NEWSLETTER

of the

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation

VOLUME 34 NUMBER 1                            FEBRUARY/MARCH 1992

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. @ 1992 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.



BRAND NEW TO COUNCIL

Raymond H. Brand, professor of biology at Wheaton College in Illinois, has been elected by the ASA membership to a five-year term on the Executive Council beginning in 1992. The term of Howard Van Till of Calvin College ended on 31 Dec 1991. 

Ray Brand has a B.A. from Wheaton and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the U. of Michigan. He has served ASA in the past as chair of the Global Resources & Environment Commission, program chair for the 1987 Annual Meeting, and co-chair of the Chicago Area local section. He serves on the editorial board of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. For ASA's 50th Anniversary celebration at Wheaton last summer, he and wife Shirley created an impressive historical display of ASA memorabilia.

The Council has expressed its appreciation to math professor David L. Neuhouser of Taylor University for also standing for election. Dave, who came in second in the vote, has been active in the Indiana local section and was local chair for the 1980 Annual Meeting. Both candidates had clearly exercised significant leadership in ASA. In their stated visions for the Affiliation, both stressed Christian responsibility to use our technical abilities in helping the disadvantaged.


DORMER TO PRESIDE

Following the normal succession of Council officers, Kenneth L. Dormer has become ASA president for 1992. Ken Dormer is professor of physiology at the U. of Oklahoma College of Medicine. New member Ray Brand gets a  year to learn the ropes before taking his turn as secretary -treasurer.

Biological literature specialist Elizabeth Zipf moved up to president-elect, industrial physicist Fred S. Hickernell to secretary-treasurer, and biology prof Gerald Hess to immediate past president.

EDITOR TO IPSWICH

The Executive Council meets twice a year, with the Newsletter editor usually attending only in the summer at the ASA Annual Meeting. For their winter meeting, Council members fly to Boston on a Friday, meet throughout the weekend in Ipswich, and return home Sunday evening. This year, instead of waiting for the spring thaw for news to trickle out, the Weary Old Editor used his senior-citizen's cheapo airline coupon to get the story at the source.

Clad in layers left over from years in Iowa, your fearless reporter braved ice and snow to observe what went on in Ipswich. Despite a budget of over a quarter-million bucks, the Council dealt efficiently with financial matters and went on to consider coming Annual Meetings, passage of an important resolution, nomination of many new Fellows, all kinds of projects in the works, and several proposals for new ones. (So much went on that we're having to shove some stories from the Wheaton meeting further back into the warming oven.-Ed.)

HAWAII

December weather in Ipswich encouraged contemplation of KONA, HAWAII, site of the 1992 ASA ANNUAL MEETING, JULY 31-AUG 3. A straw poll of member interest dispelled Council concern about the distant location. Attendance may even be slightly higher than usual-though continued worsening of the U.S. economy could change that prospect.

Bob Herrmann will be supported financially as Templeton-ASA Lectures for 1991-92. A cost-conscious Council was alert to other ways to keep registration fees as low as possible, realizing that travel costs will be higher - for all but a few Hawaiian members.

Sessions devoted to science education, science writing, the "On Being a Christian in Science" project, and future tasks for ASA have already found a place on the program, Once in-a-lifetime field trips (geology, biology, and astronomy) will extend over into August 4 & 5.

The important thing now is to put those dates on your summer calendar-and start putting pennies in your piggy bank. Look for more details and a Call for Contributed Papers & Poster Sessions to be mailed soon.

TWIN PEEKS

A lot of ASA business is routine. This December, though, the Executive Council got down right excited about a number of items on its agenda. One was a report from the Committee for Integrity in Science Education, chaired by John Wiester.

The committee, which is now "field-testing" some high-school teaching materials, has begun writing a booklet for graduate students, tentatively titled On Being a Christian in Science. Like Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy, the new booklet was inspired by a National Academy of Sciences publication. In 1989 NAS published On Being a Scientist to encourage ethical conduct in research and publication. With support from several foundations, the new ASA booklet will supplement the NAS treatment, addressing the same issues from ASA's biblical base. Council members got a peek at a section of Walt Hearn's partial draft.

Council members also laid eyes on a complete script for the sixth episode of "Space, Time, and God," long-awaited ASA series for Public Television. The final episode asks, "Is the Cosmos All There Is?" Authors Owen Gingerich and Geoff Haines-Stiles presented draft copies to the Council and reviewed the "plot" of the now fully scripted series. After probing scientific questions about the nature of the universe and of life, the series looks into the nature of science and the status of facts and hypotheses, ending with the resounding affirmation that "there is no contradiction in accepting the existence of a transcendental, spiritual dimension to the cosmos."

Then came tough questions about the next phase: how to "sell" the project to PBS and to sponsors able to underwrite the huge production costs. The two script-writers sounded remarkably optimistic, considering the megabuck range of funding needed. Evidently people exist with big money to invest in declaring God's ownership of the world.

How do we demonstrate the persuasive effect of a powerful visual presentation still on paper? One suggestion was to show potential backers a video of "Creation of the Universe," a dramatic PBS series written and narrated by Timothy Ferris. Since Geoff Haines-Stiles produced that one (which came close), we can say, "There! That's how good it will be, only with a clearcut declaration of the 'glory of God."'

(Nosing around the Ipswich office, the WOE found a videocassette you should know about. Not exactly in a class with "Creation of the Universe," it's a nine-minute video telling ASA's story, shot in 1988 at the time of ASA's "Gene-Splicing" conference at Eastern College. Produced by Nelson Video Productions (P.O. Box

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704, Dover, MA 02030) on a minibuck budget, this one is already at hand to show what ASA is all about. Good for local section meetings or to take to Sunday school conventions or other "marketplaces of ideas." A copy is waiting for you to borrow from the ASA office. Check it out!-Ed).

COVER STORY

A t last: the American Scientific I-3LAffiliation has been accurately depicted in a national publication! What's more, it was in the cover story of the Dee 23 issue of U.S. News & World Report. "The Creation: Religion's search for a middle ground with science" was written by senior editor Jeffery L. Sheler and reporter Joannie M. Schrof. Along with usual sources like Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies, and Carl Sagan, the authors quoted biochemist Bob Herrmann, biologist Dorothy Chappell, geologist Davis Young, physicist Howard Van Till, and chemist Henry Schaefer.

After reviewing past damage from apparent conflicts between religious and scientific explanations of creation, Sheler and Schrof wrote (under the heading, "Bridge-building"): "At least 72 organizations worldwide, many in the United States, now provide forums for creative exchange of religious and scientific perspectives." Under "School battles" thev first described the "creation scienc~" position, quoting ICR's Duane Gish. Then they returned to their theme of centrist alternatives:

Many theologians and most scientists -including many who are devoutly religious- dismiss creation science as engaging more in polemics than in rigorous scientific inquiry. Among groups that reject literal creationisin is the American Scientific Affiliation, composed of about 2,300 scientists who identify themselves as evangelical Christians. They support a more conventionally scientific approach to the question of origins, acknowledging the evidence for natural processes at work in the universe yet affirming a belief in God as creator and sustainer of life. "A lot of educated people in the sciences see the two as perfectly compatible," says Robert L. Herrmann, a molecular biologist and ASA's executive director.

Then came quotes from Wheaton College's Dorothy Chappell (on accepting the databases of both Scripture and nature) and Calvin College's Davis Young (on Augustine's grappling with the proper interpretation of Genesis, long before modern science). Under "Geological days" the authors laid out various theological interpretations, quoting (among others) Calvin's Howard Van Till: "Creation and evolution are not contradictory; rather, they provide different answers to a different set of questions." Philip Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial, was quoted as saying that atheistic naturalism is "not merely the conclusion that neo-Darwinists draw from their scientific theory, but rather the metaphysical basis of the theory itself."

Small side-bars on "Scientists and Their Gods" included this quotation from U. of Georgia quantum chemist Henry F. Schaefer:

The significance and joy in my science comes in those occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, "So that's how God did it." My goal is to understand a little comer of God's plan.

The only flaw in the story was that no hint of ASA's address was included, though ICR's base was given as San Diego and every other name was identified with some geographical location-except for Bob Herrmann and Pope John Paul Il. (Most readers can probably guess where to find the Pope. - Ed.).

Jeff Sheler met Bob Herrmann at a conference at the Chicago Center for Religion and Science. Sheler later received input from various other ASA members, plus a press release on ASA's "evolution resolution," FAXed to him from Ipswich on Dec 8, the day after it was passed (see story below).

EVOLUTION AS SCIENCE

0n December 7 (a date already said to "live in 'infamy" for other reasons), the ASA Executive Council passed a resolution setting forth "A Voice for Evolution as Science." A background statement noted that "scientific creationism" has been designated by the courts as religious doctrine masquerading as science. The statement added that "ASA judges it equally important to recognize 'evolutionary naturalism' as another essentially religious doctrine masquerading as science." The statement pointed to confusion stemming from a wide range of meanings of evolution. Then the Resolution itself:

A VOICE FOR EVOLUTION AS SCIENCE

On the basis of the considerations stated above, and after polling the membership on its views, the EXECUTIVE COUNCIL of the AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION hereby directs the following RESOLUTION to public school teachers, a&ninistrators, school boards, and producers of elementary and secondary science textbooks or other educc~ional materials:

BECAUSE it is our common desire to promote excellence and integrity in science education as well as in science; and

BECAUSE it is our common desire to bring to an end wasteful controversy generated by inappropriate entanglement of the scientific concept of evolution with political, philosophical, or religious perspectives;

WE STRONGLY URGE that, in
science education, the terms evolution and theory of evolution should be carefully defined and used in a consistently scientific manner; and

WE FURTHER URGE that, to make classroom instruction more stimulating while guarding it against the intrusion of e)ara- scientific beliefs, the teaching of any scientific subject, including evolutionary biology, should include (1) forceful presentation of well-established scientific data and conclusions; (2) clear distinction between evidence and inference; and (3) candid discussion of unsolved problems and open questions.

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A press release on the Council's action quoted executive director Bob Herrmann as saying that evolution should be taught not as dogma but as "inference based on a certain amount of evidence." It also quoted 1991 ASA president Gerald Hess on how a draft of the resolution was first approved over-whelming by senior ASA members (Fellows, about 10 percent of the total membership), though some wanted to avoid setting a precedent that might embroil ASA in political issues.

The press release, the resolution, and two more pages of additional information were sent to over 40 major religious, scientific, and general publications. The information included addresses of each Council member, citations of two recent books discussing "evolutionary naturalism" in science education (Van Till, et al., Science Held Hostage, and Johnson, Darwin on Trial), and an explanation of the resolution's title.

The resolution represents ASA's response to Voices for Evolution (1989; National Center for Science Education, P.O. Box 9477, Berkeley, CA 94709), a collection of official statements of scientific, educational, and religious bodies denouncing creationism. Religious groups quoted in that publication were generally less clear about what they favored than what they rejected, though some warned that evolution may refer to a metaphysical principle as well as to a scientific inference.

It is not yet clear how ASA's resolution will be received, though the release did generate an inquiry from a writer at Science. (Copies of what was sent to the media are available to writers or ASA members from the Ipswich office-Ed.)

GETTING CREATIVE

To our surprise and joy, the December financial picture was not all bad news, despite deep recession. With people out of work, social services shrinking, and "appeal letters" ever more persuasive and poignant, our members came through. By the time of the Council meeting, ASA's back printing bills had been paid. If the good times weren't ready to roll, at least the presses were.

Many scientific societies have industrial sponsors, journal page charges, major advertising revenues, or other sources of income beyond dues. ASA keeps its dues and meeting charges as low as possible, counting on "tithes and offerings" to make up any deficit. Following this time-honored, biblical way of supporting the Lord's work, when ASA's budget no longer budges, executive director Bob Herrmann lets us know how things stand. Many members give regularly even without a special appeal. Many have given generously for years. A gratcful Council heard how extra 6fts bailed ASA out of a tight situation this fall.

Without benefit concerts, telethons, or walkathon gimmicks, ASAers find ways to be creative in their financial support. Memorial clifts are one example. This fall one such gift came from Irving Knobloch of East Lansing, Michigan. An emeritus professor of botany at Michigan State University, Irving is a long-time Fellow of ASA. He contributed the chapter on "The Role of Hybridization in Evolution" to ASA's Darwin centennial volume, Evolution and Christian Thought Today (1959). In October, his beloved wife Natalie died. Irv sent a check to ASA in her memory. The Knoblochs had been married for 57 years.

Several ASA members employed in industry doubled or tripled the effectiveness of their giving by qualifying for matching gifts from their employers. Bob Herrmann will gladly supply any information requested by an employer to show that ASA is a non-profit scientific, religious, and educational organization, deserving of support on all those grounds.

ENDOWING ASA

A year ago the Executive Council moved to set up an Endowment Fund to commemorate ASA's 50th Anniversary in a lasting way. A committee was appointed to look into the matter and legal advice was sought. At the Dec 1991 Council meeting, Bob Herrmann read a letter from ASA's legal counsel describing what it would take to set up a formal ASA Endowment Fund with a board independent of the Council to manage it. Disappointingly, that was more than could be accomplished in our 50th Anniversary year.

On the other hand, such an arrangement was only one of the possibilities outlined. The Council itself could legally manage a fund designated for a special long-term purpose without setting up a separate body. With experienced ASA members like investment manager John Templeton of Nassau to call on for advice, why couldn't the Council simply choose a mutual fund or two in which to invest any "endowment" funds?

Here's what was decided: The Council voted to set up on our books immediately an "ASA Lon,-,range Fund," which will serve as the foundation for a future "ASA Endowment Fund." Investment income from the fund will be left in the fund or used at the discretion of the Executive Council.

As the Council discussed these plans, excitement grew. Somebody at the table offered to kick off the fund with a gift of S500. Another said, "I'll match that!" A third offered to scrape up a little more tithe by the end of the month. As a result, ASA's 50th Anniversary year ended with over $1,000 already in the Long-range Fund. All members are now invited to contribute.

If God has called us to the ministry of ASA, with his help we can keep that ministry alive and active. ASA will still need your regular contributions to the general fund. But now you can also invest in the future by designating a gift to the ASA LONG-RANGE FUND -setting us up for the next 50 years.

BULLETIN BOARD

1. The American Association for the Advancement of Science meets 6-11 Feb 1992 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, with many sessions of interest to ASA members. AAAS Section X (science, engineering, & society) has proposed starting a new journal differing slightly from Science, Technology, & Human Values, Social Studies of Science, and Issues in Science & Technology. Other sections (social sciences; history & philosophy of science) support the proposal.

2. The Federation Christian Fellowship (begun over 30 years ago by ASA members) will meet on Wednesday, 8 Apr 1922, 7-9 p.m., at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California, during the meeting of the Federation of American Soc;eties for Experimental Biology. Ken Dormer, who made these arrangements, says the invited speaker will be science Ariter Forrest Mims, discussing "First Amendment Rights and Professing Christian Professional s. "

3. The International Christian Studies Association will hold its 3rd World Congress at the Pasadena Hilton in California, 7-9 Aug 1992. The Congress, on "Unity of the Art-, & Sciences: Path"a\s to God's Creation," will explore new discoveries pointing to design in the universe and re-examine the relation between truth and beauty. A call for papers has been issued, with abstracts due I May 19921, to: Dr. Oskar Gruenwald, ICSA, 2828 Third St, Suite 11, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

4. Registration and program materials for a major conference on "Science and Belief' to be held 11-15 Aug 1992 at the Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith & Science have been mailed. Speakers and respondents from Canada, USA, UX., Germany, Netherlands, and South Africa will explore "the complex interactions of belief, observation, and theory" from historical, philosophical, and biblical perspectives. Contact: Dr. Jitse van der Meer, Director, Pascal Centre, Redeemer College, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada L9G 3N6. Besides CSCA member Jitse, ASAers on the program include theologian Thomas Torrance, physicist/theologian George Murphy, and biologist Uko Zy1stra. On the organizing committee are chemist David Humphreys of McMaster U. and philosopher of science Donald McNally of St. Michaels College, U. of Toronto.

5. A seminar on "The Scientific Renaissance: Copernicus to Newton" will be offered in connection with a summer session at Oxford University in England devoted to "Renaissance and Reformation in Europe," 27 Jun to 8 Aug 1992. The six-week session (48 hours of lectures, 18 in the seminar, plus six guided tours) is "suitable for mature students with a serious and informed interest in this area of studies." It is sponsored by the Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies in association with Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and by the Christian College Coalition. Historian John Roche of Linacre College, Oxford, will lead the science-oriented seminar. Contact: Christian College Coalition, 329 Eighth St, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-6158.

6. A conference on "Understanding, Faith, & Narrative" will be held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., 11-13 Jun 1992. Speakers include James Billington of the Library of Congress, Paul ViLz of NYU, and Nicholas Wolterstorff of Yale Divinity School. The conference is cosponsored by the Library and by the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies, whose board has always included ASA members, Contact: Ms. Jane Halteman, IFACS, P.O. Box 241, Wheaton, IL 60189.

7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 1992 Summer Session offerings will include "Science Policy: What IS It and Who Heeds It?" taught by profs. Leon Trilling and Eugene Skolnikoff (6-10 July) and "Ethical Conflicts in Recent American Science" taught by Prof. Chares Weiner (8-12 July). Contact: Office of the Summer Session, Room E19-356, M.I.T., Cambridge MA 02139. Tel. 617-253-8042.

BRITS HONOR FRITZ

Henry F. ("Fritz") Schaefer III has been awarded the 1992 Centenary Medal of Great Britain's Royal Society of Chemistry, the society's highest honor for chemists from another country.

Fritz Schaefer is Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry at the University of Georgia. He moved to the Athens campus from the U. of California in Berkeley in 1987. After successfully challenging a widely accepted molecular structure in 1970, he has received many honors for his outstanding work in computational quantum chemistry.

The annual Centenary Medal was first awarded in 1949 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In addition to a cash award and a silver medal, Fritz will receive an expense-paid twoweek trip (with wife Karen) to England to receive the award at a special symposium on quantum chemistry. Of the previous Centenary Medal recipients, 21 have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, for which Schaefer has also received nominations.

Fritz is known to readers of this Newsletter as an ASA member with an up-front Christian witness to students. To his surprise, that witness drew more faculty opposition in "the Bible belt" than it had in "Berzerkly," where almost anything goes-including the gospel.

SQUIBS

- The Jul/Aug 1991 Advocate, newsletter of Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA, 10 Lancaster Ave, Wynnewood, PA 19096), was devoted entirely to environmental issues. The lead article on "Green Theology" by ESA executive director Ron Sider (worship leader at the 1990 ASA Annual Meeting) set forth guidelines for a biblical approach to environmental stewardship. In response to an article on "Energy Options" by environmental specialist David Gushee of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, Eastern College biologist Joseph Sheldon argued that the U.S. lags in energy efficiency and that fossil fuels seem cheap because external costs of burning them are not included in calculations. Other articles dealt

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with energy bills in Congress and with hazardous waste disposal.

- This fall the North American Conference on Christianity & Ecology reported that more than half of all Christians are in denominations that have now officially adopted ecological responsibility as fundamental to church ministry. Since its founding in 1985, NACCE has promoted such ecological awareness among churches through various programs and through Firmament, the Journal of Christian Ecology (P.O. Box 14305, San Francisco, CA 94114).

- James Hefley of Hannibal Books in Missouri intended Vol. 5 of The Truth in Crisis to be the last in his chronicle of controversy within the nation's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Now he's written a final, FINAL book, The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, also published by Hannibal Books (921 Center, Suite A, Hannibal, MO 63401; S9.95). SBC's "moderate" faction may have taken steps toward forming a separate denomination. In 1990, after their 12th straight defeat by the "conservative" faction in electing SBC officers, 3,000 Southern Baptists met in Atlanta to set up a 70-member steering committee of moderates. In Mar 1991, that committee voted to incorporate a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. In May, some 6,000 SBC moderates gathered in Atlanta to ratify a constitution for CBF's alternative missions organization, keeping the Fellowship within SBC for the time being. SBC's mission budget, from nearly 38,000 local churches, is over 400 times the size of CBF's mission budget. In June, SBC also met in Atlanta. According to the 7 Oct 1991 Christianity Today, a new Baptist Theological Seminary began functioning in Richmond, Virginia, this fall, with financial support from CBF. (How do we reach the many potential ASA members with scientific training in the 38,000-plus churches of the SBC and CBF? Ed.)

. Dordt College emeritus chemistry professor Russell Maatman has continued to contribute to Pro Rege (Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA,
51250), though he no longer edits the journal. In "The Origin of the Human Family" in the Mar 1991 issue he concluded that "the Bible teaches that Adam and Eve did not have animal forebears." Citing Roger Lewin's Bones of Contenti . on, Russ summed up paleoanthropology as currently providing "many speculations and few hard conclusions."

. At the annual meeting of its General Synod at Dordt College last summer, the Christian Reformed Church adopted a report from the denomination's Committee on Creation and Science. According to Christianity Today (16 Sep 1991), one of the six summary declarations of the report stirred up much debate and passed by a vote of only 95 to 82. The other five declarations evidently allowed considerable leeway in interpreting biblical statements, but Declaration F asserted that the Bible's teaching on "the uniqueness of human beings as image bearers of God rules out the espousal of all theorizing that posits the reality of evolutionary forebears of the human race." The study committee had been established after widespread discussion of Calvin College professor Howard Van Till's 1986 book The Fourth Day. The committee spent three years preparing the report, which Howard termed "generally helpful" with the exception of Declaration F, which he said dealt with questions "outside the direct interests of an ecclesiastical body."

WHEREVER GOD WANTS US: 20.

In No. 18 of this series (Jun/Jul 1991) we described an opening for a Christian in computer sclence/engineering at an Indonesian University. Since then we've learned more about Satya Wacana Christian University from Bernie & Fran Adeney, who've left New College Berkeley to set up a program in ethics there, and from Clarence Prince, who sent us the original notice. Clarence is a former missionary to Korea now with Educational Mission to Indonesia of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Last April Clarence & wife Moneta visited Stanford University and have since written at length to Dick Bube about continuing opportunities at Satya Wacana (Indonesian for "Faithful to the Word").

Indonesia is a modernizing nation in which followers of Jesus constitute a numerical minority. Those who established Satya Wacana did so in the spirit of Christ's command to help poor and downcast members of society. Teaching science and engineering is one way to help Indonesia raise its standard of living and become a fully independent nation. Technically trained Indonesian Christians demonstrate Christ's love in action and dispel the attitude that educated people consider religious belief primitive or childish.

Over 70 percent of the 6,000 students at Satva Wacana are Christian. The university thus has an opportunity to help permeate Indonesian society with Christian influence in areas affecting the common people's daily lives and 'in such long-range issues as the wise use of natural resources. At the same time, Christian engineers and other professional employees of government and industry will be able to strengthen the witness of local churches throughout the country. Regrettably, the university has had to turn away many hundreds of students who want to study engineering, most of them Christian.

So far the only engineering department has been Clarence's EE Dept, which has majors in telecommunication, instrumentation & controls, and computer engineering. The EE graduates have earned the university a good reputation, and now it is time to expand to three full departments: electronics, information systems, and mechanical engineering. Expansion depends on getting experienced people in computer science, computer engineering, EE, ME, and the supporting basic sciences:

We need people who will get their home churches to support them as educational missionaries (not necessarily of the Reformed tradition, but we do want mature Christians), or others who will volunteer to live on the Indonesian faculty level (which is not too

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bad) and raise other support personally, or others who might be retired faculty. Long-term workers need to learn the Indonesian language, but that is not so difficult. I began studying it after the age of 55 and could begin lecturing in Indonesian after about six months. After 7 years I am now lumayan ("so-so") but I get along in the classroom. Of course, many students want to study in English, the language of their textbooks and the international trade and technical language. For short-termers, teaching can be done in English with an interpreter or translator. Dr. Elmer Hixson of the U. of Texas EE Dept led a two-week seminar on that basis this summer.

Clarence calls on Christian professors in engineering and science to come themselves, long-term or short term, and to pass the word to graduate students looking for a place to serve Christ while using their technical training. Satya Wacana is in Salatiga, a small town high up, cool, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and free of pollution. It is located midway between the big cities of Jakarta and Surabaya on Java, an island with 120 million people. In the center of a triangle of three cities with over a million each, Salatiga would also be a great place to establish some high-tech industry (maybe a "silicon mountain"?). For more information and encouragement, contact: Dr. Clarence E. Prince, Jr., Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Jalan Diponegoro 52-60, Salatiga, Jateng, Indonesia.

Clarence knows from experience the difference that Christians with technical training can make in a developing country. Clarence has a Ph.D. in EE, Moneta a Ph.D. in linguistics, both from the U. of Texas . The Presbyterian Church (USA) has some 460 lifetime-appointed missionaries, including about eight engineers-but he is the only teaching engineer. The Princes went to Korea in 1957 to work in Christian higher education, and left seven years ago with a feeling that both Korean development and the Korean church were in pretty good shape. In Taejon, Clarence began the departments of math, physics, and chemistry at the then brand new Han Nam school, which is now granting Ph.D. degrees. In another school he worked with a Christian Korean engineer who actively supported the Korean Presbyterian Church (now larger than the Presbyterian Church in America!). Both Christian universities now have big science and engineering schools.

OBITUARIES

Sidney S. Macaulay of Decatur, Georgia, died 12 Nov 1991 of a heart attack at age 54. He was a graduate of Erskine College, with an M.Div. from Erskine Theological Seminary and a Th.M. from Columbia Theological Seminary. After serving several Presbyterian pastorates, in 1968 Sid began working for the Christian Medical & Dental Society as south eastern regional director. In 1981 he became editor of the CMDS Journal. He is survived by his wife Ann and a grown son and daughter. In memory of his contribution to joint ASA-CMDS projects, ASA sent a donation to the James S. Westra Memorial Endowment Fund, which grants scholarships to CMDS students so they can gain overseas experience as they prepare to serve Christ as Christian physicians.

Charles M. Randall was killed in an automobile accident in fall 1991, according to his widow, Mrs. Bernadette Randall of Torrance, Callfornia. Charles had a B.A. from Union College in Nebraska and a Ph.D. in physics from Michigan State. He worked on atmospheric optics for The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo. Charles was a deacon and youth leader in the Rolling Hills Seventh Day Adventist Church. A son and daughter survive.

The ASA office has been informed of the death of K. Wiley Jarrell of Bel Air, Maryland. The notice came from daughter-in-law Lorene Jarrell of Taylorsville, North Carolina, with whom Wiley's widow stayed briefly after his death. The Newsletter has little information other than that he had been in ASA for at least 25 years. He had an A.B. in history with work in political science and chemistry, and a B.S. in theology with work in psychology. He was listed in the ASA Directory as a Missionary Member.

We have even less information on C. W. Vermeulen, M.D., except that his membership renewal notice came back marked "deceased" in January. He lived in Flossmoor, Illinois, and was listed in the 198588 and subsequent ASA directories.

Information on the life and work of these members suitable for a memorial resolution to be read at the 1992 Annual Meeting may be sent to Carol Aiken at ASA's Ipswich office.

THE EDITOR'S LAST WORDS: 19.

Calls to the Ipswich office are generally answered by a pleasant female voice saying, "A.S.A." Business-like-wise, we sometimes come back, "A.S.A. West." If the reply is "Cmo estas?" that's Argentina-bom Frances Polischuk, aware that the Weary Old Editor (WOE, soy yo) likes to practice his hacerlo himself Spanish. Lately we've had to distinguish two new voices.

Although Patsy Ames went to Gordon College and has lived in Ipswich for years, she still speaks native Californian. Carol Aiken, on the other hand, has the "Bahstin" accent one expects when calling one's MA. During the WOE's December visit to Ipswich, Carol whipped out a photo of son Heath in his high school football uniform. When asked if the big guy plays guard, she said, "He's a tackle-but he does looks like a god."

Patsy showed us not only photos of wee Willie  but the kid himself. It isn't clear yet what language he'll speak, but, as Carol says, he already has a great sensa yoomah.

LOCAL SECTIONS

METROPOLITAN NEW YORK

Nyack College was the setting for the Fall 1991-92 meeting on Oct 26, featuring talks by David C. Pollock, director of intercultural programs at Houghton College and executive director of Interaction, Inc., of Fillmore, New York. In the afternoon, in "The Profile of Transcultural Kids," the speaker outlined what it means to grow up outside of one's native culture. His evening lecture dealt with "Transition: Its Impact on Life, the Classroom, and the Church."

Rev. Pollock's broad experience in coping with the dynamics of change stems from years of service with Youth for Christ (1963- 68), in various pastorates, as a missionary to Kenya (1977-80), and (since 1980) with Interaction, Inc. That organization was set up to serve the needs of third-culture children and international students and families. Pollock's writings have appeared in such journals as International Bulletin of Missionary Research and Evangelical Missions Quarterly.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN
  The section's fifth meeting since its founding was scheduled for Saturday, Feb 1, at Colorado Christian University's Foothills Conference Center in Morrison, Colorado. Featured speaker was geology professor Davis A. Young of Calvin College in Michigan.  Young gave an address on "Why I Ain Not A Flood Geologist: Reflections on Scripture, Rocks, & History," followed by over an hour of open discussion. Dave is the author of Christianity and the Age of the Earth (Zondervan, 1982) and co-author of Science Held Hostage (IVP, 1988) and Portraits of Creation (Eerdmans, 1990).

After lunch and a brief business meeting, papers were given by Dean Turner of the U, of' Northern Colorado in Greeley ("Universally Valid Moral Ideals") and psychologist John Vayhinger of Colorado Springs ("Evolution/Creation: What Was the Truth and What Was God's Will?") before Karl Evans of the U.S. Geological Survey at Denver led the group on a field trip to the nearby Red Rocks formation. Evans and Vayhinger co-chair the section. The meeting notice, from secretary-treasurer Kenneth V. Olson of Greeley, was an eye-catching poster.

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. Mathematics: Fall 1992, possible tenure-track, Ph.D. preferred, Master's required; contact: Dr. Donna Peterson, Academic Dean, Trinity Uollege, 2077 Half Day Road, Deerfield, IL 60015. Mathematics: Ph.D. preferred (required for tenure-track) to teach general and specialized math courses; candidates should address commitment to Taylor's philosophy of Christian education in initial inquiry, to: Dr. Richard Stanislaw, VP for Academic Affairs, Taylor University, 500 W. Reade Ave, Upland, IN 46989-1001. Tel. 317-998-2751. Biology: June 1992, Ph.D. with vertebrate physiol & anatomy spocialty; contact: Dr. Dan Fredericks, Dean, Belhaven College, 1500 Peachtree St, Jackson, MS 39202. Tel. 601-968-5916. Computer science: M.S. required; contact Dean Dan Fredericks at Belhaven College, above address. Computer science: 1-yr faculty leave replacement; send vita, list of refs to: Prof Matthew Dickerson, Dept of Mathematics & Computer Science, Middlebury Coflege, Middlebury, VT 05753. Chem istry/geo logy: Ph.D. preferred, M.S. required, for Aug 1992 tenure-track position teaching organic & inorganic chem, historical & physical geol, and environmental science; assist in developing science courses for education majors; apply to: Dr. William Newsom, Div. of Social & Natural Sciences, Nyack College, Nyack, NY 10960. Earth science; geology: open immediately; other positions in science; engineering; agriculture; contact ASA members Terry Murphy or Stan Anderson, Dept of Chemistry, Sultan 0aboos University, P.O. Box 32486, Muscat, Oman. Business: open immediately in new School of Business; send vita to: Dr. Rawaya Al-Busaidi, Dir. of Coordination & Follow-up, Sultan Qaboos Univ., P.O. Box 32500, Muscat, Oman.