of the
American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation
VOLUME 33 NUMBER 3
JUNE/JULY 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. Q 1991 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.
[Editor: Dr. Walter R. Hearn / Production: Rebecca Petersen]
RESOURCES NEEDED
An updated edition of ASA's
Resource Book
(updated name
of The Source Book)
is "on the
computer," ready to go to the
printer. After months of work
(much of it by Robin MacLeod,
part-timer in the Ipswich office),
adding new entries and revising old
ones, this edition is 30% larger
than the previous one. Major feature is a detailed list of science/faith books, with annotations on
almost all of them. The list includes valuable out-of-print books
and a listing by categories. Also included: updated lists of speakers in
our Speakers Bureau and of audio
and video tapes from ASA meetings.
The new
Resource Book will
be
distributed free to members, with
extra copies offered for sale. The
size will make "Perfect binding"
necessary (the way
Perspectives is
now bound). Imperfect bind: for
printing, binding, and mailing, the
cost will be $3,500 over ASA's
budget. Contributions can be sent to
ASA, P.O. Box 668, Ipswich, MA
01938. Or can some resourceful
member come up with some "creative financing" for this useful
resource?
LECTURES LAUNCHED
A new lecture series sponsored
by the Templeton Foundation
and the American Scientific Affiliation began at the Institute of
Religion in the Texas Medical Center in Houston on April 4.
Philosopher and medical ethicist E.
David Cook addressed the question:
"How Do Religious Values Influence Our Concept of Health?"
Cook is director
of
the Whitefield
Institute in Oxford, England, and
chaplain of Green College of Oxford University.
The first Templeton lecturer explored the various environments
(medical, family, social, spiritual) impacting on human health. ASA executive director
Robert L.
Herrmann introduced both the
speaker and the new series of lectures devoted to issues at the interface between science and
Christianity. He also thanked the Institute of Medicine, host institution
for the first lecture, and its director, J. Robert Nelson, widely recognized theologian and
bioethicist.
The first lecture was held at
noon, with a reasonably good
crowd in attendance, considering.
An extremely heavy rain had
flooded underpasses and some
streets near the Texas Medical Center and continued to come down in
torrents during the lecture.
Weather was no problem at the
second
Templeton Lecture, held at
the Price Student Center at the U
of California, San Diego, on May
9, this time at 4 p.m. The speaker
was ASA member Owen Gingerich, professor of astronomy and the history of science at Harvard University. In "Reflections on Natural
Theology: Kepler's Anguish and
Hawking's Query," he compared
Johann Kepler's "Can I find God
whom I can almost grasp with my
hands in looking at the universe,
also in myself?" with Stephen
Hawking's "What place, then, for a
Creator?" Though dubious about
proving the existence of God from
natural theology, Owen argued that
one can be a creative scientist and
still hold a staunch belief in supernatural design.
The second lecture was hosted
by the UCSD Dept of History, the
Office of Religious Affairs, the
Science Studies Program, and the
Religious Studies Program. Bob
Herrmann commented not only on
the lecture series but also on the
ASA television series
(Space, Time,
and
God), in preparation with
Owen Gingerich as narrator.
The remaining eight lectures in
the 1991 series will be held in the
fall at various universities in the
U.S. and Europe. Advance publicity
for the Templeton Lectures is being
handled by Joyce Farrell & Associates, 669 Grove
SL,
Upper
Montclair, NJ 07043; tel. 201-7466248.
BE IT RESOLVED?
Late word from a reliable source
in Ipswich: Mail ballots indicate
that ASA Fellows are favoring a
proposed resolution on "teaching
evolution as science" by quite a
margin. (See "ITEMS, #2," p. 4,
Oct/Nov 1990; "HESS PRES," pp.
1-2, Feb/Mar 1991.) At least a few
"no" votes seem based on reservations about whether ASA ought to
be considering resolutions at all.
This particular one tries to steer teachers away from die confusion
and hostility generated by "inappropriate entanglement of the scientific concept of evolution with
diverse political, philosophical or
religious perspectives." It calls for
consistent classroom use of carefully
defined terms and for "candid discussion of unsolved problems and open
questions."
Look for final word on the
Council's action, and final wording
of the resolution, in the Newsletter.
Better yet, come to the ASA ANNUAL MEETING at WHEATON
COLLEGE in ILLINOIS, JULY 25-29. Hang out with ASA Fellows
(male & female, pro & con). Hobnob with the nabobs about John
Wiester's vision for the resolution,
past president Howard Van Till's revision, the Council's supervisionand ASA's venture into television.
Make your own resolution: resolve
to be at Wheaton.
WHEATON SWEETENED
From program chair Jack Haas
we've learned that two of the
"famous five" founding fathers of
the American Scientific Affiliation
will be at ASA's 50th anniversary
celebration, our 1991 ANNUAL
MEETING at WHEATON COLLEGE in ILLINOIS, JULY 25-29. Audio engineer F. Afton Everest
(ASA's first president) will be there
from California and chemist Irving A. Cowperthwaite
from Massachusetts. Other faithful Fellows
from the flaming '40s will include
biologist Russell L. Mixter and
physicist H. Harold Hartzler.
An ASA Annual Meeting is always a "feast of fellowship" with
Christian colleagues in science. This
year you may also rub shoulders
with Christians in other disciplmies
from universities around the world.
From Jim Berney, General
Secretary of IVCF-Canada, we've
learned that the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES)
will be holding its World Assembly
at Wheaton College from July 23
to Aug 5. IFES was founded in
1948 but some of its member
groups are older, including IVCFCanada (1929) and IVCF-USA
(1941). The U.S. organization
(which began as a "missionary outreach" from Canada) will celebrate
its 50th anniversary on the same
weekend we celebrate ours at the
ASA ANNUAL MEETING.
Many ASA/CSCA members serve
as IVCF faculty advisors and many
who have gone overseas have
worked with IFES groups on campuses in other countries. Charles
Hummel, Terry Morrison, and Jim
Sire have held national staff positions in the U.S. Some ASA local
sections offer memberships to IVCF
staff working with internationals and
graduate students. Randy Bare, Coordinator of Graduate Student M1111i -
stries for IVCF-USA, is excited
about ASA's commitinent to serve
grad students in the sciences and
looks forward to possible joint efforts.
IFES General Secretary Chua
wee Han can be reached at IFES,
55 Palmerston Rd, Wealdstone, Harrow, U.K., Nfiddlesex, England HA3
7RR * Or you could chat with him
in the cafeteria at Wheaton this summer, along with Alton & Irving &
Russ & Harold. And with grad students and scientists of the coming
generation.
CSCA COLLEAGUES
That first "A" in ASA meant
"North America" until the
Canadian government made membership in "foreign" organizations more
difficult for its citizens. That's
when the Canadian Scientific &
Christian Affiliation (CSCA) was organized, with no intention of "splitting off" from ASA or ASA
publications. Canadians have played
such an important role that ASA's
50th ANNIVERSARY celebration is
their celebration, too.
The largest concentration of
CSCA members is in Ontario, close
enough to WHEATON, ILLINOIS,
we hope, to bring many Canadians
to the ASA ANNUAL MEETING,
JULY 25-29. For 1990-91, Charles Chaffey, Paul LaRocque, Esther
Martin, and Don McNally were
elected to the CSCA Council for
three-year terms, past president Dan
Osmond for a one-year term.
Norman MacLeod is CSCA president for 1991 and Steve Scadding continues as secretary. A vice-president was to be elected later this
spring. Steve says the CSCA Council has now adopted a "succession"
policy like that of the ASA Council, with the v.p. becoming pres.
and then past-pres. "The problem
was that no one wanted the job of
president because it tended to become a life sentence (or at least a
very long one). People are more
willing to serve when they know
there is an end to the commitment
KENYA/ASA: 3.
After George Kinoti and Wilfred
Nflay returned to Africa from
the 1990 ASA Annual Meeting at
Messiah College, they drew up a
proposal to get an African research
& development institute underway.
The first few years would be
devoted to critical but relatively lowbudget matters, setting up an office
and an organizational structure,
searching for a suitable site in
Nairobi, and beginning to feel out
funding sources. Some research
projects might be initiated within a
few years using borrowed facilities.
The hope was to have a fully operational institute by the end of the
fifth year.
An Institute for African Research
& Development (IARD) is now becoming a reality. Seed money of
$1,000 from the ASA Council
enabled three East African scholars
to work up incorporation papers
with the aid of a Christian lawyer
in Nairobi. Kenyan George Kinoti
and Tanzanian Wilfred Mlay were
joined by Stephen Talitwala, a Ugandan with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering now serving as principal
of Daystar University College in
Nairobi. Kenyan Jackson Githaiga,
an M.Sc. in plant breeding now
serving as director of training at
the Kenya Institute of Management
in Nairobi, has since come on
board. Professor Kinoti has met
with top civil servants responsible
for foreign affairs and R & D in
Kenya, with the General Secretary
of the National Council of the Churches of Kenya, and with the
Secretary of the National Council
for Science & Technology-and
found all to be supportive.
The four non-Africans on the initial board are ASA members:
biochemist Bob Herrmann, physiologist Ken Dormer, and
biochemist/agronomist Martin Price from the U.S., plus zoologist Oliver
Barclay from England. In April the
three Americans gave a poster session on IARD at the Atlanta meeting of the Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology
(category 104.1: biomedical research
in developing countries). The
abstract in the FASEB Program
stated that IARD's purpose is "to
promote research and teaching exchanges in East African locations
seeking to improve food crops (e.g.,
plant genetics), disease treatment (e.g., parasitology), biomedical research and public health." The
board's responsibility is "to oversee
selection of funded research
projects, review progress, promote
U.K. and U.S. visits for research in
various laboratories throughout East
Africa and seek support in the
form of funds, equipment, books
and journals and information exchange."
IARD will give selected scientists
an opportunity to spend relatively
short periods in laboratories seeking
solutions to life-and-deadi problems.
It will also expand resources
needed by African researchers working long-term on such problems. Although the FASEB abstract did not
go into the motivation behind
IARD, our African scientific colleagues have made it clear that
they want an institution "managed
by Christians who are committed to
the authority of the Bible in all
matters of faith and conduct." They
want IARD to provide opportunities
for fellowship, spiritual renewal, and
growth as well as opportunities for
high-quality technical work. They
also want it to serve all people of
the region regardless of their
beliefs.
The first meeting of the IARD
Board of Directors, scheduled for
last winter, was postponed. In June,
however, Bob Herrmann, Ken
Dormer, and Martin Price headed
for Nairobi for that important meeting and a planning conference with
about 15 East African scientists.
Pray that God will bless this
enterprise and all who participate
in it.
Someday that may include you.
"ALL MIMSY"
We wondered what kind of mail
the "debate" between Forrest
Mims and Arthur Caplan in the
Feb 18 issue of The Scientist
would generate ("LAST WORDS,"
ASA Newsletter, Apr/May 1991, p.
5). For two months the only letter
published was John Wiester's
response to the original news story
on Mims's firing by Scientific American.
John's letter, saying that
confusion may have resulted from differences in what
Mims and the
magazine meant by "evolution,"
didn't make it the first time, but
since it was already on hand, the
editor published it in the issue following the "debate" (Mar 4).
Evidently letters poured in. The
Apr 29 issue of The Scientist
printed eight of them with a brief
summary of the controversy. Three
came from ASA members: Jerry
Bergman of Northwest Technical
College in Archbold, Ohio; Mark
Hartwig of Access Research Network in Colorado Springs; and Walt Hearn of Berkeley. Walt
signed his letter as editor of the
ASA Newsletter. ASA was also mentioned by U.C. Berkeley emeritus
prof Thomas Jukes, replying testily
to Wiester's letter
The American "Scientific"
Affiliation has done nothing to
help science, but has muddied the
waters by publishing a booklet that
criticizes the National Academy of
Sciences' analysis of creationism,
and questions whether humans and
apes had a common evolutionary
origin.
Hearn and Jukes have exchanged
views on ASA in print before. This
time Walt merely analyzed the
science reporting in the "debate"
issue of The Scientist. A major
story was all about "creation" of
new molecular structures by a "hot"
research group, but in all the
reports of current papers in biology,
ecology, geosciences, physics, and
chemistry, "evolution" was mentioned only in one geoscience
paper, where it referred to changes
on the surface of the planet Venus.
Walt wrote, "I doubt that Mims
rejects evolution if it means
,change over time'-but what else
could it mean on the surface of
Venus?"
After our account of Forrest
Mims's troubles (ASA Newsletter,
Feb/Mar 1991, pp. 6-7), probably a
dozen ASAers wrote letters on his
behalf. When Forrest called to express his thanks, he described an
eventful trip to Washington, D.C.,
at the end of March, where he appeared on the 700 Club and spoke
at a morning Newsmaker session of
the National Press Club; in between, the Voice of America taped
his "debate" with Arthur Caplan for
a Palm Sunday broadcast to a potential 140,000,000 listeners worldwide.
BULLETIN BOARD
1. Grad student Daniel Diaz expects to attend the Toledo, Ohio,
meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, 21-26 July
1991. Dan invites other ASA/CSCA
members to get together for some
Christian fellowship at the meeting.
Contact him at Dept of Biochemistry, Case Western Reserve
University, Cleveland, OH 44106;
tel. 216-791-8905; or e-mail:
ddiaz@cwru.bitnet or ddiaz@cwru.cwru.edu.
2. The biennial journal CreationlEvolution, begun in 1980 "to
provide in-depth analyses of the arguments of the 'scientific'
creationists," was originally
published by the American
Humanist Association. It has been
sold to the National Center for
Science Education, which has cut
back its newsletter, NCSE Reports,
from a bimonthly to a quarterly publication. Anthropologist John Cole,
past president of NCSE, will edit
both publications. As we understand
it, subscription will now be on a
membership basis, NCSE members
($18/yr) receiving 2 issues of CIE
journal and 4 of NCSE Reports
(NCSE, P.O. Box 9477, Berkeley,
CA 94709).
3. The National Institutes of
Health has a new program called
AREA (Academic Research Enhancement Award) to fund research at
colleges and other institutions that
have not been major recipients of
NIH support. Several research
projects may be combined in a
single institutional grant application,
for up to $75,000 in direct costs.
Contact AREA, Office of Grants Inquiries, Division of Research Grants,
National Institutes of Health,
Westwood Bldg-Room 449, Bethesda, MD 20892; tel. 301-496-7441.
Deadline for applications: 21 June
1991.
4. The 1991 Conference of Christians in Science will be held on
Sept 28 at Regent's College, London, England, on "The New Age
Movement." Annual conferences of
CIS, ASA's British counterpart, are
one-day Saturday meetings to discuss papers prepared by local
groups and circulated by mail
before the conference.
5. The MacLaurin Institute, evangelical ministry to the U. of Minnesota intellectual community, has
gotten by with a Commodore 64
for its computer needs. Now it has
an opportunity to acquire a used
IBM-AT clone with 40-NM hard
disk, printer, and necessary software
for $1,350. Contributions designated
for the Computer Fund can be sent
to William Monsma, Executive
Director, The MacLaurin Institute,
331 - 17th Ave SE, Minneapolis,
MN 55414.
SQUIBS
* Many participants in the 1990
ASA Annual Meeting who heard
U.C. Berkeley law professor Phillip
Johnson's banquet address have
been anticipating publication of his
Darwin on Trial,
due in June 1991
from Regnery Gateway. We hear
that the April 29 issue of the
biweekly
National Review
jumped
the gun with a review by political
writer Doug Bandow "Fossils and
Fallacies").
* At 7:28 a.m. on 11 July
1991, a total eclipse of the sun
will be visible on the "Big Island"
of Hawaii. American Hawaii Cruises
offered a Solar Eclipse Cruise departing from Honolulu on 6 July on
board the USS Constitution, promising to reroute the ship along the
path of the eclipse to dodge any
cloud-cover that might obscure viewing. (An ASA committee hoping to
arrange this special eclipse to
celebrate ASA's 50th ANNIVERSARY evidently got its years mixed
up. The island of Hawaii is
planned as the site of
next
year's
Annual Meeting. They came close:
the next total eclipse of the sun
visible from the U.S. comes in the
year
2017.-Ed.)
*
Phillip Eichman of Muncie, Indiana, was pleased to learn of ASA
members who are adapting medical
technology and equipment for use
in Third World countries
(WHEREVER GOD WANTS US.
14., Oct/Nov 1990). After contacting Stanley Burden at the Chemistry Dept of nearby Taylor University
about the portable lab kits being
developed there, he passed the information on to two Churches of
Christ missionaries, one in Africa,
the other in Guatemala. Both were
glad to receive the information and
plan to look into the matter further.
ECHO-TAPIA
Many of us who have heard
ASA member Martin Price
describe the work of ECHO, Inc.
(Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) have been inspired by
ECHO's example of putting technical know-how directly into the
hands of helpers of needy people.
Martin & Bonnie's "experiment station for subsistence farmers" has
grown to the extent that
ECHO Development Notes
go regularly to
2,300 people helping small farmers
in over 100 countries. Further,
seeds of under-utilized food plants
supplied by ECHO have "multiplied
abundantly" in tropical climates.
Sample report (from Togo): "From
the two packets of velvet bean
seed you sent, I harvested 4 1/2
kilos (10 lbs) of seed."
Martin Price's practical work on
behalf of Third-World farmers does
not eschew modem technology but
seeks to apply it with due respect
for local situations. The Winter
1990-91 issue of
ECHO News
(now
in its 13th volume) described a
new project that at first seems out
of synch with rooftop gardening,
composting, and other low-tech procedures. A six-cassette video series
of 7 1/2 hours of teaching viewers
how to grow tropical fruits has
been released, with a leading
authority on that topic, Dr. Carl
Campbell, as instructor. The Video
Teaching Tapes will be useful for
teaching student interns and missionaries who come to ECHO
before going overseas. The tapes
can also be used in missionary training schools in "sending" countries.
What is surprising is how useful
they will be in Third-World
countries themselves.
Many overseas missionaries have
access to a video player, some to
help with home schooling their
children. Others have local friends
with a video player, or could use
the tapes on visits to larger cities.
Third-World colleges and seminaries
often have the equipment. A correspondent from India wrote Martin
that even in unlikely villages, some
enterprising family often buys or
rents a video player that takes the
place of a commercial cinema hall.
He suggested that "home videos"
on how to raise small kitchen gardens would be welcomed by Indian
women unaccustomed to going out
in public.
A $2,500 grant to ECHO from
ServiceMaster Corporation provided
the taping equipment. Martin chose
a camera light enough to be taken
to remote sites in the Third World.
He is now urging sister organizations to prepare similar tapes on
their special areas (health care,
animal care, etc.), to take such training directly to missionaries helping
poor people improve their standard
of living. ECHO hopes to make its
tapes available at a standard 50%
discount to workers in the field,
and even at no charge to some unable to pay but who need the information.
For all it accomplishes, ECHO
operates on a shoestring budget of
$259,000 a year (supporting 11
staff members), but has had to cut
back on the number of student interns it can take on. A gift of
$15 will provide a teaching tape at
the subsidized half price, or $36
will send a tape ($29.95 plus airmail postage) to a worker overseas
who simply cannot obtain U.S. dollars. (If you garden in a warm climate, you might want to buy a
set of the six tapes for $150 yourself, or ECHO will tell you which
tape has information on a particular
fruit you want to grow so you can
order just that one.-Ed.)
ECHO has many ongoing needs,
of course, for your prayers and contributions. A request for ECHO
Development Notes (#30, a special
issue on rooftop gardening, or #32,
a more typical issue) along with
your contribution to ECHO (17430
Durrance Rd, North Ft. Myers, FL
33917) will show you the kind of
practical help offered. A good sense
of its impact can be gained from
reading a list of requests received each month and some actual responses from recipients. These are
published in ECHO Update, a new
monthly publication available on request from ECHO.
Another ECHO publication,
revised in Dec 1990, outlines 21
problems with Third World "payoff
potential" as a challenge to Christian faculty and students. For example, ECHO would produce seed
for medicinal plants if it had solid
data on the effectiveness, preparation, and dosage of medicines made
from the plants. Such data are
scarce, despite abundant accounts of
curative powers in popular literature.
With a judicious choice of plant or
ailment, a thorough review of the
technical literature would be useful
in itself. But it could easily lead to
laboratory studies as well. Other
problems awaiting somebody's
interest and technical skill can be
found in "Hunger Related Research
opportunities" available on request
from ECHO.
WHEREVER GOD
WANTS US: 18.
Terry Morrison edits a semiannual newsletter to encourage
Christian faculty in various aspects
of their calling (free on request
from Dr. Terry Morrison, IVCF
Faculty Ministry, P.O. Box 7895,
Madison, WI 53707-7895). The
Spring 1991 issue reviewed Page
Smith's book, Killing the Spirit;
described examples of academic outreach underway on several U.S. campuses; reported on recent
conferences for Christian professors
(including the "faculty track" at Urbana '90); and listed two current opportunities for service overseas.
One request is from the International Institute for Christian Studies,
for professors to teach one to four
semesters in the Soviet Union beginning Sept 1991. IICS has signed
contracts to provide professors for
the prestigious Moscow State University and Novosibirsk State University. Contact: Dr. Daryl McCarthy,
Executive Director, IICS, 10955
Lowell, Suite 1010, Overland Park,
KS 66210; tel. 913-339-6530.
The other is for faculty to fill
positions in various fields in universities throughout Indonesia. Contact: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 404
South Church
SL,
Robesonia, PA
19551; tel. 800-422-5330.
Meanwhile a specific request for
Indonesia has come from Clarence
E. Prince, Jr., former missionary to
Korea, now with Educational Mission to Indonesia of the Presbyterian Church (USA). A new
member of ASA, Clarence wanted
to spread the word about a position
in computer science-engineering at
Satya Wacana Christian University,
Java, open in fall 1992 or perhaps
earlier (depending on visa). This is
a full-time appointment as a missionary to Indonesia under the Presbyterian Church, for a person with
an M.S., Ph.D., or computer flavored E.E. degree, good academic
credentials, and strong Christian conviction; a three-year appointment
with possible extension in an E.E.
dept with about 75% Christian students. Contact: Dr. C. E. Prince,
607-A Bellevue Place, Austin, TX
78705; tel. 512-474-2745.
In Indonesia, as in a number of
other countries, doors that are wide
open today for technically trained
persons may not always be open.
OBITUARIES
Harold H. Key of Signal Hill,
California. No details of his death.
Bom. in 1914 in Jacksboro, Texas,
Harold earned a Ph.D. in andiropology at the U. of Texas. According
to ASA records, he spent 20 years
with Wycliffe Bible Translators and
at last report was a consultant for Evangel Bible Translators. He was
professor emeritus of anthropology
& linguistics at Cal. State University at Long Beach, and a Fellow
of ASA.
Ralph G. Archibald of
Greensboro, North Carolina. His son
wrote that Ralph died on 25 Apr
1990. Bom in 1901 in New
Brunswick, Canada, he earned a
B.A. at the U. of Manitoba, an
M.A. at the U. of Toronto, and a
Ph.D. at the U. of Chicago, all in
mathematics. He was professor
emeritus of Queens College of
C.U.N.Y. in Flushing, New York,
where he was also an elder of the
First Presbyterian Church. Ralph's
1970 textbook, An Introduction to
the Theory of Numbers, was
published by Charles E. Merrill in
1970. He had been an ASA member for some 30 years.
Martin Karsten of Grand
Rapids, Michigan. No details.
Regrettably, biographical information on
many long-time members is not current because old records were
destroyed by fire (while ASA was
headquartered in Elgin, Illinois). We
seem to recall writing a Newsletter
story about Martin, who once
taught biology or "organic science"
at Calvin College, and was a 30 year member of ASA .(Memorial Resolutions for ASA
members who have died in the past
year will be read during worship at
the 1991 Annual Meeting at
Wheaton College. Friends and professional associates are invited to submit biographical material for such
resolutions to Karen Brunstrorn at
the Ipswich office.)
THE EDITOR'S LAST
WORDS: 15.
Rule I of the editorial profession: Don't make mistakes.
Rule 2: If you violate rule 1,
admit it, apologize, and move on.
Dead ahead lies another deadline.
One occupational hazard of editing this Newsletter is infectious enthusiasm. Stories about ASA
members and the good things they
do keep flowing in. One tends to
get inspired, wanting to do things
like that. But 2,200 "points of light draw a lot of current. A
single battery is quickly drained,
especially that of your Weary Old
Editor (WOE is me-Ed.).
At the 1990 ASA Annual Meeting, people interested in writing got
together to trade ideas. Sparks flew.
Lights flashed. I caught a vision,
as it were, of what could be done
for ASA, and through ASA for
others, with so much talent and experience. Why not put together a
list of ASA writers, compile a list
of writing projects, start a network?
Great idea. Get on it, WOE.
Now the 1991 Annual Meeting
looms. Where are all those good intentions? In a folder marked "ASA
Writers Group," with many subsequent letters from ASA writers,
some beginning, "Whatever happened to . . ." Well, let's try
again at Wheaton. Maybe something
good will happen. Maybe somebody
reliable will take charge.
LOCAL SECTIONS
NORTH CENTRAL
A meeting on "Physics and Eastern Religions" was held on Mar 22
at Augsburg College in Minneapolis,
beginning with supper in the College Center. After a showing of the
IVCF video, "The Quantum Connection," two of the people featured in
the video led a discussion. Bill
Monsma of the McLaurin Institute
commented on quantum physics and
eastern religions. Curt Wagner of
Southwest State University spoke of
his movement from Buddhism to
Christian faith while pursuing a
career in physics.
PERSONALS
David A. Akers is a physicist
working for Lockheed Aeronautical
Systems Company in Marietta,
Georgia, and attending a nearby
Assemblies of God church. Last fall
he published experimental evidence
supporting the discovery of magnetic charge, in the International J.
of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 29, No.
10 (1990).
Celeste Bailey of U.C. San
Diego has supplied some details
missing from the PERSONALS
entry in the Feb/Mar issue. At the
Mount Sinai Graduate School in
New York City she worked under
Constantin Bona, known in the
field of idiotypic networks of antibodies, while continuing her Ph.D.
dissertation at Columbia in
Frederick Alt's lab, famous for
work in B- cell development and
differentiation. Celeste's father (now
deceased) was Lebanese; her mother
is of Russian/Romanian background.
Celeste grew up in Egypt and
Lebanon and came to the U.S. in
Jan 1976, after finding Jesus Christ
as personal Savior in the 9th grade
of an evangelical school in Beirut.
The Navigators ministry helped her
grow spiritually. The "N" in "N.
Celeste" stands for Naila (Arabic
for "winner'). Her sister Lucy Eskeland, now a post-doc in a pharmacology/endocrinology lab in San
Diego, is an ASA member, and her
husband Timothy, an endocrinologist
practicing in Escondido, is a CI~MS
member. Celeste is a pre-partum
post-doc, expecting a baby in late
June.
Richard H. Bube, professor of
materials science at Stanford, has a
chapter in a new collection of essays edited by Sir Nevill Mott,
former Cavendish Professor of
Physics at Cambridge and winner
of the 1977 Nobel Prize in physics
for his quantum mechanical work related to semiconductors. That research must have put Sir Nevill in
touch with Dick's work on photovoltaics. Five Americans were among
the 15 scientists invited to contribute personal responses to the
question Can Scientists Believe?
(London: James & James, 1991).
Norman L. Geisler is professor
of philosophy at Liberty University
in Lynchburg, Virginia, and author
of many books, including Miracles
and Modern Thought and Worlds
Apart. He sent us a flyer on a
new book by J. P. Moreland & N.
L. Geisler, The Life and Death
Debate: Moral Issues of Our Time
(Contributions in Philosophy, No.
43, Greenwood Press, P.O. Box
5007, Westport, CT 06881; 1990).
Coauthor Moreland, professor of
philosophy at Biola University, La
Mirada, California, is known to
ASAers for his Christianity and the
Nature of Science (Baker, 1989).
The Moreland & Geisler book is
available in both hardcover ($42.95)
and paperback ($13.95). Norm's
latest book, In Defiense of the Resurrection,
is available at $9.95 from
Quest Publications, Box 4619,
Lynchburg, VA 24502.
Conrad Hyers, professor of
religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, is on
the board of consulting editors of
The Joyful Noiseletter published in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. We learned
of that newsletter from a Christianity Today story (14 Jan 1990)
by Dan Runyon on the Fellowship
of Merry Christians. The 10,000member Fellowship, founded by Cal Samra in 1986, was mentioned in
this Newsletter last year during an
exchange of limericks with Paul MeKowen of Fremont, California.
More ASAers know Conrad Hyers's
The Meaning of Creation (John
Knox, 1984) than his 1981 Pilgrim
Press book, The Comic Vision &
the Christian Faith: A Celebration
of Life & Laughter. (ASAers are a
serious bunch.-Ed.)
Norman D. Lea chairs the
board of St. Stephen's University of
St. Stephen, New Brunswick, which
he describes as "a small Christian
liberal arts college." As a consulting engineer with a practice requiring less of his time these days,
Norm has become interested in
promoting grassroots Christian community. Saddened by the demise of
Voices in the Wilderness, an innovative bimonthly formerly published in
Salem, Mass., Norm recently sent
to its subscribers a questionnaire asking for suggestions for maintaining
and improving "networks" of Christians concerned about quality community life. Norm is evidently
ready to do something, if he can
be convinced "that it is 'of the
Lord' and that it can be done."
(Even if you didn't read Voices but
are interested in Christian community, contact Norman Lea, c/o
St. Stephen's University, P.O. Box
987, Calais, ME 04619.-Ed.)
Wil Lepkowski, senior editor on
the Washington staff of Chemical
& Engineering News, continues to
write about scientific matters with
public policy overtones. In the 18
Feb 1991 issue he covered the "unceremonious dumping" of Charles
Benbrook from his post as executive director of the Agriculture
Board of the National Research
Council. In the same issue Wil
reviewed a book by Marcel LaFollette on the public understanding
of science, Making Science Our
Own, which, Wil said, "makes us
think about what scientists and journalists are doing and what they're
doing it for."
William L. Mason returned to
school at age 37 and five years
later received a B.S. in physics
with emphasis on astronomy from
the U. of Wyoming. After three
years working on the Infrared
Michelson Array, he has become a
research associate at the Institute
for Astronomy's Mauna Kea Observatories in Hilo, Hawaii. He continues his interest in presuppositional
apologetics and is publishing a
Resource Guide to Creationist Literature in the Field of Astronomy
($3.95, available from In the Beginning Press, 234 Anela St, Hilo, III
96720).
Clarence Menninga retired from
the geology faculty of Calvin College at the end of last year. At a
departmental reception, he received
a tribute from physics prof Roger
Griffioen, dean of the College, and
a framed tribute from the Michigan
legislature arranged by former Calvin physics prof and now state
senator, Vernon Ehlers. An ongoing tribute took the form of the
Clarence Menninga Fund to enable
students to attend summer geology
field camp. The department welcomes further contributions to Calvin College designated for the
Clarence Menninga Fund (c/o Advancement Div., Calvin College,
3201 Burton, SE, Grand Rapids, MI
49546.)
Russell Mixter, emeritus professor of biology from Wheaton College, and editor of ASA's "Darwmi
Centennial" volume, Evolution and
Christian Thought Today (1959),
says his retirement from scholarly activity is so complete that now he's
even given up reviewing books. He
lives in a retirement complex in
Carol Stream, Illinois (five apartment buildings, medical facility, plus
a centrum for dining & entertainment), where he manages to help
folks with various needs. At a
recent ASA local section meeting
where Jack McIntyre of Texas A.
& M. spoke, Russ chatted with Sally Flora and profs and students
from Wheaton science classes. Russ
sent this message to all of you:
"Hope to see you at WHEATON
this summer at ASA's 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION."
Robert C. Newman, astrophysicist and New Testament prof
at Biblical Theological Seminary in
Pennsylvania, spoke on "Computer
Simulations of Evolution" on Jan
22 in the Interdisciplinary Biblical
Research Institute colloquium series
at the seminary. He demonstrated
five computer programs relevant to
the origin of life and the neo-Darwinian mechanism of mutation and
natural selection, including two
devised by Richard Dawkins in The
Blind Watchmaker. These programs
are available on diskette for purchase from Bob (c/o IBRI, P.O.
Box 403, Hatfield, PA 194400423). On April 5-7, Bob and John Bloom, Wayne Frair, Perry
Phillips, and John Studenroth repeated their "Dice or Deity" seminar on creation and evolution at
Harvey Cedars Bible Conference in
New Jersey.
Armand M. Nicholi of Concord,
Massachusetts, is professor of
psychiatry at Harvard's School of
Medicine and a member of the
Christian Medical & Dental Society.
In the Dec 1989 issue of Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith,
he explored the influence of the
world views of scientists and
clinicians on their work. In the
Winter 1990 issue of CMDS Journal, Armand published a more
detailed article on "The Atheistic
World View of Sigmund Freud and
Its Influence on his Clinical Observations." The gist of what Freud
missed: "For every professing
believer whose belief rests solely on
neurotic need, clinical observation
reveals many whose unbelief rests
on neurotic determinants."
Wayne D. Norman is professor
of psychology at Redeemer College
in Ancaster, Ontario. He has
developed an 82-page teacher's
manual to accompany Psychology hrough the Eyes of Faith (1987) in
the Christian College Coalition's Supplementary Textbook Series. The
text was written by Hope College
professor David Myers and Malcolm Jeeves of Scotland. Wayne's
manual, which provides summary outlines of each chapter, lecture and
discussion items, sample test questions, and additional readings, is
available from the Coalition (329
Eighth
SL,
N.E., Washington, DC
20002-6158; $8 each, check to Christian College Coalition). The
textbook itself is available from Harper & Row.
Bernard Ramm of Irvine, California, was honored at this winter's American Academy of Religion meeting in New Orleans with a Festschrift from the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion. In Perspectives on Theology and the Contemporary World, four papers examine the pioneering work of the 74-year-old retired theologian on the relation between science and Scripture. Bemie's The Christian View of Science and Scripture (1954, still in print) remains "the place to begin" for thoughtful evangelicals who take science seriously.
John Studenroth has become fulltime pastor of the Kutztown Bible
Fellowship Church in Pennsylvania,
near the campus of Kutztown
University. John, wife Laura, and
daughters Beth Anne & Claire
moved from Hatfield (PA), where
John continues to be active as a
Fellow of the Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute (IBRI). This
spring John taught his last semester
of biology at Pinebrook Junior College in Coopersburg (PA).
David C. Thompson has moved
from North Carolina to Texas A. &
M. University, where he has joined
the Dept of Pharmacology &
Toxicology in the College of
Medicine.
Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen,
professor of interdisciplinary studies
at Calvin College, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, is a contributing editor to
Radix magazine (P.O. Box 4307,
Berkeley, CA 94704). For its 20th
Anniversary Issue (winter 1990-91)
Mary contributed an article on "The
Future of the Family." Taken largely from her award-winning book
Gender and Grace (IVP, 1990),
Mary's
Radix
piece did an exemplary job of blending researchbased
knowledge
with biblically
rooted wisdom. (That whole issue
was pretty solid, by the way, with
articles by two other contributing
editors: Os Guinness on "The Future of the Nation" and Wait
Hearn on "The Future of the
Planet." Walt managed to plug
ASA and even include our Ipswich
address.-Ed.)
Howard Van Till, professor of
physics at Calvin College in
Michigan, has been cleared of charges that his beliefs violated the
college's doctrinal guidelines. According to a squib in
Christianity Today (29
Mar
1991),
the report
completed this spring by a special
committee set up by the Christian
Reformed Church to investigate
such charges completely exonerated
Howard, past president of ASA.
The charges stemmed primarily
from controversy over his
1986
book,
The Fourth Day.
Robin Wentworth, a psychologist, has been visiting professor
in marketing at the College of Business, University of South Alabama
in Mobile. In June, Robin moves
to Atlanta, Georgia, to join the
management psychology consulting
firm of Bleke & Boyd, P.C. (In
Berkeley, PC means "politically correcf'; in other places it usually
means "personal computer"; the dictionary says it can mean "petty
cash," "prices current," 41past
commander," "Police constable,"
"post commander," "privy council,"
"percent," or "postcard"; but what
does it mean to psychologists?-Ed.)
Edwin M. Yamauchi, professor
of history at Miami U. in Oxford,
Ohio, teaches a 350-student class in
"Western Civilization" but specializes in the ancient Near East. His
most recent book,
Persia and the
Bible
(Baker, June
1990),
a comprehensive history of ancient Persia
(which became modem Iran), has
been commended by a number of
scholars. Ed serves on the editorial
board of the Near Eastern Archaeological Society and of
Bulletin
for Biblical Research,
a new journal he proposed as president of the
Institute for Biblical Research.
PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS. Thermal sciences: Campbell D. Carter (Dept of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907), has doctorate, seeks tenure-track position, preferably in a teaching-focused school with opportunity for research in combustion/laser diagnostics.
POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. Agriculture: Operator/manager/instructor for 160-acre Agriculture Stewardship Center, with farm management experience; demonstrated teaching ability; M.S. in related area; desire to work in growing program in Christian college committed to Reformed world view. Letter of interest & resume to: Dr. Rocke McCarthy, Vice Pres. for Acad. Affairs, Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA 51250. Tel. 712-722-6333.