government employees put in 60hour weeks in a maze of 35 miles
of corridors. Mostly the military "action officers" are high-quality people
who work under unrelenting pressure.
START and I.N.F. (Intermediate
Nuclear Force) were only two of
the acronyms Jack had to get used
to: while he was there, the whole
issue of arms control was O.B.E.'d
("overcome by events"). Outlining
four basic ideological approaches to
peace (deterrence; arms control;
pacifism; foreign policy of intemational justice), Jack pointed out that
policy decisions are based on one
view alone, with other views not
welcomed by policy-makers. Although deterrence "worked" for 40
years, a huge arms race was part
of the cost, producing "local wars"
instead of real peace. As a Christian, Jack believes that arms control
has a positive, more redemptive
aspect than deterrence. But he's
glad to be out of the Pentagon
pressure-cooker.
PERSONALS
James G. Ashwin was one of a
number of ASA/CSCA friends who
sent notes to the Weary Old Editor
on learning of his brother's death
in the Feb/Mar issue. Jim recalled
that the WOE spoke as a VCF
evangelistic missioner some 30
years ago at the U. of Saskatchewan, where Jim taught physiology.
Jim's role as faculty sponsor put
him in the line of fire when a
militantly atheistic professor complained to the dean of the medical
faculty about one of the missioner's
public lectures. It all seems mildly
amusing now that Jim is retired,
living in Ottawa with wife Myrtle,
writing and getting published.
"Healthwise at 64," he says, "I'm
35 years in a wheel chair [from
polio while teaching in a medical
school in India], very stiff, diabetic,
congestive heart, edematous, partly
deaf, requiring attendants morning
and night. Otherwise, not bad." The
samples of his writing aren't bad,
either. His poem about the cry of
the Innuit people against the "tillicum" sent us to a dictionary to
fathom native terms like "oogruk"
and "hohoq." The Kiplingesque
poem was published in Hog's
Back
News,
a periodical named for a
waterfall near the Ashwin home.
James 0. Buswell, III has completed his 10th year as dean of
Win. Carey International University
at the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena. In Aug 1990 Jim
taught missionary anthropology at
the 18th annual Summer Institute of
World Mission at the East-West Center for Mission Research & Development near Seoul, Korea. In Dec
1990 he and Kathleen represented
WCIU at the "Urbana '90" missionary conference. Jim has also served
nearly 30 years on the board of
Trans World Radio, which broadcasts the gospel worldwide via
shortwave and medium wave (AM).
Each year more than a half-million
letters reach TWR and affiliated
broadcasters, many from listeners
among the two billion people in
areas with no access to a church,
a Bible, or a missionary. Listeners
in such isolated situations do come
to Christ through TWR broadcasts.
(Jim reports that TWR headquarters
moved in 1990 from New Jersey to
P.O. Box 700, Cary, NC 27512.
-Ed.)
Edward B. Crowell, Jr., is teaching in the Hernatology/Oncology Section of the Dept. of Medicine at
West Virginia University in Morgantown, after 14 years of teaching
medicine at the Christian Medical
College, Ludhiana, Punjab, in northern India. Wife Susan Brownlee
Crowell writes that they are on extended leave with their mission,
InterServe (formerly BMMF). After
teaching biochemistry at CMC in
Ludhiana, she is now working at
home, setting up a new household
for the Crowells, including 16-yearold Jonathan and 14-year-old Virginia, who are missing Woodstock
School in India. Susan, inadvertently
dropped from ASA membership
several years ago, says "no one
seemed to know how to keep both
a missionary husband and wife on
the rolls."
Thomas Cummings, professor of
chemistry at Bradley University,
Peoria, Illinois, since 1955, was
given Bradley's Putnam Award for
Excellence in Teaching at Founder's
Day ceremonies in Oct 1990. Tom
earned his Ph.D. at Case Inst. of
Technology and has spent sabbatical
leaves at such places as the U. of
Birmingham, England, and the
Analytical Institute at the U. of
Vienna. He was cited for being a
devoted teacher and person of integrity and conscience, who "has
consistently upheld that the school's
most important function is not only
to impart information, but also, by
indirect means, to project some
moral values."
Edward B. ("Ted") Davis, associate professor of science & history at Messiah College in
Pennsylvania, is working on a new
edition of the works of Robert
Boyle, the 17th century chemist
whose law of the behavior of gases
bears his name, and whose will endowed the Boyle Lectures in
defense of Christian faith. in
January Ted spent two weeks in
London completing a survey of
Boyle's papers housed at the Royal
Society. He enjoyed lunch dates
with two British evangelicals with
similar interests: Colin Russell (past
president of the British Society for
the History of Science; author of
Cross-Currents) and John Houghton
(head of the Meteorological Office;
author of the newly published Does
God Play Dice?). One day
Anglican physicist John Polkinghome dropped in to the Royal
Society library. Recognizing him
from his picture, Ted introduced himself and was invited to a lecture
that evening at a London church.
An audience of some 250 people
(including a few Fellows of the
Royal Society) heard Polkinghorne
speak of how his Christian faith
helps him make sense of the world
as a whole, emphasizing its orderliness, contingency, and wonder.
While in London Ted heard that he
has been named a Mellon Fellow
in the Humanities at the U. of
Pennsylvania for 1991-92, enabling
him to spend the academic year in
residence at the Beckman Center
for History of Chemistry and the
Dept of History & Sociology of
Science-a perfect setting to complete his book on Robert Boyle.
Elmer Hartgerink of South
Haven, Michigan, is a chemist and
entrepreneur whose Wyckoff Chemical Co. has grown from $113,000
in sales per year in 1978 to about
$15 million in sales today. Wyckoff
employs 70 people in the manufacture of important bulk pharmaceuticals. Elmer attributes the company's
success to "the hard work of many
people and the blessings of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." The
note on ASA's financial situation in
the Feb/Mar issue prompted him to
send a much-appreciated contribution
to Ipswich, along with a Wyckoff
brochure. On the cover were pictures of Elmer and his son, who is
taking his place as head of the company. The cover also featured the
structural formula of a Wyckoff
product; Elmer offered ASA director Bob Herrmann a prize if he could
name the compound. (We haven't
heard whether Bob won the prize,
but we've heard of several other
members who have responded to
help bail ASA out of its cash-flow
crisis and put our 50th Anniversary
Year on a firmer financial footing.
-Ed.)
W. Jim Neidhardt is professor
of physics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and chair of
ASA's publications committee. He
keeps his eye out for books of
ASA/CSCA interest. A fan of Edinburgh theologian Thomas F. Torrance (Jim wrote the introduction
to Torrance's The Christian Frame
of Mind, Helmers & Howard, 1989), he recently spotted a chapter
giving Torrance's answers to a
series of questions posed by
Michael Bauman in Bauman's
Roundtable Conversations with
European Theologians (Baker, 1990).
Torrance's partial answer about
misunderstandings of his thought by
other theologians: "Too many
theologians do not take the concepts of space and time properly or
seriously as relational concepts. Nor
do they appreciate pure science,
which is our ally." One of
Torrance's regrets: "That my scientific studies came so late in life."
Jim Neidhardt himself had an article in the 1990 annual Glaube
und Denken of the Karl-Heim
GeselIschaft in Germany, "Ein Naturwissenschaftler betrachtet Harold P.
Nebelsicks Beitrag zurn Dialog zwischen der Theologie und den Naturwissenschaften" (Vol. 3, pp. 20-47).
Jim began his appreciation of
Harold Nebelsick's work by describing ASA and the late theologian's
interest in our Affiliation. In 1988
Nebelsick and Torrance organized
four regional science/theology consultations under sponsorship of
Princeton's Center of Tleological Inquiry (CTI) and the Templeton Foundation. A major international
consultation at CTI scheduled for
1990 was postponed after
Nebelsick's death in 1989.
Hugh Ross, president of Reasons
to Believe (RTB), a California-based
ministry of evangelism and scientific
apologetics, reports that 1990 was a
busy and productive year for RTB.
Among other articles that increased
RTB's visibility, World magazine
(successor to Eternity) published
Hugh's article on the Hubble telescope and Epiphany, a Greek Orthodox magazine, published his
article on "Design and the
Anthropic Principle." An interview
of Hugh and South African astronomer David Block in the
Jews for Jesus magazine Issues
described RTB, David's Star Watchi . ng (Lion, 1988), and Hugh's The
Fingerprint of God (Promise, 1989).
(Both books are available from
Reasons to Believe, P.O. Box 5978,
Pasadena, CA 91117.) In a recent
issue of RTB's quarterly newsletter
Facts & Faith, Hugh described his
fall 1990 trip to his native Canada to speak at two universities under
auspices of Campus Crusade for
Christ. He called the aggressive verbal assaults from several atheistic
professors the worst he has
received, even in Marxist countries.
On the other hand, many students
entered into continuing discussions
of Christian faith, and several Christian professors took a public stand
for Christ.
Lois H. Visscher left the OMFrun hospital in Manorom, Thailand,
in April 1990 to work in a TBMF
hospital in Bangkok through August.
After that, she didn't know what
her address would be, but she sent
a generous contribution to ASA's
Templeton Foundation matching
fund. This already-retired physician
was quoted in PERSONALS over a
year ago as saying that she might
44really retire" after a few more
years in Thailand.
Roger C. Wiens began working
as a Staff Scientist in the Geology
& Planetary Science Dept at California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena last summer, after completing a postdoc term at UC San
Diego. This spring he was also
planning to teach part-time at
Azusa Pacific University. Roger &
Gwen have been pleased to find a
strong Christian presence at Caltech
and a strong intellectual influence
in the Christian community there.
Seung-Hun Yang is studying
science and Christianity in the Dept
of History of Science at the U. of
Wisconsin in Madison. He expects
to return to the Dept of Physics at
Kyungpook National University in
Korea in 1993.
PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS. Chemistry: T. Gordon Scott (Dept of Chemistry, Union College, Barbourville, KY 40906; tel. 606546-4151-x281) seeks position at 4-yr college. Has Ph.D. in organic, minor in biochem (Illinois, 1969) plus B.A. & M.A. (Cambridge U., England); JACS publications; college teaching experience in general, organic, analytical, & physical, plus biochem; can direct undergrad research in organic & medicinal chemistry. History: Stephen C. Herrmann (66 Tirrell St, Apt 4, Quincy, MA 02171) seeks position teaching history or social studies and coaching track, at secondary school or junior college; has B.A. in political science, M.A. in history (Boston U.), 15 yrs teaching experience at Hingham High School and Quincy Jr. College; single, will relocate, prefers Alaska or other mountainous state; for un(?)biased reference, contact Steve's dad (Robert L.) at ASA office in Ipswich.
POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. Mathematics: Fall 1991, tenure-track position requiring master's in math, Ph.D. preferred. Resume to Dr. Donna Peterson, Academic Dean, Trinity College, 2077 Half Day Rd, Deerfield, IL 60015. Anthropology: 1-yr sabbatical replacement; cultural anthro with area specialty in Africa, Asia, or Oceania; college teaching experience and Ph.D. preferred. Vita and letter of interest to (ASA member) Dr. Dean Arnold, Dept of Sociology/Anthropology, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187. Biology/Ecology: teach intro botany or zoology, principles of ecology, plus several of the following: human ecology, population ecology, limnology, invertebrate zoology, microbiology, mammalian physiology; preference to Canadian residents; females encouraged to apply. Contact Dr. S. K. Ward, Academic Vice-President, The King's College, 10766 - 97 St., Edmonton, AB, Canada T5H 2M1. Tel. 403-428-0727. (Sounds like a replacement for ASA member John Wood, from whom you might get the scoop at the college address.-Ed.)