NEWSLETTER

of the

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation

VOLUME 34 NUMBER 3                                                              JUNEJULY 1992

NEWSLETTER of the ASA/CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box 668, 55 Market St., Ipswich, MA 01938. Tel. 508-356-5656, FAX: 508-356-4375. Information for the Newsletter may be sent to the Editor: Dr. Walter R. Heam, 762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. Q 1992 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.

WIKIWIKI!

We think that means "Hurry up!" in Hawaiian-a language that isn't necessarily simpler than English even with only twelve letters (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, 0, P, U, and W). What you should hurry up and do is send in your registration for the 1992 ASA AN NUAL MEETING at the UNIVERSITY OF THE NATIONS in KONA, HAWAII, from JULY 31 through AUGUST 3 (plus field trips, August 4-5). If you have yet to receive registration and travel in formation, call ASA at 508-356-5656. Ask for a little kokua (help) and say rnahalo (thank you).

Besides a great program, fellowship, worship, field trips, and so on, this year's banquet will be a lulu-or luau, to be exact. ASA has had some great regional feasts, from a salmon bake in the northwest to a Colorado barbecue to a Pennsylvania Dutch dinner, but this one might surpass them all. We will have a real Hawaiian party on the beach, with U. of the N. students in native costume arriving in war canoes to imu the kalua (pig) and then entertain us with hula and ukulele. Lots of ethnic kaukau (food), including authentic poi-and no after-luau speaker!

Incidentally, any SCUBA divers who want to come early or stay late, contact Larry Martin (5047 N. Spaulding Ave, Chicago, IL 60625; tel. 312-478-0679). Larry, who will once again lead the music at the Annual Meeting, also asks for suggestions and volunteers for this year's "Harmonic Dissonance Choir." (Do not be misled by the juxtaposition of these two announcements. Choir rehearsals will not be held under water.-Ed.)

GOING FOR IT
Ethusiasm for the HAWAII meeting of ASA and its affiliate groups fairly bubbled up from the Affiliation of Christian Biologists
Newsletter this spring. Wheaton biochemist Derek Chignell, well acquainted with the Big Island from teaching at the University of the Nations, has been making arrangements for field trips. He hopes to have three options for each of those days. Besides guided trips up Maunakea and alongside active volcanoes, he plans a trip to several alternative energy sites (geothermal, wind, and a heat pump from ocean depths rigged to generate electricity) and an excursion through Hawaii's varied ecological zones. (Hawaii has everything but Arctic tundra and Saharan deserts.) ACB members who travel to Oahu afterward for the American Institute of Biological Sciences, August 9-13, can probably go on additional AIBS-sponsored field trips before that meeting.

Evidently when biologist Mike Sonnenberg and geochemist Wayne Ault were both at Nyack College a few years ago they team-taught a course on Hawaii. Here are some suggestions from the six-page bibliography they compiled:

Carlquist, Sherwin, Hawaii, A Natural History. S.B. Printers, Inc.; Honolulu, HI, 1980.

Degener, 0. H., Plants of Hawaii National Parks. Braun-Brurnfield; Ann Arbor, MI, 1975.

Kay, E. Alison, A Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands. U. of Hawaii Press; Honolulu, HL 1972.
Smith, Robert, Hiking Hawaii. Wilderness Press; Berkeley, CA, 1977.

See also various National Geographic articles.

IPSWICH UPDATES

- ASA now has a FAX machine with its very own telephone number: 508-356-4375. (Please don't use any other (old) FAX numbers, or your FAX may not get to us.) The ASA FAX machine stays on all the time. For regular phone calls, the office number remains 508-3565656. Some behavior patterns are changed (not necessarily improved) by new technology: program chair Tom Hoshiko's concern that not enough contributed papers would come in was buried under an avalanche of FAXes-the last minute before the deadline for abstracts.

- Contemporary Issues in Science & Christian Faith: An Annotated Bibliography, the 1992-93 edition of ASA's "Resource Book , is hot off the press (and looks great, we hear). Cover price is $10.50; $8.50 to ASA members. ($1.50 s&h in N. America additional.) Member quantity discounts: 2-9 copies, $7.50 each; 10 or more, $6.50 each. Order from Contemporary Issues Resource Book, ASA, P.O. Box 668, Ipswich, MA 01938.

- ASA's office computers escaped the dread virus attack on Michelangelo's birthday, March 6. Managing editor Patsy Ames considered her machine especially vulnerable because she receives papers for Perspectives on diskettes from universities and other places where viruses are sometimes rampant. A program to detect viruses failed to spot anything, but she made sure to back up all her files. The virus threat actually turned out to be a blessing, because a few days later her hard disk crashed from old age or other non-viral causes-but no significant information was lost. (Patsy did lose some time getting a new hard disk in place, but that's not why this Newsletter is late. 'Mat's the Weary Old Editor's fault. WOE is me.-Ed.)

- ASA is getting better known all the time, but we were amazed to learn from a slick mailing piece that ASA membership has reached 15,000! That flyer turned out to be. from another ASA, the American Statistical Association, founded in 1839. (It made us wonder, though, what our membership might be when the American Scientific Affiliation has been around for 150 years - and what the hot issues will be then. - Ed .)

PROVIDING ACCESS

IThe first issue of Currents in Science, Technology, & Society (Winter 1992) has appeared from Access Research Network (ARN). Mark Hartwig is editor and Dennis Wagner publisher. Subscriptions to the quarterly, a 12-page newsletter hoping to expand, are $15/yr (P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO 80937-8069). ARN is an outgrowth of Students for Origins Research, which continues as a division of ARN and will continue to publish Origins Research in newspaper format.

Currents will take a broader approach than OR, though some of its concerns are the same. The first issue led off with an essay by Mark Hartwig on "Scientific Literacy in America," for example, and ended with an interview of Phillip Johnson about Darwinism. Also included were a Declaration on Euthanasia from the Ramsey Colloquiurn of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, and reviews by Dennis Wagner of Crichton's Jurassic Park and Hazen and Trefil's Science Matters

Currents is an attractive publication (two colors on slick paper) that should help ordinary citizens understand science-and distinguish it from various scientisms.

TAKING ACTION

A lively symposium on "Darwinism: Scientific Inference or Philosophical Preference" took place March 26-28 at the Humphrey Lee Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. A number of ASA members not only participated but were also instrumental in organizing it. We first heard about it from Jon Buell, director of the Foundation for Thought and Ethics of Richardson, Texas, one of three sponsoring organizations. The other two were Dallas Christian Leadership and the C. S. Lewis Fellowship of Tampa, Florida, directed by Tom Woodward.

Five Darwinist speakers and five critics of Darwinism were invited to give papers, alternating with each other and responded to by a speaker from the other side. Despite some last-minute problems, the program came together with top-notch speakers. The Darwinists were biochemist Fred Grinnell (U. of Texas Southwestern Med Center), zoologist Leslie Johnson (Princeton), geneticist John Morrow (Texas Tech), and zoologist Arthur Shapiro (U.C. Davis), topped off by biologist/philosopher Michael Ruse (Guelph), who in 1981 led the evolutionist cause in the Arkansas "balanced treatment!' trial.

ASA members on the critical side were philosopher Steve Meyer (Whitworth College), mathematician Bill Demski (Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at U. of Chicago), and biologist Dave Wilcox (Eastern College), along with philosopher Peter Van Inwagen (Syracuse) and chemist Michael Belie (Lehigh). That side was topped off with U.C. Berkeley legal scholar Phillip Johnson. On Thursday evening, Johnson gave the lead-off paper on "Darwinism's Rules of Reasoning," with response by Michael Ruse, and on Friday night the two held a public debate on the topic, "Can Darwinism Be Reconciled with Any Meaningful Form of Theistic Religion?"

Everyone, on both sides, seemed to think of the symposium as an outstanding event, replete with collegiality as well as good scholarship. FTE hopes to publish the proceedings. The Johnson-Ruse debate was videotaped. Copies are probably available from Jon Buell, Foundation for Thought & Ethics, P.O. Box 83071, Richardson, TX 75083-0721.

KEEPING TRACK

Keeping up with the Joneses is a snap compared to trying to keep up with Phillip Johnson's activities since publication of Darwin on Trial (IVP, 1991). His participation in the Dallas symposium reported above was only the latest of many such appearances. (Well, not the latesr, see LOCAL SECTIONS for his April talk to the San Francisco Bay ASA section in Berkeley.)

Last fall, soon after his book came out, Johnson used a semesterlong sabbatical to travel extensively and appear on radio and television talk shows, including William F. Buckley's "Firing Line." He was more at home in academic settings, where he was often hosted by Christian professors. At Cornell his public appearance was in the form of a debate with William Provinewho comes about as close to exemplifying Phil's thesis as one could hope for. On that same trip he was hosted at Eastern College by Dave Wilcox and spoke at Penn, Johns Hopkins, and Princeton, In November he spoke at Harvard and Yale and in Florida was hosted by Tom Woodward. In December he was hosted by Mark Hartwig in Colorado, taped an interview for Focus on the Family, and had a great reception at the Air Force Academy. In the spring he was back teaching at Berkeley but managed to get away for the Dallas symposium, and before that for a significant trip to Illinois. In February he gave a set of three Founder's Lectures to the whole student body at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois; at Wheaton College he had a two-hour session with faculty and students before addressing the Wheaton Board of Trustees. Offering critical responses at Trinity and Wheaton was Howard Van Till of Calvin College.

Johnson's hope has been to get serious discussion of Darwinism on the table in elite intellectual circles, and to encourage Christians and other theists to join in those discussions. He wants to get "scientific naturalists" to be candid about their philosophical beliefs, so evolution can go back to being a scientific theory subject to empirical test, rather than "a creation myth for atheists" shut off from critical evaluation by "the rules of the scientific game."

That approach incurs the disdain and even wrath of "Darwinist fundamentalists," who unwittingly strengthen his case by the way they protest his making it. Johnson has continued to make his views known to wider and wider audiences. When a reviewer let Atlantic magazine down by failing to produce a review of Darwin on Trial, the magazine made up for it by having Johnson review paleontologist David Raup's book, Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?. Titling his review in the February issue "The Extinction of Darwinism," Johnson managed to make his own points about Darwinism while describing and evaluating the contents of Raup's book. Two angry letters denouncing Johnson were published in the May issue, with more to come in June.

Not all reviewers have taken Johnson's book as seriously as he took Raup's. In Nature (8 Aug 1991), David Hull dismissed it as "yet another rehash of creationist objections to evolutionary theory," even though Hull reported in his own 1988 book, Science As a Process, that some biological systematics he interviewed considered evolutionary theory false. Science has not reviewed it at all, having noted its publication in a news item (26 Jul 1991) that gave Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education the last word, as usual. Scott blamed Johnson's failure to buy into evolutionary correctness on his "misunderstanding of the scientific process."

Whatever one thinks of Darwin on Trial or of its author's view of Darwinism as a philosophical assumption rather than an empirical conclusion, Phil does seem to be "leveling the playing field" for continued discussion. He has certainly not isolated himself from his harshest critics. When Thomas Jukes used his editorial platform ("Random Walking") in the Journal of Molecular Evolution to trash Darwin on Trial, Johnson mounted the same platform in the Feb 1992 issue, urging J. Mol. Evol. readers to read the book and send him their critical comments to help him make future editions as accurate as possible.

FINDING A JOB

Urban uprisings make headlines, but a more general phenomenon seems to be "downsizing." That's a euphemism for firing people to make business operations "leaner and meaner." Colleges, universities, and government agencies are caught in the same bind. Scientists with advanced degrees and much experience are finding themselves out of work, sometimes suddenly and unexpectedly. These are unstable and unpredictable times, a time for those of us still employed to offer our prayers, assistance, and support to people out of work.

The ASA Newsletter is glad to help through our PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS and POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE sections. People do find jobs that way, despite the delay inherent in a bimonthly publication with weeks of lead time. The ASA Council looked into the possibility of setting up an "Employment Clearing House" at Annual Meetings but concluded that our relatively small and diversified membership would not attract prospective employers. Even a computerized database of jobs and job-seekers has seemed out of our range for the present.

While researching that possibility, however, we discovered a service already in operation that covers academic positions in a number of Christian colleges. For a small fee, the Christian College Referral Service (CCRS) will keep on file a standardized C.V. for job-seekers. it regularly sends a printout of its list of job-seekers to the academic deans of the over 50 colleges paying for that service. Job-seekers are listed by discipline, so a dean with a position to fill in, say, chemistry, can request from CCRS copies of the C.V.s of any chemists on the list.

CCRS is sponsored by the Christian College Consortium and the larger Christian College Coalition, though not all of their schools subscribe and some other schools do. CCRS is operated by Wheaton College. Their listing tends to have more job-seekers in Bible or music than in math or one of the sciences, but it may be worth a try for ASA members. Contact:

Christian College Referral Service Wheaton College Wheaton, IL 60187-5593 (Tel. 708-260-3737)

Meanwhile, if anyone experienced in database management or electronic bulletin boards (or whatever it takes) has workable ideas about how an ASA employment service should function, ASA president Ken Dormer (P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190) would welcome your suggestions.

ASA IN PRINT

- Science & Religion News, now in its third year, has expanded in size and coverage. As in earlier issues, the Spring 1992 issue (Vol. 3, No. 1) listed all major articles appearing in the current Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (Dec 1991). The Calendar section contained a brief announcement of ASA's ANNUAL MEETING in HAWAII, 31 July to 3 Aug 1992. Further, in the News section, the lead story was a paragraph on the "Voice for Evolution as Science" resolution passed by the ASA Executive Council in December 199 1. Editor Kevin Sharpe commented on the Council's concern about "two negative consequences of letting ideology influence the teaching of evolution":

First, the public gains the impression that science has been taken over by atheists and materialists. Second, evolutionary dogmatism can turn off student interest in scientific careers. If students realize that evolutionary theory is inference based on some evidence, they can understand how much is left to do.

Kevin Sharpe thus becomes the first winner of ASA's newly established GEOGRAPHITO AWARD. (I just established it-Ed.) In both Calendar and News squibs, Sharpe went beyond the minimum editorial courtesy (of locating ASA in Ipswich, so anyone really interested can track us down) to give ASA's complete mailing address-and even the Ipswich telephone number.

The GEOGRAPFUTO AWARD carries no monetary reward at present, but gains a strong plug for Science & Religion News. Subscriptions ($8/yr USA; $10 Canada or Mexico; $12 elsewhere by airmail), from Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, Inc., 65 Hoit Rd, Concord, NH 03301, USA. Tel. 603226-3328. Aiding S&RN is another good thing the John Templeton Foundation does, so thanks go also to ASA member John Templeton of Nassau.

- Theologian Ronald Cole-Turner of Memphis Theological Seminary in Tennessee may have first encountered ASA during a 1987 Presbyterian Consultation on The Church and Contemporary Cosmology, where about ten percent of those in attendance were ASA members. At any rate, in a recent foundation paper, An Unavoidable Challenge: Our Church in an Age of Science and Technology, he gave ASA a nice footnote. It occurs on p. 28, in a section on "A New Stance toward Science and Technology."

Cole-Turner was describing the theological response to a shift from a mechanical, deterministic worldview to one in which matter is "capable of complexity, consciousness, freedom, and praise." He cited recent work of Jrgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Langdon Gilkey, and process theologian John Cobb before turning to more conservative Christian thinkers: "Some of today's evangelicals, distinguishing themselves from fundamentalism and from creation science, are open to scientific discovery of every sort, seeking to integrate it with a theological understanding of the creation." At the end of that sentence, he referred readers to this footnote:

Probably the largest organization of Christians interested in science is the American Scientific Affiliation, an association largely of evangelical scientists.

ASA member George Murphy of Tallmadge, Ohio, spotted this welcome reference to ASA. George says the paper is available for $2 from the United Church Board of Home Missions. (Address: UCBHM Distribution Center, 700 Prospect Ave, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100.)

- The March 1992 issue of MD, a magazine for medical doctors, carried a 7-page profile of ASA member Francis Collins, with a full page photograph of him. Francis is professor of internal medicine and genetics at the U. of Michigan, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute there, and director of one of the first Human Genome Centers. The story by science writer George Liles was tided "God's Work in the Lab: Geneticist Francis Collins Makes the Case for Faith."

Although Liles described Collins's co-discovery of the cystic fibrosis and neurofibromatosis genes, the story was primarily about Francis's personal faith and how it relates to his scientific work. Collins cited C. S. Lewis as a formative influence on his faith. Then, after an allusion to highly visible Christians who give a distorted picture, turning faith into "a television show or a political platform," came this paragraph:

The people who practice Lewis's brand of intellectual Christianity, Collins says, are less vocal about it -and less visible. But there is a quiet cadre of Bible-believing scientists who have not checked their faith at the church door, he says, citing, for instance, the American Scientific Affiliation, a group of about 3,000 scientists drawn from across the spectrum of physical sciences. That group's members are, Collins says, "all believers in the reality of Christ's existence on earth. Their statement of faith you would find in a mainline, Bible-believing Christian cluirch."

Congratulations to George Liles for letting Collins speak for himself, resulting in a powerful testimony in an otherwise secular magazine. And congratulations to Francis Collins - for many things, including his strategic mention of ASA.

- Remember the reference to ASA in the Dec 23 cover story on "The Creation" in U. S. News & World Report? That whole story, by Jeff Sheler and Joannie Schrof, was reprinted in April in a one-time publication of the Institute for Science, Engineering, and Public Policy of Portland, Oregon. The magazine-size publication was prepared as a handout at a major public lecture, which some 1,400 people paid to attend. Giving the April 10 lecture at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was British physicist-theologian John Polkinghorne, known to many ASAers. His topic was "The Friendship of Science and Religion."

That mention of ASA was in good company in "ISEPP Presents Polkinghorne," appearing along with major excerpts from three of Polkinghorne's books, The Quantum World, Science and Creation, and Science and Providence. The lecture was the first in a "New Dialog on Science and Religion" series co-sponsored with Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. ISEPP already sponsors a highly successful "Science, Technology, and Society" (STS) lecture series, which in Fall 1992 will bring Jean-Michel Cousteau and Timothy Ferris to Portland.

ISEPP seems to be a local Portland organization linked to a network fostered by the Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society, edited by Rustum. Roy of Penn State. ISEPP executive director Terry Bristol is an engineer interested in the history and philosophy of science, an entrepreneurial type who put together a diverse group of organizations (including the U. of Portland, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and the Oregon Section of IEEE) to back the Polkinghorne lecture.

We were surprised not to find an address for ISEPP anywhere in its excellent publication. Having just established the GEOGRAPHITO AWARD (for writers who locate organizations so people can find them; see item 1 above), we were determined to set a good example. We finally came across another ISEPP publication (advertising season tickets to the STS lecture series) with this address: Institute for Science, Engineering, & Public Policy, 1717 SW Park, Suite 1500, Portland, OR 97201.

WHEREVER GOD WANTS US: 22.

We have two reports from ASAers putting their skiffs to work in different parts of the world , one for a year, the other for a longer term. Both point to " a world of opportunity":

- Professor Joseph A. Clumpner has spent his sabbatical year from Covenant College at the Julin University of Technology in Changchun, northeast China. He and wife Karin both teach English to graduate students in technical fields. Karin also meets with a few students interested in American history. In the fall Joe held a sort of seminar on advanced heat transfer topics. This spring he was teaching thermodynamics to nearly 100 students and giving some lectures on other subjects.

The Clumpners have had a warm reception from students, who can often read English well but need help in understanding spoken English and speaking it. Many have parents who spent years doing forced farm labor during the Cultural Revolution. Chinese students seem starved for meaningful relationships with people from outside their own country. Julin University is looking for qualified people to teach either technical subjects or English. Joe says "It would be a great encouragement to know that someone would carry on the work we have been able to start."

Joe suggests that ASA faculty members interested in a one-year commitment write to Mr. Gavin McGuire, Placement Officer, Friends of China, G/F 236 Tim Sum Village; Tai Wai, N. T. Hong Kong. FOC has university contacts throughout China and tries to match needs with faculty credentials.

- Lindy Scoft and his wife have been "tentmaking missionaries" in Mexico City for the past four years. She teaches at the National University and he at CESIC (Centro de Estudios Superiores de Integracin Cristiana), a graduate school for Christian laity. Meanwhile, they have worked with others to begin three churches and have formed an Association of Mexican Evangelical Free Churches.

Last September Lindy completed his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in religious and theological studies, with a specialization in Latin America. His dissertation, Salt of the Earth: A Socio-Political History of Mexico City Evangelical Protestants (1964-1991) has been published by Editorial Kyrios in Mexico City. ASA members can order a copy for half the retail price, postpaid, by sending a check for $15 payable to Editorial Kyrios to Dr. David Anderson, 5517 Cullom, Chicago, IL 60641.

Lindy says there are plans to start a Christian university in Mexico this fall, an excellent place for Christian professors from the U.S. or Canada to spend a sabbatical teaching courses in their area of specialization. These would be upperlevel courses taught in English. Anyone interested should write to Dr. Lindy Scott, Apdo. 121-001, Col. Santo Domingo, Coyoacn, Mexico DF 04369, MEXICO. Dialing from the U.S., Lindy's telephone number is 011-525-554-6750.

OBITUARIES

Fred Busker of Lansing, Illinois, died on 9 Jan 1992. The ASA office was notified by his widow, Mrs. Dena Busker, but has no other information about Fred, other than that he was an emeritus member of ASA for years.

-5-

Raymond J. Seeger of Bethesda, Maryland, died of a heart ailment on 14 Feb 1992 at the age of 85. Bom in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Ray graduated from Rutgers and received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Yale in 1929. He taught physics at George Washington University until 1942, then went to work for the Navy during WWII. lie worked on high explosives at the Naval Ordnance Lab at White Oak, becoming chief of the aeroballistic research department. From 1952 until his retirement in 1970 he was on the staff of the National Science Foundation. He served as assistant to the NSF director and retired as a senior staff research associate. He was an adjunct professor at American University (1954-72) and at various times also taught at Johns Hopkins, Catholic, and George Washington universities in the area. He published more than 200 technical papers, on quantum mechanics, fluid dynamics, solid state, and applied mathematics.

Ray Seeger had received the U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Award, had chaired the fluid dynamics division of the American Physical Society, and had been vice president of the history & philosophy of science division of AAAS. He was best known to ASA members for his writings about noted scientists, including 25 articles in our own journal. The last of that series, on "F. Bacon, Iconoclastic HeraJd," appeared in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith in June 1989. As in his other biographical articles, Ray described Francis Bacon's interest in religious matters as well as his scientific work. Ray was a member of Bethesda's Pilgrim Lutheran Church. He is survived by his wife Vivian, to whom he was married for 62 years, and by a son, daughter, and four grandchildren.

Howard W. Post of Getzville, New York, died on 19 Feb 1992 at the age of 95. He was an emeritus professor of organic chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his B.S. and M.S. from Syracuse and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins (1927). His research on organometallics and especially on organosilicons was published in some 85 technical papers and two books. For years Howard was active in the Williamsville United Methodist Church, where he taught Sunday school to high schoolers. At his university he served as faculty advisor for the IVCF chapter for 20 years. ASA does not have information about his family.

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 late Sidney Macaulay, whose obituary appeared in the Feb/Mar issue of this Newsletter, was honored with a memorial issue of the CMDS Journal (Spring 1992). Sid had edited the Journal for the Christian Medical & Dental Society for a decade before his death in November 1991.

THE EDITOR'S LAST WORDS: 21.

This issue is already full, and late -so we'll see you in the Aug/Sep issue, or at the ANNUAL MEETING in KONA, HAWAII, before that. Now, there's a good last word: Aloha!

LOCAL SECTIONS

METROPOLITAN NEW YORK

The section's spring meeting took place on April 4 at Princeton Theological Seminary, hosted by James Loder, professor of Christian
education at the Seminary. The speaker was Botond Gal, president and professor of systematic theology at the Reformed College of
Debrecen, Hungary, and visiting Fellow at the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton. Professor Gal gave an afternoon lecture on his current research interest, "James Clerk Maxwell: Physicist and Christian." His evening lecture was titled "Reflections on the Life and Witness
of the Church in Eastern and Central Europe."

WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE

0n Saturday, March 28, the section met at the Seven Seas restaurant in College Park, Mary land, to have dinner and hear Frank Young, former director of the Food & Drug Administration and now Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health/Science & Environment for the U.S. government. According to section chair Paul Arveson, Dr. Young gave a challenging talk on being a Christian witness on the job. Young spoke movingly about the hassle over generic drugs that led to his resignation from FDA. Evidently, after Frank resigned, some of his former colleagues real
ized that he had deliberately "taken the heat," so his sacrificial spirit became a Christian witness to them.

The 32 people in attendance came from north Baltimore to northern Virginia. Meeting at a restaurant was a first for the section. The Seven Seas, a Chinese restaurant, served a real banquet of many dishes at a cost of $10 per person. Other sections might try this, Paul says, since "even busy people have to eat" and a restaurant setting attracts spouses as well. He wasn't sure if the ethnicity of the restaurant had something to do with the number of Chinese in attendance. Many Chinese scientists who come to the area as postdocs at NIH and local universities have no social contacts, so there is potential for a significant ministry of friendship in the area.

Assuming that not everyone will be able to attend the ASA ANNUAL MEETING in HAWAII, Paul Arveson is hoping to schedule a section barbecue or picnic in late July.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY

The section outdid itself this spring with not one but two meetings in April, both with record or near-record attendance. Both were co-sponsored with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship campus chapters which have active graduate groups.

On April 9, some 90 people showed up at Tresidder Union on the Stanford University campus to hear a "dynamic duo" of former ASA presidents give two Templeton Lectures relating science and theology. Each lecture was concise, crisp, and stimulating. Stanford materials science professor Richard H. Bube gave the first Templeton Lecture, on "Seven Patterns for Relating Science and Christian Faith," somewhat along the lines of his 1991 ASA banquet address at Wheaton College. Dick pointed to the danger of trying to forge too ready a synthesis between science and faith that may weaken the integrity of both. He defended the position that science and faith are best considered as complementary and cooperative.

The second Templeton Lecturer, Calvin College physics professor Howard Van Till, addressed "Evolutionary Science and the Forgotten Doctrine of Creation's Functional Integrity." Howard argued that there is no theological reason to reject the concept of genealogical continuity or the whole macroevolutionary paradigm. He cited passages from St. Basil and St. Augustine to show how such early Christian theologians understood God's creative activity and its manifestation in the formative history of the universe. After some audience discussion in the packed-out room, the IVCF group served refreshments. Despite the length of the program, informal conversations kept going for another hour.

On April 25, Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson spoke in a lecture hall at the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health. His lecture, "Darwin on Trial," drew an audience of perhaps 120, made up of members of the Cal Christian Fellowship grad group, ASA members, and friends. Johnson spoke informally of how he came to write Darwin on Trial, of its thesis that much evolutionary rhetoric disguises a lack of empirical validation, and of his subsequent interaction with the book's critics. A very lively open discussion followed and after that a small group surrounded the speaker and kept asking him questions.

Of course, not everyone can live in the Bay Area and take in such stimulating events. Given the news of earthquakes, urban riots, etc., not everyone would even want to. But all ASA members can hear Professor Johnson talk about Darwin on Trial at the ANNUAL MEETING in HAWAII this summer.

PERSONALS

Jack 0. Balswick and his wife Judy are both professors in the area of marriage and family development at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Together they will teach a summer course, July 13-24, at Regent College Vancouver, B.C., on "Building Strong Families." In May Jack led a workshop at a two-day conference at Fuller on Christian Leadership and Management. Another workshop leader was Jack's colleague in Fuller's Graduate School of Psychology, H. Newton Mallony.

Roy A. Clouser of the Dept of Philosophy & Religion at Trenton State College, Trenton, New Jersey, is the author of a new book from the U. of Notre Dame Press, The Myth of Religious Neutrality (Dec 1991). Subtitled "An Essay on the Hidden Role of Religious Belief in Theories," the 384-page book ($39.95 cloth; $18.95 paper) is said by the publisher to reflect Herman Dooyeweerd's position, arguing that "there is a distinctly biblical perspective for theorizing that ought to be adopted by those who believe in God." Although the book has been nominated for the American Academy of Religion's "Excellence Award in Religious Studies," Roy says it is really about the relation of religious beliefs to all sorts of theories. Separate chapters on mathematics, physics, psychology, etc., illustrate how religious belief influences theories in those fields.

Owen Gingerich of the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Maryland, was co-author with Alan Lightman of M.I.T. of an article on the history of science in the 7 Feb 1992 issue of Science. The article, "When Do Anomalies Begin?" described "retrorecognition," a phenomenon of ignoring or failing to question anomalous findings until they can be

given compelling explanations within a new conceptual framework. According to Lightman & Gingerich, "Science is a conservative activity, and scientists are reluctant to change their conceptual frameworks." (Here's another anomaly: The date printed on the article's pages is 7 February 1991, though other pages in the same issue are correctly dated 7 February 1992. Maybe it's a test, to demonstrate retrorecognition! In this Newsletter, we call such anomalies typos, with the Weary Old Editor serving as the compelling explanation. -WOE.)

John S. Haverhals, assistant professor of mathematics at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, was recognized last year for his distinguished community service. Bradley honored John with its 1991 Francis C. Mergen Award, named for a former director of the Dept of Industrial Engineering. According to the university's Office of Public Information, John Haverhals had previously been honored for his service to the Illinois section of the Mathematical Association of America, but he has also presided over many civic organizations, from the West Bluff Council to a not-forprofit corporation that rehabilitates housing. The Mergen Award also cited his service on behalf of Christ Community Church, as elder, Sunday school teacher, and board member, plus his 17-year service in the Peoria West Camp of Gideons International. In addition, the Haverhals family has taken in a series of Vietnamese foster sons. John has an M.S. from the U. of Iowa, with graduate study at several other universities, and has actively participated in the improvement of math teaching in high schools. He has been a faculty member at Bradley since 1963.

Deryl F. Johnson teaches Bible at Warner-Southem College in Lake Wales, Florida, though he majored in physics. Deryl has attended many ASA Annual Meetings, a familiar sight with his invariably pleasant disposition despite his leg braces and canes. Deryl wrote from a V.A. hospital in Tampa this spring, requesting our prayers. He was suffering from osteomyelitis of the skull due to a WWII head wound. He was beginning a heavy regimen of antibiotics, given six times daily for a month.

Steven L. Jones is now a researcher for Occupational Health Services in Nashville, Tennessee, writing material safety data sheets. Last summer he served as a driftnet fisheries observer in the Republic of Korea. In Nov 1991 he went back to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos to take the oral exams for his M.A. in biology. Steve's thesis was a survey of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Hays County, Texas.

Clarence Menninga retired from teaching geology full-time at Calvin College in Mchigan in 1990 but continues to teach there on occasion and handle other academic tasks, such as being radiation safety officer and chemical hygiene officer for the Science Division. Clarence is excited about his summer plans: participating in an archeological dig at the site of ancient Abila in northem Jordan. Abila was one of the ten cities of the Decapolis, known to Jesus (M[ark 5:20; 7:31). Dr. Harold Mare of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis is in charge and Dr. Reuben Bullard of Cincinnati Bible Seminary is an experienced geoarchoologist on the project. Working with Bullard to learn archeological geology, Clarence hopes to bring back pottery samples to try to identify sources of their materials by neutron activation analysis. Wife Irene will also be at the dig, working as a volunteer.

George L. Murphy, physicist and pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church of Tallmadge, Ohio, published several papers last year. His "Chiasmic Cosmology: An Approach to the Science-Theology Dialogue" appeared in the Fall 1991 Trinity Seminary Review and his "Cosmology as an Agenda Item for the Eighth Council" appeared in the Fall 1991 dialog. The April 1992 issue of Physics Today contained a letter from George replying to a letter in the June 1991 issue on physics literacy. That writer had said that "certain religious beliefs may be barriers to the general population's understanding of science." George agreed that there was some truth to that, but argued that the solution was for scientists to engage in respectful dialogue with religious believers: "'Meological as well as scientific illiteracy can be a problem." A lot of science-theology dialogue is already going on, George said; the need is to make such academic discussion accessible to laypeople.

David G. Myers is professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and author of eight books, including two standard texts (Psychology; Social Psychology) and such integrative works as The Human Puzzle  and Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith (with Malcolm Jeeves). Make that nine books; Dave has just published The Pursuit of Happiness: Who Is Happy-and Why

(William Morrow & Co., 1992; 332 pages, cloth, $20.00). His latest book indicates that one's age, sex, race, education, wealth, or location (rural or city) has little to do with whether or not one is happy. What counts are things like doing work that engages one's skills, having an intimate marriage or a supportive network of close friends, and having an active religious faith. A review in Publishers Weekly says that Dave's book provides no simplistic formulas but "bursts with thought-provoking, innovative material for the general reader and for students of social psychology as well."

Joseph K. Sheldon, professor of biology at Eastern College, St. Davids, Pennsylvania, has been elected president of the American Entomological Society. He has a Ph.D. from the U. of Illinois and does research on insect ecology. Joe also serves on the summer faculty at Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies in Mancelona, Michigan. He has just published Rediscovery of Creation: A Bibliographical Study of the Church's Response to the Environmental Crisis (Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, NJ, 1992. 300 pp., $35.00), with a Foreword by Eastern College sociologist Anthony Campolo. Once a symposium paper at the 1987 ASA Annual Meeting, this work now contains 1,700 references, an historical overview of major authors and issues, and a listing of Christian organizations concerned about environmental stewardship and of curriculum materials on caring for the Creation.

PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS. Nutrition/toxicology/chemistry: Marlin Root (N204 MVR, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853), ASA member, seeks College-level teaching for Fall 1992. Has B.S. in bioohem; M.S. in environmental toxicology; minor in analytical chem, interest and experience in statistics; research in nutrition, toxicology, carcinogenesis; now co-teaching nutritional methods course; all at Cornell. Biology: Omar Hottenstain (Asst. Prof., Dept. of Physiology & Neuroscienoe Program, Univ. of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, 00 80262; tel. 303-270-8027~ ASA member, seeks tenure-track academic or advanced position in biology or vertebrate physiology. Has B.S. in biology (Syracuse); Ph.D. in physiology (Johns Hopkins); postdoc research in neuropharmaoology, cardiovascular physiology; plus teaching, student research supervision, extensive research in neural & cellular control of circulation; a dozen major publications. Married, 3 children. (Omar became a Christian after obtaining his Ph.D. in 1985 and soon discovered ASA; he has a well-articulated philosophy of scholarship and teaching in Chrisrs name.-Ed.)