NEWSLETTER

of the

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation


Volume 38 Number 4                                                                       JULAUG 1996


The Newsletter of the ASA and CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box 668, 55 Market St., Ipswich, MA 019380668. Tel. (508) 356-5656, FAX: (508) 3564375, E-mail: asa@newl.com

Send Newsletter information to the Editor: Dennis Feucht, 14554 Maplewood Road, Townville, PA 16360.


ASAers Reach Churches

ASA members are reaching a wider, non-ASA audience of fellow Christians in multiple ways. A brief description of their activities will, hopefully, encourage more of us to be "bridges" across the science-church gap.

Gordon Winder of the U. of Western Ontario geology department conducted a workshop entitled "Earth's Old Age Evidence Confronts the Young Earth Myth" at South Gate Presbyterian Church in Hamilton. The workshop was also given for high-school earthscience teachers at the Geological Society of America NE section annual conference in Buffalo, and at the annual conference of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, held at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. A copy of Gordon's lecture, "Come Now ' Let Us Reason Together, and Consider the Science/Religion Issue in a Broad Context" is available from him, as is a chart summarizing seven attitudes toward the relationship between science and religion. (We'll have to get Gordon and Richard Bube together; both have seven patterns for relating sci/rel!) Contact: C. G. Winder, UWO Earth Science, London, CANADA N6A 5B7; tel. (519) 661-3188; fax: (519) 6613198; e-mail: cwinder@julian.uwo.ca

Perry Ginn knows how to get something started as an ASAer. He is Senior Pastor at the Peachtree Baptist Churh in Atlanta, Georgia. There in DeKalb county, an organization called Life Enrichment Services offers education and other helps to seniors. One of its projects each year is three quarters of a course, "Adventures in Learning," for adults of age 50 or older. Perry taught eight sessions during the spring quarter under the title, "Modern Science and the Christian Faith." Expecting an enrollment of 10 to 12, Perry was surprised by the turnout of 43. Perry says, "I hope we will gain some new members for ASA through this." Knowing his regional cultural orientation, Perry concluded warily:

I will be approaching this here in the Bible belt from a non-"scientific creationism" and non-fundamentalist manner, so I'm walking into an area here "where angels fear to tread." Thus I need your prayers.

Perry's course description sheet emphasizes a complementary approach between science and religion. It considers objectivity an ideal which both scientists and Christians attempt to achieve, though "all persons function on the basis of some preconceptions, whether unconscious or realized." Perry identifies himself in the course description as a Christian and ASAer. The ASA is described, and the four-point statement of faith given. The eight lecture topics cover the typical gamut of science issues. He fills the rest of the back page with "some random quotations which provide the framework for this study." (The Editor might use some of them in the future under the "Who said ..." title.) Life Enrichment Services is both by and for those 50 years and over.

The Editor is interested in hearing from others ASAer attempting to clarify sci/rel to others, especially those whose audience is to churches.  D. Perry Ginn

*Charles Thaxton, who co-authored The Soul of Science and has been teaching sci/rel at Charles U. in Prague, Czech Republic, has reached the church top-down. In November 1995, he gave a plenary lecture at the 100th anniversary conference of the Evangelical Theological Society in Philadelphia. The general theme was defending the faith. He gave the science lecture to an audience of nearly a thousand university-level, theological faculty. The lecture is expected to be published in the conference proceedings.


ASAers Speak Out Wells & Haardsma write for Washington Times

Jonathan Wells and Loren Haardsma wrote two of the three pieces in a series on the creation/evolution controversy in The World and I, an encyclopedia-style magazine insert of the Washington Times. Wells' tutorial was published in January 1996 ("Issues in the CreationEvolution Controversies"), and surveyed both the theological and scientific issues.

Wells is also an editor of the new publication, Origins and Design along with Paul Nelson, Bill Dembski, and Steve Meyer. The first issue includes an article defending the design of the eye, by George Ayoub. (See the MAY/JUN 1996 ASAN, p. 7 for details.) Subscriptions are available for $15/yr. from: Access Research Network, P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO 80937-8069.

Swift unspins American Scientist article

David L. Swift's letter to American Scientist, the magazine of Sigma Xi, a scientific research society (Vol. 84, No. 3, May-June 1996, pp. 204-205), comments on an article by J. Donald Fernie. The young scientist and schoolmaster Jeremiah Horrocks, in the 1630s, misses the transit of Venus on a Sunday because he was called away on "business of the highest importance which ... I could not with propriety neglect." Fernie opines that Horrocks might have been a Sunday school teacher. But Swift points out that if so, "Horrocks would have been very


continued on p. 3, ASAers Speak Out

The Executive Director's Corner

This morning we received 47 e-mail messages and there will be more by the end of the day. Many came from the ASA Listserv which is wonderfully maintained by Terry Gray. Now he has added a Listserv Digest for those who want to lessen their email clutter. Terry also maintains our Web Site. We cannot thank him enough. Many other messages came directly to ASA from members who had questions, suggestions, or just wanted to chat. I also want to thank Dave Granz who is our server master. Both Terry and Dave do this without remuneration. Praise God for their willingness to serve!

There is not much more to say about the 1996 annual meeting that has not already been said. It is time to go and enjoy. There may still be some beds available so if your plans change, you can let us know at the last minute and we will try to work you in. I am thinking ahead to the next two meetings. For 1997, the plenary speakers are already in place and local arrangements have begun. We can thank Jeff Greenberg, Program Chair, and Brenda Smith, Local Arrangements Chair, for the good progress. Although I have yet to visit there, I am told by many that Santa Barbara is a beautiful place. The meeting in Cambridge, England is moving along and, subject to approval by the ASA Council, the program co-chairs are in place. At our July Council meeting we may approve a place for 1999 and possibly 2000. For 2001, our sixtieth anniversary, it should be a Midwestern area which seems to cover any state that does not border on either coast. I am beginning to look in the Colorado area but am open to proposals for a meeting place. What facilities do you suggest?

Religion and science continues to be a hot topic for meetings. I attended my first Christian Legal Society meeting where Dr. Richard Morr ison, Professor of Physics at the U. of New Haven (CT), and Dr. Walter Shortle, Senior Scientist for the USDA Forest Service, spoke at a panel session. Their topic was: "The Scientist as Traditional Christian." They are well published and credible to both science and faith - now if they would fill out the membership form that I gave them.

Soon after that I served on a panel at an Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIQ Symposium. It was held at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy which is a part of Tufts U. (MA). The symposium was called: Religion, Politics, and Society and the topic for our panel was simply, "Religion and Science." Among other things there was a special message from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and a citizenship award to the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome. One of the four panel members and I talked ahead of time; he asked me about my background. When I said that I was an Evangelical, he cringed. After the panel session, he told me that he came from a strict fundamentalist home but when he entered science, he thought that it was necessary to drop religion to do proper science. He was pleased to hear about ASA and said that he was happy about the way I treated science and faith in my presentation. He is not ready to sign the ASA statement of faith but we never know when God can use us as role models.

For the second year I attended the InterVarsity Graduate Fellowship Conference at the magnificent U. of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL. This year the topic was: "What Does it Mean to be Human?" Terry Morrison from InterVarsity asked me about a speaker to address this question from a scientific area, especially neurology. I suggested Francisco Vega-Bermudez from Johns Hopkins U. It was great to hear and talk with Francisco, one of our younger and enthusiastic ASA members. Francisco represents the type of person that we need to carry this affiliation into the next century. What got me to the conference in the first place was the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies (IFACS). Among other things IFACS wants to stimulate the formation of a Council of Christian Scholarly Societies (CCSS) which would help Christian organizations to interact. Our Council will be discussing this in July.

Recently I was asked to preach at St. John the Evangelist Church in Hingham, MA. I only remember one other preaching experience and that was also with ASA. Many years ago at ASA annual meetings, we used to go out on Sunday mornings and give sermons in local churches. So, I was assigned a church and had a wonderful time. On this present occasion, I wore a robe and used biblical passages to speak about science and faith. After church a seminar was held where I presented ideas about genetic engineering. My deceased parents would have been happy. I was born exactly one year after my preacher grandfather died. They thought that I came to take his place though that was never my goal.

It was a busy spring with work, talks, trips, and teaching but God provided the needed strength. At each location I usually find some opportunity to introduce people to the ASA. I hope that you are watching carefully for such possibilities. When I was out there in your shoes, I did not avail myself of chances to introduce the ASA as I should have. Recruiting young members like Francisco is so important. It calls for vigilance.

Will the day ever come when I can end a letter by telling you that the affiliation has enough money for now? I would really like that but it is not a part of God's present plan for ASA. Please do remember us as God provides you with funds to spend on his kingdom. There are so many spiritually needy scientists. We need to show them that science and faith do coalesce together around the Cross and the empty tomb where the great Creator, Jesus Christ, was crucified in our place and then rose again having become the propitiation for our sins if we will but believe. Praise God for his wonderful gift!

Don


ASAers Speak Out, continued from
p.1

much ahead of his time." Sunday school was begun by Robert Raikes in Glocester in 1780. David applies Occam's razor and suggests: "Is it not a much simpler hypothesis that Horrocks was referring simply to attendance at worship on a Sunday? ... When Fernie states that 'one would be hard pressed to come up with any pursuits that a schoolmaster might not neglect on a Sunday,' I suspect that he is expressing the Zeitgeist of our present age rather than that of the 1630s." E Walt Hearn


Wiester recognized in World

In an article in World, a weekly news magazine with a Christian orientation, Forrest M. Mims III begins his article ("Doubting Darwin," April 13, 1996, p. 19) by raising the question of what evolution means and what role God has in it. He cites John Wiester on the ideology of accidentalism in "Darwinian fundamentalism." Wiester is quoted as saying:

The Darwinists teach their ideology - that we are the result of purposeless, accidental forces - as science. This is a tragedy for authentic science and rational thought.

After covering some familiar aspects of the never-ending controversy, Mims raises the question: "Where is the church in all of this? Only a few denominations publish serious literature on what was once considered one of the most obvious tenets of faith: that God created this universe and the life within it." He also recognizes that "Thinkers like John Wiester and Phillip Johnson seem to recognize that Christians on both sides of the debate over the age of the Earth have infinitely more in common with one another than with the Darwinists."

As for the church's involvement in teaching creation, longtime ASAer (of 42 years) Douglas Babcock sent the Editor some of "the sort of material that Regular Baptist Press is now sending to our churches." It was its August 6, 1995 "Conquest," a one-sheet publication (Vol. 28, No. 4) with one article by Deb Brammer entitled "Evolution of a Creationist." It was the story about how young-earth advocate Richard Bliss joined Henry Morris and Duane Gish to become one of the pioneers of the Institute for Creation Research.

The story is written at a popular level in a folksy style. In the article, evolution is undefined and personalities dominate over the issues leading to Bliss's young earth position. The article ends with:

"Scientists who are creationists are making a significant contribution to science. But that's not all. They help ordinary people like you and me understand that we can trust the Bible."

ASA's effort to reach churches has at least been preceded among the Regular Baptists with an introduction to the subject. But as ASA's Science Education Commission chairman John Wiester has stressed repeatedly, we must help church members to understand the issues and the key words used in the controversy.

Douglas Babcock

More Monkey Business in Tennessee

A bill in the Tennessee Senate Education Committee would prohibit teaching evolution except as scientific theory and teachers who do otherwise could be fired. The bill passed the House Education Committee but failed on the House floor.

A recent poll reported in The Chattanooga Times (9 MAR 1996, B-1 "Most favor no change") indicates tha; only one-fourth of Tennessee voters favor the legislation, mostly in the eastern part of the state. The state's attorney general has opined that the bill is unconstitutional while state senator Tommy Burks said, "The bill doesn't say that you can't teach the theory of evolution. It says you can't teach it as fact."

The story was also covered in the Baltimore Sun and the Oakland (CA) Tribune (10 MAR 1996, "Lasting issue still evolving into a battle over creation"), comparing it to the Scopes trial of 1925 in Dayton. Nowadays in Dayton at Bryan College, Harvard-trained paleontologist Kurt Wise objects to the legislation as it applies to teaching but believes the bill is motivated by Christians whose beliefs are being mocked in school.

At the Rhea County High School in Dayton, Principal Patrick Conner told his biology teachers not to comment on the bill. "We have nothing to gain by what we might say," he said, adding, We don't want to start another Scopes trial." Russ Heddendorf, Walt Hearn


Richard Dawkins Interviewed by CIS

Our British counterpart, Christians in Science (CiS), has a new magazine for students, the Space-Time Gazette. Issue no. I of Autumn 1995 included an interview with biologist Richard Dawkins. In the interview, Dawkins was asked some direct questions by Nick Pollard.

Some highlights of Dawkins' replies are: that being called an "evangelical atheist" sounds too negative to him; he prefers an almost poetic vision of the universe; and the religious view is smaller, less imaginative, and less exciting by comparison (with his).

He believed in God as a child - pretty much an Anglican one - and only the argument from design seemed to carry any weight. But his belief toppled at age 16 when he learned about evolution. "Even in evolution there is some controversy. But [evolution] is a fact in the ordinary sense of the word." Dawkins had little to say about the origin of life, except that it was self-replicating.

In his book, The Blind Watchmaker, he asserts that he does not need to postulate the idea of God to explain how the world is because his view reduces it to basic matter and energy; "Reductionist explanations are true explanations." He rejects the idea of God because he doesn't think God "is an explanation at all; it's simple redescribing the problem." Dawkins looks for simple explanations in terms of other simple explanations and to him "God is not an explanation of that kind, not if he has power to do all the things he is supposed to do."

Dawkins is similarly unimpressed with purposive explanations; they are "not a different kind of explanation. It's just a more complicated problem we now have to solve." As for human individuals, "that's more difficult." But he has faith in an ultimate scientific explanation for even human beings as "some manifestation of brain stuff and its workings."

In his 1991 Christmas lectures study guide for young people, he said: "We are machines built by DNA whose purpose is to make more copies of the same DNA ... It is every living object's sole reason for living." When asked about his use of the word purpose, he distinguished between intentional and unintentional purpose. To him, all purpose is unintentional - not thought out. As for love, it is a spurious by-product of brains and DNA. The interviewer pressed him on his willingness to accept and talk in terms of love while rejecting its Judeo-Christian cultural basis. Dawkins distinguished between being a child of a culture and sharing its world view.

On the question of ethics, Dawkins opposes the assertion that if something is, therefore it ought. But, where he gets his "ought" statements he finds to be a more difficult question and he doesn't feel so strongly about them anyway. He admits no basis for assessing the truth of normative statements. When pressed on accepting some of Nietzsche's ideas of letting the weak die because they corrupt the race, he wanted "to disown that very much. ... I don't think that following the dictates of Darwinism is necessarily what we ought to be doing. I disagree with Nietsche." In further discussion, Dawkins was unable to provide a substantial basis for such disagreement.

Richard Dawkins is married to Lalla Ward, who was once Dr. Who's companion. Dr. Who is the BBC sci-fi series that doesn't take itself quite seriously. Actor Tom Baker, in fine English tradition, makes an endearing Dr. Who. A noble Time Lord from Galliftey, he travels around in his British telephone booth of a space-time ship with his usually feisty female sidekicks (such as Lalla) who treat this great scientific mind as all too ordinary and human, nagging him about his absent-minded errors as he goes about saving the universe.

Meanwhile in Britain, this magazine for students, produced by Tom Watkins, is scheduled to come out three times a year beginning near the end of 1996. Our brethren of the Isles have taken the lead in producing a periodical for students. The gazette is printed on what for us would be six folded 8.5 by I I inch sheets, with a few pictures and simple but attractive formatting. The cover sheet is on colored paper with inexpensive but eyecatching black-and-white techno-artwork on the front - a product more of will and purpose than of extensive funding. ASA Project Idea: Is there a "Tom Watkins" in the ASA who will take the initiative to do the same here? If so, perhaps we could share articles with Watkins' publication. Here's another opportunity for greater ASA involvement. Contact the Editor and we'll discuss it.

Publications of Inspiration and Controversy
ASA's woodsman tells story

Laurence C. Walker's book, Excelsior: Memoir of a Forester, tells of both happy and sad times as a member of the forestry profession. The title is attributed to Biltmore Forest School's Carl Schenck who described the forester's role as serving "the higher good."

He opens the book with his enrollment at old Penn State Forest School at Mont Alto, then on to the U.S * Forest Service, grad studies at Yale and Syracuse, trudging through the Schwartzwald (the Black Forest of southern Germany) in WWII, teaching at the U. of Georgia, and assignments on every continent (that has forests - not Antarctica). Larry speaks of his "faith journey" which includes ASA.

Also, look for Larry as one of the role models for young Christians in science in ASA's upcoming book, On Being a Christian in Science, in its final stage of crafting by wordsmith Wait Hearn. (See related story last issue, "Our Man in the Woods.") Copies of Excelsior are $32.50, from S. F. Austin State U., P.O. Box 6109, SFA Station, Nacagdoches, TX 75962-6109; tel. (409) 468-3304. Walt Hearn


Templeton active, progress in theology questioned

Though John M. Templeton is well beyond retirement age, his productivity continues unabated. In a recent book, Evidence of Purpose: Scientists Discover the Creator, edited by Templeton, several scientists contribute their say about their work from a wider perspective. ASA contributors are: Owen Gingerich, Walter Hearn, Daniel Osmond, Robert Russell, and ASA's president, David Wilcox. Paul Davies, Arthur Peacocke, John Polkinghorne, and John Eccles are among the other contributors.

John's interest in a humble approach to science, emphasizing objectivity and wonder over dogmatism, is explained in detail in The Humble Approach: Scientists Discover God. While science has made much progress because the stumbling-block of egotism has, by and large, been overcome, John says that the need for similar progress relating to spiritual reality has yet to occur because "Many devoutly religious people are not devoutly humble" (p. 2). This book appears suitable not only for the spiritually stagnated but also for those who reject the Christian faith for more than intellectual reasons.

Thirdly, Templeton has written Discovering the Laws of Life, a forty-week tour through a collection of maxims, with commentary. This book provides a complementary frame of mind to heavy duty scientific thinking. Consider week four's aphorism: "I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him." Or (week seven) "Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it." The Editor could not resist adding a few more: "Habit is the best of servants, the worst of masters." "You make yourself and others suffer just as much when you take offense as when you give offense." "Minds are like parachutes - they only function when they are open." More are available, along with the previous two books, from: The Continuum Publishing Group, 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 100176503; tel: (212) 953-5858.

The Templeton approach has not gone unnoticed by evangelical leader Carl F. H. Henry. His commentary in World magazine of Asheville, NC (16 Mar. 1996, p. 30), "It's hard to be humble: The Templeton methodology sends theologians searching for gods beyond God," questions the motives that theological prizes give to evangelical scholars. Henry's concern about Christians in science is that "the Templeton exploratory approach provides a bridge whereby scientists readily remove themselves from a credal theology and look instead to revisable formulations as the preferred methodology of both dogmatics and empirical science."

Henry acknowledges the value of real humility and, as the Apostle Paul readily acknowledged, "now we know in part" (I Corinthians 13:9). But Henry discerns that a tentativeness and revision that "pushes aside open appeal to the self-revealing God" of the Bible should not be confused with evangelical modesty. Henry also is concerned that the notion of progress in religion undermines the "revelatory appeal that characterizes biblical theology" and forfeits any finality about God.

Henry also observes that Templeton's "religious preferences tilt in the direction of panentheism." This "tilt" has also been noticed by some ASA members and suggests discussion (and the need for progress) within the ASA on not only how God created, but what his relationship to his creation is - not only on what God does, but also on who he is. While Templeton emphasizes the value of openness to new truth, and Henry, the value of not abandoning present truth, both remind us of the narrowness of the path one must walk to eternal life and to ultimate Truth.

Previous ASA Executive Director Robert L. Herrmann, who is now working on the Templeton Foundation Science & Religion Course Program, is cited by Henry as "an influential link to the Templeton program and to science faculties on evangelical campuses."

Footnote: panentheism is somewhat different from pantheism, the view that everything is god, such as is found in Eastern religions. For pantheism, the universe is god, including the self.

Panentheism is the view that nature is part of god, and for Christianity suggests that the biblical Creator created a part of himself. What complicates the issue is the incarnation, in which God enters creation as the human being, Jesus of Nazareth. Homework question: Is that which results from the actions of an agent ontologically identifiable with the agent? For example, if an artist creates a painting, is the painting a part of who the artist is?


Science journals find religion

Some leading science journals are recognizing the growing significance of science's wider setting and foundations in the historic Christian milieu in which it took root and flourished.

For example, late last year Timothy Chen spotted several articles in leading science magazines that talk about wider perspectives on science. A New Scientist article (23/30 Dec. 1995, pp. 34, 35, 4042), "God in the Lab," draws attention to the relationship between science and religion and the new academic field of its study. Instead of "warfare," the new words are "overlap" and "mutually respectful interaction." The science and religion courses funded by the John Templeton Foundation are mentioned as an example of dollars backing such efforts, as well as the berated Starbridge Lectureship at Cambridge U., funded by a grant from author Susan Howatch.

Centers of sci/rel scholarship are named: CTNS in Berkeley, CA; the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton, NJ; and the Chicago Center for Religion and Science, publisher of the sci/rel ' Journal Zygon. Most notably, the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science agreed to accept symposium proposals on science and religion at the annual meeting. Offset in large print, the article quips: "Many sceptical scientists are happy with the divorce between faith and science, and do not want to engage with religious believers ... But ignoring religion."

One reason author Margaret Wertheim adduces, citing Eugenie Scott of the NCSE, is the "religious right," which has been "quietly and systematically 'infiltrating' school boards," claiming that "they have representatives on thousands of school boards and are poised to take over many more." The supplemental biology textbook, Of Pandas and People, is confused with ICR creation science.

Historian of science Ronald Numbers comments on the government school situation as saying that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees that religion cannot be brought into the U.S. classroom, but "you can't argue against bad science on Constitutional grounds."

Physicist and theologian Robert Russell, founder of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, CA is interviewed in the last section of the article, and paraphrased.

"Built on a bedrock of puritanism, America remains deeply religious. Those who care about science cannot afford to ignore that. Forcing people to choose one or the other will not work, says Russell. The result is either the nonsense of "creation science" or the spiritual vacuum of scientific materialism that leaves people "easy prey to both New Age mysticism wrapped in scientific- sounding language ... and to scientific- sounding pseudo-religion - science wrapped in a veneer of saving religion."


T Timothy Chen


A new view of the Star of Bethlehem

From the American Scientist (23/30 Dec. 1995, pp. 34, 35), an interesting new theory about the star that guided the Magi has been advanced by astronomer Michael Molnar. Owen Gingerich of the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics thought it was the best explanation he had come across in at least a decade. Instead of looking for an astronomical event around the right time and assessing its plausibility as the Star, Molnar was looking at ancient coins from Syrian Antioch and noticed depictions of unusual astronomical events, symbolized astrologically. Further study led him to the discovery that astrologers made correspondences of regions of the heavens with regions on earth. The constellation of Aries corresponded to Judea.

Furthermore, conjunctions were of great significance to ancient astrologers and led Molnar to look for a lunar occultation in Aries that symbolized the birth of a king - a lunar occultation of Jupiter, the regal symbol, in Aries. Molnar searched from 10 to I B.C. and, sure enough, on 20 March 6 B.C., a minute after sunset in Jerusalem, the Moon occulted Jupiter in Aries. The problem was that the event was hidden by the bright sky but, Molnar reasoned, astrologers would have known. To his surprise, he then found a replay of the event a month later, on 17 April, a little after noon in the southwest sky - completely invisible.

It was the 20 March occultation that Molnar believes sent the Magi on their way, as told in Matthew's gospel, believing that a king had been born in Judea and hoping to find out his location from Herod. According to Old Testament prophecy, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, as Herod's advisors suggested.

The second occultation seemed to tie in well with the biblical passages. A few hours before the event, Jupiter rose in the dawn sky (a star rose "in the east") confirming that it came up with the Sun. The celestial events were happening in the direction of Bethlehem. ("The star went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was.") And if Christ were born 20 March 6 B.C., he would have been two years old when Herod died in the spring of 4 B.C., aligning with the "slaughter of the innocents," one of Herod's last acts against a rival to his throne. T Timothy Chen

Musician writes acclaimed popular book on science

A musician has written a book on science. Kitty Ferguson, a Juilliard School of Music graduate has written The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion & the Search for God (Eerdmans, 1994). Stephen Hawking calls it "A clear account of the ultimate question." John Polkinghorne said it "weaves together science, philosophy, and theology with verve and clarity." John Wheeler thought it delightful and accurate. Replete with picture sections, this intelligent popularlevel book shows how recent advances have brought scientists to look for a single, fundamental law or truth that underlies the beginning of the universe and its continued existence.

The book moves beyond Hawking's quest "to know the mind of God" and to approach the basic question about science: What is it that breathes fire into the
equations and makes a universe for them to describe? Order from: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 255 Jefferson ' Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503; tel.: (800) 253
7521.

Publication reviews books

If your passion for book reviews is not satisfied after reading PSCF's extensive coverage, there's Books & Culture: A Christian Review, published by Christianity Today. Each newspaper-sized issue contains over a dozen reviews by Christian writers such as Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, C. Stephen Evans, Mark Noll, Stanton L. Jones, Frederica Matthewes-Green, Larry Woiwode and Phillip E. Johnson. The reviews are scholarly and engaging, and another way to access dialog on current cultural issues. For more information, contact: Books & Culture, 465 Gunderson Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188; fax: (708) 260-0114; e-mail: BCEdit@aot.com Phil Johnson

Veritas Forum

Are the truth claims about Jesus Christ credible and defensible in a postmodern world? Beginning at Harvard U., with funding from an Ohio businessman in 1992, articulate Christians are speaking to college audiences, including Hugh Ross, Fritz Schaeffer, Phillip E. Johnson, Ravi Zacharias, Os Guiness, J. P. Moreland and others. A Sampler of 10 audio tape lectures by these speakers at five universities is available for $44.95. An 8-tape forum from Harvard goes for $35.95. Call AudioMission, Inc. at (800) 874-8730.

Numerology anyone?

Science finds patterns in nature. Theology finds them in the Bible. James Harrison finds numerical patterns in the Bible in The Pattern & The Prophecy: God's Great Code, a book hailed as bridging "the abyss separating science from religion."

While the search for a buried numerical code in Scripture predates the Jewish Cabalists, recent popular attempts have resulted in the identification of Henry Kissinger as the Antichrist (Salem Kirban) or schemes for the end of the world based on an encoded timetable (Hal Lindsey). Such efforts led secularist Isaac Asimov to heap some good-natured scorn at the idea. Yet the patterns are intriguing. To explore the validity of gematria (numeric symbolism) for yourself, this book offers a fresh twist that involves science and eschatology.

Harrison is a graduate of the U. of Toronto and U. of Waterloo. The news release on the book refers to the author's "detailed studies and computer analyses of the Bible" and claims that he is the "first scientist to seriously study the Bible since Sir Isaac Newton." For the seriously interested, copies can be purchased from the publisher: Isaiah Publications, Box 1221, Peterborough, ON, CANADA K9J 71-14; tel: (800) 537-5489. Preview the book on the Internet web site at:

http://www.ptbo.igs.net/-isiah/

Skeptics Meet

The First World Skeptics Congress and the 20th anniversary of the skeptics organization, CSICOP, convened in Buffalo, New York, June 20-23, with dozens of speakers, some of whom have won the Nobel prize. CSICOP fellow and prof. of astronomy at Cornell U., Carl Sagan, appears on the front cover of the March/April 1996 Skeptical Inquirer, CSICOP's periodical, talking about science and superstition. Sagan seems to be warming somewhat toward religion, though not Christianity. In his article, "Does Truth Matter?" he argues for the religious sufficiency of science. An inset is entitled, "Science as a Source of Spirituality." The "spirituality" involved is defined, in part: "Despite usage to the contrary, there is no necessary implication in the word 'spiritual' that we are talking of anything other than matter ... or anything outside the realm of science."

Such verbal gerrymandering and other indecencies have won Sagan some criticism. Recent ire is from former Editor Joel Betz of World magazine (Asheville, NC), whose commentary (Sep. 30, 1995, p. 5) centers on Sagan's contributions to Parade magazine. Betz recounts a piece on James Clerk Maxwell, who established the basic theory of electricity and magnetism in the late 1800s. His work had later importance for the development of radio and television. Sagan stresses the point that if Queen Victoria had attempted Maxwell's achievements by government edict, she would in all likelihood have gotten nowhere.

What lesson do we draw from this? Sagan's "bizarre conclusion," as Betz carls it, is that the public should take up the cause of scientists and lobby government on their behalf because we are all guilty of "a failure of nerve, of imagination, and of that vision thing that we still don't have a handle on." Betz then concludes:

After leading his readers to one obvious conclusion - that great things can happen in human history apart from collectivist government - Dr. Sagan betrays those same readers by trying to teach them the opposite. Government is god; the experts are the deities; that is where our fealty belongs.

But the real outrage, to Betz, is that Sagan gets such monstrous press - 26 million copies - for such confusion.


ASAers Active and Awarded

Paul Rible, who happens to be President of ASA's Affiliation of Christian Geologists, was awarded the Schlumberger Medal from the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland on January 6, 1996 in Bristol U.K. The medal was presented for "excellence in mineralogical science and its applications."

C. Weldon Jones was acknowledged in Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities "The News" as being named the Minnesota Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Weldon is chairman of the Dept. of Biological Sciences at Bethel C., where the 1994 ASA Annual Meeting was held, in St. Paul, MN. Walt Hearn

Past ASA president Stan Lindquist founded the Link Care Center in Fresno, CA 30 years ago to offer prefield orientation for missionary candidates and restorative care for burned out missionaries and ministers. The foundation of the therapeutic program is in the belief that the Holy Spirit uses psychological tools to accomplish his purpose in the lives of those needing help. The Center's psychologists, psychiatrists, pastoral and marriage counselors assist those in difficulty to restructure their lives and return to work. Although many come with the feeling that their days of service are over, 65% have returned to their calling and others have redefined their service.

During this 30th anniversary, special events are being held on the 8-acre, 107 apartment site, with its 14 counselors and cross-cultural emphasis. For further information, contact: Link Care, 1734 West Shaw, Fresno, CA 93704; tel. (209) 439-5920.

Positions Looking for People

Biology: tenure-track faculty position, Fall '96, with organismic biology emphasis to teach zoology, anatomy, microbiology, marine biology, genetics; commitment to evangelical orientation of college. Contact: Dr. E.D. Lorance, Chair, Div. of Natural Scl ences and Mathematics, Southern California Colege, 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626;

Mathematics: tenure-track faculty position, Fall '96, to teach calculus, numerical analysis, diff. eqns, probability & statistics, abstract al gebra, number theory, elementary analysis, higher geometry, linear algebra; commitment to evangelical orientation of college. See previous (Biology) entry for contact.

Who said

Is man perfectible, or is original sin a part of our nature? If we believe in original sin, we must expect that war and violence are inseparable from the human condition. In this context, the evidence of history gives strong support to the doctrine of original sin. Warfare has been a dominant concern of every civilization since history began.

Does this sound like the words of a theologian, politician or, perhaps, a social scientist? This quote is out of the Harper & Row 1984 book, Weapons and Hope by a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, Freeman Dyson.


And who said

My [environmental science] students ... always conclude [in studying the most serious environmental problem they have identified] that there is nothing wrong with the way the world works, but with how people act.

Excerpted from the guest editorial of the IVCF Faculty Newsletter (Spring 1996), given by Calvin DeWitt, Cal argued for a "third way" of stewardship as the alternative to deifying nature or applying "conventional reductionist" views. He also remarked that

Among the first secular philosophers to see this is ethicist Max Oelschlaeger (Caring for Creation, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994) who describes his recent "conversion" from blaming Judeo-Christian belief for the ecological crisis to seeing the church as "more important in the effort to conserve life on earth than all the politicians and experts put together."

DeWitt, professor at the U. of Wisconsin, Madison, reflects: "Am I a professor? What am I "professing?" What does it mean to be a professor in this time of societal and environmental degradation?

With the Lord

Anthropologist and 1976 ASA President Claude E. Stipe died April 13, 1996. Claude was an active ASA member since 1956. The Editor remembers one unusually insightful talk on culture that Claude gave at an ASA Annual Meeting in the 1970s. A graduate of Wheaton C., UCLA and the U. of Minnesota (Ph.D.), Claude lived in Escondido, CA.

Allan E. Swartz of Muskegon, Michigan, died of a pulmonary embolism at age 71 on March 29. Allan was an engineering consultant interested in gasoline and Diesel engines. Don DeGraaf knew Allan well and noted that he was president of the Christian Businessmen's Committee, religious socialservice organizations and held offices in Forest Park Covenant Church, where he was a lifelong member. Don remarked that "Al devoted his life to serving God and others on a daily basis." Allan was a regular attender of our annual meetings. Last year he gave a paper on his work as a volunteer engineering consultant overseas.  Don DeGraaf


Poetry for Scientists 11

Paul Mauer wrote the poems of last issue on origins of life. If they seemed a bit fluffy, it's because Paul is a physicist, not a biologist. In this issue, he moves onto his own turf and flexes his literary muscles with the ponderable philosophic notion of


CAUSALITY

Physical laws
 Don't cause 
Anything to happen. 
They just describe 
Consistent behavior 
In terms mathematical 
Or grammatical, 
That some of us 
think we understand.

God causes, 
By design 
or intervention, 
Everything to happen 
That does happen.
In every event 
He is content
To show us 
A small part 
Of His intention.

Paul Mauer


Women's Conference on Consumption and Population

In early February, World Vision held an International Women's Conference in the Washington, DC area and invited two thousand Christian women leaders, including those from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Conference speakers addressed technical aspects of consumption and population, and the theological foundation for global stewardship. One speaker was Vera Shaw of the Harvard Veritas Forum. She and her husband served for over 30 years as IVCF Harvard-Radcliffe student faculty advisors.

Beatrice Chen attended Vera's talk and was honored to be in Vera's Bible study for two years while she studied biochemistry at the Boston U. Medical Center. There she also took classes from former ASA Executive Director and biochemist Robert Herrmann. Beatrice is very thankful for the examples of God's character shown her in Vera and Bob.

What Shaw said at the conference keyed off the "Appeal to World Religious Leaders to join scientists in a commitment to preserve the environment of the Earth," spearheaded by Carl Sagan and presented to 270 titular heads of major world religions at a Global Forum in Moscow in January 1990. The appeal, quoted in part in her talk, considers the magnitude of the "environmental crisis" to be so severe that an appeal to religion to bring about "radical changes" in public policy and individual behavior is required. Sagan's own religious outlook on the universe is evident in the appeal, expressing "profound experiences of awe and reverence for the universe. We understand what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect." He said that "efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred.

Shaw's talk was infused with more of a biblical vision instead. She noted that attitudes and relationships to God and creation are central to the meaning of stewardship. The earth is the Lord's, and he is not an absentee landlord. Human accountability in keeping the "garden" was violated by the attitude that "we will use creation to satisfy our own desires as we choose!" The subsequent curse on the environment followed from using the garden as Adam and Eve willed rather than "keeping" it.

Shaw also cited biblical examples of stewardship. Joseph, in Egypt, dealt with problems of consumption. The minority Christian group in Corinth was reminded by the Apostle Paul that they were "stewards of the gospel." Single women were also stewards, such as Mary, who was the first to meet the resurrected Christ in the garden where he was buried - the first person given stewardship of sharing the news of the risen Christ.

In commenting on consumption, Shaw noted Jesus' words, that the fullness of one's life is not found in the extent of one's possessions and that living a simple, uncluttered life frees one to live a more abundant life. As for population, she raises the question of what kind of environment children are being born into; standard of living is significant, but there is also a great need to raise the "standard of loving" and the strengthening of family life. In one country, 90% of its children were born out of wedlock, with figures as high as 88% and 85% in others.

Beatrice and her husband, Ruey, are also involved in Medical Services International, a medical and health ministry to China and East Asia. Beatrice Chen