NEWSLETTER

of the

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation

VOLUME 33 NUMBER 5                                                        OCTOBER /NOVEMBER 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. (D 1991 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved. 

LECTURES SCHEDULED

The Templeton Lecture Series administered by ASA began last spring with lectures by David Cook at the Texas Medical Center in Houston (April) and by Owen Gingerich at U.C. San Diego (May). The first of the remaining 1991-92 lectures have been scheduled.

On October 22, at the University of Miami in Florida, psychiatrist Armand Nicholi of Harvard University Medical School will present a Templeton/ASA Lecture on "The Search for Meaning: The Conflicting World Views of Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis."

The next two Templeton/ASA Lectures will be given in Washington, D.C., as part of a conference inaugurating the Paul Toumier Institute of the Christian Medical & Dental Society (CMDS). Paul Tournier was a Swiss physician who served Christ throughout his life and was the author of over 20 books. In honor of his "deep respect for science, concern for individuals as persons, and complete submission to God," the conference will pursue the meaning and value of "The Christian Doctor." The conference will take place November 6-10 at the Georgetown University Conference Center in the nation's capital.

At the conference, psychiatrist David Allen of the Ministry of Health, Bahamas, will give a Templeton Lecture on "The Vocation of the Christian Doctor." Biochemist

Robert L. Herrmann, ASA executive director, will give a Templeton Lecture on "The Christian Doctor and Biomedical Ethics."

Three other lectures, not sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, will be given by ASA/CSCA members as part of the Tournier Institute conference. Yale public health professor James F. Jekel will speak on "The Christian Doctor's Approach to Health and Disease." Harvard psychiatrist Armand Nicholi will speak on "The Christian Doctor's Marriage and Family Life." Canadian psychiatrist Merville 0. Vincent will speak on "Care of Self by the Christian Doctor."

Later this fall, Yale University will host Templeton/ASA lectures given jointly by theologian Langdon Gilkey and physicist Howard Van Till. Next Mar 24, Dr. Andrej Grib, Leningrad quantum physicist will be the Templeton/ASA lectur~r at the Fourth European Conference on Science and Theology, to be held outside Rome, Italy. His topic will be "Time in Science and Theology-Views of a Quantum Physicist." At the University of British Columbia, Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich will give his second Templeton/ASA Lecture of the 1991-92 series.

MAKING HISTORY

Time moves at a steady pace- history sometimes takes big jumps. During the 1990 ASA Annual Meeting, Iraq invaded Kuwait. This year
the meeting was barely over when the whole USSR empire struck out. The rise and fall of the Communist Coup Clucks (Soviet KKK, double mutant of the KGB codon?) kept us glued to TV news, but now it's time to report ASA's own historic 50th ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

The July 25-29 gathering at Wheaton, Illinois, was actually our 46th Annual Meeting, a hint of how world events , have affected ASA history from the outset. Two of ASA's founding fathers, audio engineer F. Alton Everest from California and chemist Irving A. Cowperthwaite from Massachusetts, were on hand to explain the discrepancy. With three other young scientists, they had accepted Moody Bible Institute president Will Houghton's invitation to meet in Chicago in September 1941. The American Scientific Affiliation  began at that meeting. Three months later the bombing of Pearl Harbor drew the U.S. into WorldWar 11, making  it impossible to hold a national meeting for the next four years.

Irving recalled that all five founders never got together again. Alton became ASA's first president and in five years the membership had grown from 5 to 73. By then biology professor Russell L. Mixter had heard about ASA and joined. He secured an invitation from his institution for the first national gathering of ASA members, held at Wheaton College, 28-30 August 1946. The rest, as they say, is history. A lot of that history was displayed by Wheaton biology prof Ray Brand and wife Shirley, who dug into the ASA archives (maintained at the college library) for memorabilia covering the half-century span. Their display in the foyer of Armerding Science Hall featured photographs, publications, and Annual Meeting programs from across the years. Low prices of hotel rooms and menu items from "the good old days" seemed unreal, but there they were. As a reminder that some things never change, the, Brands posted a 1941 newspaper item about an "Iraq revolt" (of French army units marching to Palestine to join Free French forces).

It seemed appropriate to go back to the Wheaton campus to celebrate our Golden Anniversary. That first Wheaton meeting in 1946 drew 28 registrants. This one drew ten times that many-a smaller proportion of the total membership, to be sure, but a group of people with scientific training no less dedicated to serving Jesus Christ together.

SCHEME

Before we start telling you what you missed at Wheaton, it's time to start planning for the 1992 ANNUAL MEETING. Why? For starters, it will be at UNIVERSITY OF THE NATIONS on the Kona Coast of the "Big Island" of HAWAII. U. of the N. is the new name of Pacific Asian Christian University, training school for Youth With A Mission ("Y-WAM"). The theme, not yet settled, will relate to the island's unique surroundings.

The dates are settled: JULY 31 AUGUST 3 (with AUGUST 4-5 added for field trips). Just being on the Big Island is Re taking a field trip, we're told (by Bob Herrmann, for one, who went there to check it out). See flora and fauna that occur nowhere else in the world! An active volcano! One of the world's most important astronomical observatories! Some ASA members may want to plan also to attend the AIBS meet-ng in Honolulu, on Oahu, Aug 9-13.

Mark the dates on your 1992 calendar as soon as you get one. Save money to take your sweetheart. Promise the kids they can go if they behave all year. Plan ahead. Pray. Scheme!

THEME

Gordon College chemist and history buff Jack Haas seemed to have fun as 1991 program chair. Adding a day to the usual three day schedule made this year special and afforded more time for plenary lectures. Some dealt with the history of science and of the science/ religion interaction in general, others with ASA's own history and unique calling. Jack will publish many of the major papers in our journal, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith.

Leading off was David C. Lindberg, a Wheaton alumnus with an M.S. in physics- from Northwestern and a Ph.D. in the history & philosophy of science from Indiana. Dave, known to many ASAers for God and Nature (U. of California Press, 1986, co-edited with Ron Numbers), directs the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the U. of Wisconsin in Madison. He focused on encounters between Christianity and science in the middle ages, drawing from a book in progress on that subject.

David Lindberg

Lindberg refuted the commonly held idea that nothing at all was going on in European science until the Renaissance, the Reformation, or Copernicus. The established Church had a generally positive effect on the context in which medieval science developed, he argued, but a more ambiguous effect on the content of that science.

In another plenary address , science historian Edward Davis of Messiah College (Ph.D., Indiana) described the relation of science and religion in the 17th century as one of "creative tension." Rejection of scholastic Aristotelianism led to skirmishes among various alternative traditions (empirical; mathematical; rational; hermetic) but a "warfare" metaphor does not adequately depict what went on. There were positive influences as well as negative in the impact of science on religion and of religion on science.

Sara Miles, Wheaton College biology professor with a Ph.D. in the history of science (Chicago) followed the trail of science and Lheology through the I8Lh century. By then, influenced by Newton, Linnaeus and others, the scientific picture was changing from one of static "being" to a dynamic "becoming." It was a century of discovery of new creatures and of phenomena that didn't fit the old picture - and weren't mentioned in Scripture. Many theologians, following John Locke, got locked in to a kind of natural theology that could not be sustained in the 19th century. The lesson Sara drew for the 20th century was not to come too quickly to conclusions: it is better to leave some questions open than to assume that we know the answers.

Sara Miles

ASA's roots in our own century were explored by historian Darryl Hart (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins), director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton. He spoke on "Evangelical Science in the 1930s," setting the scene for the emergence of ASA in 1941. In the light of what was going on in American fundamentalism at the time, Hart found it remarkable that ASA's founders refused to make anti-evolution the policy of the Affiliation.

Hart described how, in the late 1930s, Irwin Moon, a California pastor, began touring the U.S. with the "Sermons from Science" lectures, a role eventually taken over by George Speake (present at this year's meeting). More than any other factor, said Hart, it was the evangelistic potential of science that led Will Houghton to call the meeting that gave birth to ASA.

In the discussion period, philosopher Bill Paul of Central College (Pella, Iowa) questioned whether fundamentalism was the most accurate term for ASA's roots; wasn't the Calvinism of the founders more determinative? Hart, who had acknowledged the influence of Benjamin Warfield and other Princetomans in his talk, replied that, "Whatever one would like to think, Moody Bible Institute rather than Princeton University played the critical role in launching ASA."

TEAM

The story of ASA is the story of many individuals, working together to honor Christ. A few people who have played significant roles in ASA were profiled in plenary sessions.

Dorothy Chappell (Ph.D. in botany, Miami U.) of the Biology Dept at Wheaton College honored her emeritus colleague, Russell L. Mixter, with a paper outlining his accomplishments as "Christian, Teacher, Scientist, Mentor: Visionary for the Role of Science in Christian Education." A bit embarrassed as Dorothy's lecture turned into a "This Is Your Life" script, Russ came to the podium afterward to receive an engraved silver bowl from ASA president Gerald Hess. He accepted the honor only after recognizing almost everyone in the audience personally as co-laborers in the Lord's vineyard.

Russ Mixter graduated from Wheaton in 1928 and joined its faculty that same year (Wheaton was not accredited until 1929). He took time off to earn an M.S. in genetics at Michigan State and a Ph.D. at Illinois, returning to teach at Wheaton for 50 years. He has influenced thousands of students and hundreds of colleagues. Beginning in 1944 he served on the ASA Executive Council for two 5 year terms (Alton Everest and Harold Hartzler also served two terms in those early years) and followed Everest as president. In 1964 he took over editorship of ASA's Journal from David Moberg and at the end of 1968 handed it over to Richard Bube.

Mixter edited ASA's "Darwin centennial" volume, Evolution and Christian Thought Today (Eerdmans, 1959). He also endured the consequences of a 1960 symposium held at Wheaton in honor of that publication. Dorothy Chappell did not dwell on the ~ehemence of the fundamentalist press toward what was said at the symposium by certain speakers (some of whom were in her audience; WOE is me - Ed.), or on the costly effects of the national campaign of denunciation that ensued. (At least Russ didn't lose his job.)

Chappell pointed to Mixter's consistent encouragement of women in science and in particular of women faculty members at Wheaton. She co-authored another plenary paper delivered by Wheaton physics prof Joseph Spradley on the first women to show up in ASA history. In 1948 the membership consisted of 78 men but no women that year there were three women on the Wheaton College faculty but only 23 women faculty in all fields in all the Christian colleges in the country. Joe said that, of the nearly 200 contributors to the first 15 volumes of JASA (1949-63), only three were women-all Wheaton faculty members: Angeline Brandt, Cordelia Erdman, and Marie Fetzer.

All three attended a pivotal 1949 Annual Meeting at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, where papers were presented by Brandt and Erdman. Brandt's paper on mathematics appeared in JASA in 1950 and Erdman published four papers on paleontology between 1950 and 1957, one of which became a chapter in Evolution and Christian Thought Today (1959). Fetzer coauthored the anthropology chapter in ASA's first book, Modern Science and Christian Faith (1948), and published a paper on fossils in JASA in 1951. Erdman and Fetzer also gave papers at the 1950 Annual Meeting at Goshen College. Spradley showed a slide of them there, with Alta Schrock of Goshen, who gave a paper on environmental concerns-20 years before the first Earth Day.

The contributions to ASA of "Cordie" Erdman (who later married forest ranger Dean Barber) and Marie Fetzer (who later married Wycliffe anthropologist William Reyburn) might seem modest, Spradley said, but they were strategic. Both women did graduate work at Columbia University, encouraged by Wheaton alumnus and one-time ASA Fellow J. Lawrence Kulp, who had set up one of the first labs to date geological and archeological materials by radioactivity measurements. Erdman studied paleontology, Fetzer anthropology. At the 1949 BIOLA meting, Erdman's paper on "Fossil Sequence in Clearly Superimposed Rock StratoC' was illustrated by slides of Grand Canyon strata. Kulp was unable to attend the meeting but Fetzer read Kulp's paper on "Deluge Geology" critical of the views of George McCready Price. Price sat in the front row but did not comment, 11 ossibly disarmed by these impressive women."

Mark Kalthoff, Ph.D. candidate in the history & philosophy of science at Indiana, was the youngest plenary speaker (ever?). He focused on the first 15 years of ASA history, using the phrase "harmonious dissonance" to describe those years. His forthcoming dissertation profiles ASA as one example of science/faith interaction in 20thcentury America. 'Mark's meticulous research enables him to quote verbatim from letters people have forgotten they ever wrote. His coniparison of the "rhetoric" in some of those old docuinents; to the "reality" of ASA's development was so fascinating that the Weary Old Editor quit taking notes just to listen (WOE is me - Ed.).

We do recall feeling proud of ASA's pioneers as Mark recounted how they resisted efforts to push ASA into one "camp" or another. ASA's first president, Alton Everest, was a statesman-and a pretty good politician, too. He led the way, holding out for an "open" scholarly organization committed to maintaining both scientific integrity and an authentic biblical faith.

Mark Kafthoff

Everest's diplomacy kept ASA from fusing with, or even forming an alliance with, exclusively "youngearth creationist" groups (like the Deluge Geology Association? Drat, no notes -Ed.). Alton pulled it off without stirring up factionalism over the age of the earth. That came later, after the deluge (The Genesis Flood, 1961).

Publication of ASA's own First volume, Modern Science and Christian Faith, was one of Everest's remarkable accomplishments. Editing it was a challenge, with the 12 authors of its 11 chapters holding perhaps that many different views on how to integrate science and the Bible. Nevertheless, it presented a united-enough front to help many people, especially students, maintain their faith while taking science seriously. Like the ASA itself, it represented harmony rather than total unity. ASA members' commitment to the biblical message allowed them breathing room to learn from each other and even to change their minds about other matters. Harmony is riskier than unison, Kalthoff said, but it produces a more pleasing sound.

Final plenary speaker was the 1991 program chair himself. On Sunday evening Jack Haas introduced two films produced by Moody Institute of Science (MIS, a California offshoot of Moody Bible Institute), with tales of the two Moody institutes and of Irwin Moon. MIS founder Moon was an amateur "science nut" who found that his science demonstrations strongly attracted young people to gospel presentations. He never joined ASA, but Alton Everest spent 25 years at MIS, arranging for ASA's local L.A. section to review the evangelistic films for scientific accuracy.

The two films Jack screened were the original full-length evangelistic films, God of Creation (1945) and the award-winning City of the Bees (1963). The science footage was of the high caliber now familiar to NOVA viewers. MIS has used much of that footage in shorter educational films without a direct Christian message. The original full-length films are still in use, especially overseas with foreign language sound-tracks. (For a complete catalogue, write MIS, 12000 E. Washington Blvd., Whittier, CA 90606.-Ed.)

So many people, doing so many good things. That's the heritage our ASA forefathers (and mothers) have left us.

DREAM

0f course we didn't spend the whole Annual Meeting looking at the past. The present was addressed in contributed papers on many topics other than the history of science or of ASA, in discussion groups on current issues, in field trips, and in lots of informal conversations -not to mention two days of Executive Council meetings and the Annual Business Meeting.


Richard Bube

"The Future of the ASA" was the specific focus of former ASA president and former Journal editor, Richard H. Bube, professor of materials science & electrical engineering at Stanford . As after-dinner speaker at the Saturday night banquet, Dick outlined challenges and pitfalls that may lie ahead for ASA. He charted a middle course, warning of extremes on either side. Two perennial temptations are 1) to accommodate theology to current scientific understanding and 2) to force a false synthesis damaging to the authenticity of both.

Bube wants ASA to make contributions to both the church and science while becoming neither a strictly scholarly society nor merely an evangelistic arm of the church. We are Christian scholars of science but we should not become a scientific elite. Within ASA there is a proper place for scholarship, interaction, reflection, apologetics, evangelism, and service: Members of the ASA are among the few people who really belong to both the community of science and the Christian community, and who can speak with understanding and authority about the activities and perspectives of both communities.

It's not enough to build a bridge between those communities, Bube said. Rather, we must be that bridge. And despite the "American" in our name, we must seek ways to establish contacts with others of like mind and purpose around the world.

A lot of contact was being established that week, as 280 ASAers daily rubbed shoulders with young people from over 100 countries, gathered for a World Assembly of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. We'll have more to say about that-and about ASA's future-in future issues.

SERIOUS BUSINESS

ASA's 50th Anniversary was celebrated without unseemly triumphalism. One reason for that was concern about executive director Bob Herrmann's health. Before going to Kenya for the first meeting of the African R&D institute that ASA is helping to establish, Bob suffered a retinal tear. Successful treatment enabled him to complete the trip, but on his return the ophthalmologist found two more torn places. Recognizing that stress was playing a role, the doctor grounded him then and there. For Bob, the 1991 Annual Meeting was out.

Bob's absence put the Executive Council under somewhat more stress, perhaps, but they were able to contact Bob by telephone whenever necessary. Taking care of dayto-day business at Wheaton, the Ipswich office staff (Frances Polischuk, Becky Petersen, and Karen Brunstrom) saw to it that everything went smoothly. Jack Haas's geographical proximity to the Ipswich office during planning stages had been a boon. And local arrangements chair Al Smith had ASA stalwarts from the Wheaton and Chicago area community to draw on, including Ray Brand and Marilyne Flora.

Bob Herrmann's health was not the only cloud hovering over the festivities. Equally serious was ASA's financial situation, made evident by a cash-flow crisis that developed this summer. Pinched by unpaid accounts from other businesses, Science Press pulled back. They refused to print the September issue of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith until the bill for the March issue was paid in full. In June Bob sent an emergency appeal to several hundred members who've been faithful donors in the past, and Perspectives went to press.

Participants at the Annual Meeting responded to the crisis by contributing some $7,539, a record for any offering ever taken at an Annual Business Meeting. (More contributions also arrived later.) Other actions were also deemed necessary. The Council wanted Bob's "emergency letter" sent to the whole membership. And if enough contributions are not received, the SEARCH insert will be dropped from three issues of Perspectives, the money saved being applied to publication of the journal itself. (Serves us right for calling attention to other start-up publications that fell by the wayside.-WOE)

Other nonprofit organizations are suffering a similar crunch, including many worthy Christian enterprises. But ASA is "our business," said president Gerald Hess at the Business Meeting, so those who believe in ASA must find ways to support it. President-elect Ken Dormer (who will inherit the problem in 1992) was full of ideas: How about each member giving an extra buck for each of ASA's 50 years? Or ten bucks for every year of their membership? Or what if those who didn't attend the meeting would contribute what registration would have cost them ($80) or that plus housing and meals (another $102.50)?

Actually, David Siemens and his wife did just that. When car trouble stranded them in Gallup, New Mexico, on their way to the meeting, Dave pounded out a quick note from the motel on his laptop computer. He said ASA should regard the money they had sent in for the meeting as a donation. At the banquet, m.c. Walt Hearn read Dave's letter of greeting and named him winner of ASA's Creative Financing Award on the spot.

Bob Herrmann, aware that the recession may drag on, hopes that such bail-out gifts will not diminish members' regular contributions, which tend to come in at the end of the year. Is this a good time to revive the plan for long-term financial stability proposed by Howard Claassen, president in the early 1980s? Howard argued that if ASA members would pledge "a tithe of a tithe" or one percent of their annual income, ASA could not only keep ahead of its bills but could undertake important new projects.

You'll see more about ASA's finances in future issues, and about other items of business. Final action on the resolution in support of "teaching evolution as science" was postponed until the Council meeting in early December.

Some Good News

At the Business Meeting, the "ayes had it." The "eyes" have since won another round (see above.) After both cryopexy and laser treatments, reports on Bob Herrmann's retinas have been of healing with no further damage.

In August another eye (of Bob Hurricane) howled by to the east, wrecking Cape Cod but doing little damage in Ipswich. ASA's vision for the future remains undimmed - if we build our financial base on something more durable than sand.

At Wheaton some tears were shed because it was Karen Brunstrom's last meeting; her husband Steve had been transferred from the east coast. Karen's replacement has already come on board. Executive assistant Carol Aiken is now likely to answer your calls to Ipswich. A resident of nearby Rowley (MA), Carol is married (to Charlie), has three children (the oldest a sophomore at Gordon College), has done office work, and has been self employed as an interior decorator.

BULLETIN BOARD

(1) After announcing that the Newsletter editor's Area Code would change in September from 415 to 510, we learned that similar changes are being made in areas around Chicago, Los Angeles, and possibly elsewhere. If your Area Code changes, please notify the Ipswich office for the next ASA Directory. If you want your e-mail address listed, send that along too.

(2) For recruiting new members, please request new copies of the blue ASA brochure.  Each ASA member should keep some of the now brochures on hand (and keep running out of them!). Request as many as you can use from ASA, P.O. Box 668, Ipswich, MA 01938.

(3) The Biology of Morality will be the topic of a two-day multidisciplinary dialogue sponsored by Bethel College on 13-14 Mar 1992. Keynote speaker will be geneticist Elving Anderson, a Bethel alumnus. Are there moral universals that are biologically based? Does the rise of morality require a transcendent explanation beyond biology? Is sociobiology scientific? Twenty-minute papers on these and similar topics are invited, with a 200-word abstract due by 15 Jan 1992. Send abstracts to: James P. Hurd, Assoc. Prof. of Anthropology, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN 55112. For information, contact Prof. Hurd (Tel. 612-638-6329; Fax, 612-63"001).

(4) Theme of the third World Congress of the International Christian Studies Association, to meet 7-9 Aug 1992 in Pasadena, California, will be Unity of the Arts and Sciences: Pathways to God's Creation? Abstracts are due I Jan 1992, to Dr. Oskar Gruenwald, 2828 Third St., Suite 11, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

WHEREVER GOD WANTS US: 19.

Unprecedented opportunities for Christians in academia, business, and other fields in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union continue to open. Changes are proceeding so rapidly that news commentators can hardly keep pace.

Dave Fisher of the Slavic Gospel Association reports opportunities to teach courses in Christian Studies in the Faculty of Philosophy of two major Soviet universities. The International Institute for Christian Studies has contracted to supply professors to teach from one to four semesters, beginning immediately. A doctorate in philosophy, theology, religion, or biblical studies is required, with preference given to applicants fluent in Russian or German. Contact: Dr. Daryl McCarthy,

IICS Executive Director, 10955 Lowell, Suite 1010, Overland Park, KS 66210. Tel. 913-339-6530; Fax 913-339-6537.

Dave also alerted us to a May 1991 update of the Handbook for Christian Travelers to the USSR. The 104-page handbook, written by a pseudonymous couple ("Joe & Sarah Smith") who've lived in the USSR, lists such rare items as the addresses of evangelical churches and of Christian magazines published in the Soviet Union. Besides practical tips, the handbook has a wealth of information on Soviet society. "How Soviet People View the World" includes a section on what they think about the supernatural. It adds a Christian slant to Sergei Kapitza's report on "Antiscience Trends in the USSR" (Scientific American, Aug 1991). Troubled Soviet citizens have been turning to parapsychology, mysticism, and assorted gurus-as well as to authentic Christian faith.

Handbook for Christian Travelers to the USSR is available at $5 per copy. Order from Institute of Soviet and East European Studies, Slavic Gospel Association, P.O. Box 1122, Wheaton, IL 60189.

Thomas E. Woodward writes of a Russian language translation program to help people deal with excessive claims of evolutionary naturalism. Tom directs the C. S Lewis Fellowship, which began as a Christian forum for local (Tampa Bay, Florida) faculty members. Based at Trinity College, the Fellowship has expanded its contact with faculty elsewhere, frequently by recommending or offering reading material calling various scientisms into question.

In Jan 1991, the C. S. Lewis Fellowship secured Lewis & Stanley of Dallas to publish translations in various languages of a chapter on "The Puzzle of Perfection" from Michael Denton's Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. From the author's London agent, the publisher purchased rights to publish 10,000 copies of that chapter in magazine format for free distribution to university students and faculty in the Soviet Union. In July the Russian translation was completed by a team from the Slavic Gospel Association.

Estimated costs for that project add up to about $4,000. Even small contributions are welcome, Tom says. Checks made out to Trinity College (with a note attached designating the money to the "C. S. Lewis Denton Project.") can be sent to C. S. Lewis Fellowship, P.O. Box 9000, Holiday, FL 34690-9000.

We have late news from chemist Charles B. Thaxton of Julian, California, co-author of The Mystery of Life's Origin. Charlie went to Romania in 1990 to lecture at various universities and help Christian groups distribute nearly 3,000 copies of the Romanian edition of Mystery on campuses there. In May and June of this year he returned to Romania with wife Carole and also visited Poland and Czechoslovakia. He gave 23 lectures to university audiences "hungry for clear, wellreasoned answers" about the origin of life-and about the meaning of Christian faith. Charlie was full of exciting tales of God's timing, but none more dramatic than his plans for the coming year. The Thaxton family is moving to Czechoslovakia to set up a base of operation in Prague for a university-centered ministry to all who have been indoctrinated in "scientific atheism." Carole's skills from co-authoring the KONOS Character Curriculum for home schooling will supplement Charlie's background in science. In July and August they traveled across the U.S. with a video of their trip, enlisting financial support. When we heard from Charlie they still needed about $25,000. Contributions (c/o Julian Center, P.O. Box 991, Julian, CA 92036) would be welcome. If everything came together, they were to leave for Prague in October.

"DARWIN ON TRIAL"

UC. Berkeley law professor Phil Johnson's 1991 book, Darwin on Trial, is now available in hard cover from InterVarsity Press as well as from Regnery. It raises questions about the evidentiary basis of macro-evolutionary theory but primarily it attacks Darwinism as promotion of an anti-theistic "creation myth." Johnson is hard to dismiss. And hard to ignore.

Johnson has appeared on William F. Buckley's "Firing Line" on PBS TV, and on National Public Radio in a two-hour call-in show from Madison, Wisconsin. On NPR, Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, opposed his views. At the ASA Annual Meeting, tapes of a Johnson lecture on "What is Evolution and Why Does It Matter?" sold out. John Wiester, chair of ASA's Committee for Integrity In Science Education, brought the tapes and wants more people to understand Johnson's distinction between "evolution as science" and "Darwinism as ideology." We understand that Tom Woodward of the C. S. Lewis Fellowship in Florida has been alerting people to the Johnson book. For example, Tom had a copy of the book sent to each of some 200 Campus Crusade staffers in the U.S. Tom also wrote a major essay-review of Danvin on Trial for the 19 Aug issue of Christianity Today, pointing out that Darwinism on Trial would have been a better title. Johnson's challenge to Darwinists to defend their claim that "biological creation" actually occurred by mindless, purposeless processes may wake up a lot of people. Tom thinks the wake-up call had to be sounded by a nonscientist. Most scientists can't afford to question the basic assumptions under which evolutionary science operates, because: Those who dominate this area of science see themselves as besieged by religious fundamentalists, a category that, to these scientists, seems to include anyone who believes in a God who takes an active role in the world. Several sidebars accompanied Tom's essay. Philosopher J. P. Moreland wrote, "This is an important book with a crucial message clearly unpopular in polite academic circles." Biologist David Wilcox cheered the book as an effective counter-attack against a scientific naturalism functioning for half a century "as a comprehensive philosophy for all of reality - indeed, as a religion." Charles Hummel, author of The Galileo Connection, was more critical, saying that Johnson had not distinguished consistently enough between macro-evolutionary theory and philosophical belief in naturalism. Hummel felt that the book chided theists (such as ASA members) for taking evolution seriously-even though they reject evolutionism.

Darwinism's defenders are rallying, with critical comments in Science, Nature, and elsewhere. More next time.

THE EDITOR'S LAST WORDS: 17.

This year the Executive Council has been cautious in its handling of a proposed resolution on "teaching evolution as science." It wants to avoid setting a precedent that might open ASA to divisive political activism. As the ASA brochure says, "some ASA members oppose evolution for its supposed philosophical connotations, while others accept it as a scientific theory for its alleged explanatory power."

Our common allegiance to Jesus Christ, expressed in ASA's Statement of Faith, also enables us to tolerate differences of opinion on nuclear disarmament, nuclear power generation, economic systems, biblical hermeneutics - even the politics of abortion.

An editor with opinions (that is to say, any editor) has to stay alert to maintain impartiality, lest what God hath joined together be editorially put asunder. It's possible to favor one side or the other without even realizing that something is a controversial issue. The Weary Old Editor probably does it all the time.

What brings this to mind is a letter from a new ASA member, a student "surprised to see an advertisement for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) in the Bulletin Board section of the Jun/Jul issue." NCSE publications have termed certain biblical accounts "myths," he said, and seem to view anyone who questions evolution as a Bible-thumping, mindless fundamentalist. He couldn't see how that squared with ASA's Statement of Faith.

I responded by assuring him that a notice of what some other organization is doing, appearing anywhere in this Newsletter but especially under "Bulletin Board," is not an endorsement. Such items appear because in my judgment they are worthy of attention by ASA members. I try to report them without prejudice even when I disagree with some position taken by the organization. ASA's relation to advocacy groups like NCSE (and ICR, the Institute for Creation Research, for that matter) will always be tenuous, even ambiguous, because our agendas only partially overlap.

The item about the change in publisher of the journal Creationl Evolution may have looked like an ad because it included the subscription price and NCSE's address. I do that even for publications that may annoy me, I explained, because I think of providing that information not as advertising but as "going the extra mile" for our Teaders-and as an example for other publications to follow. ASA has never been as well known as it should be because it is so hard to get ASA mentioned in other publications and even harder to get our address mentioned in such places. So I try to "do unto other publications as I would have them do unto ours," a policy that has won ASA some friends-or at least some reciprocal notice in a few other publications.

PERSONALS

John W. Haas, III received his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at the U. of Massachusetts and did a postdoc at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He is now a staff scientist there, working on environmental problems. On Aug 24 he married biologist Julia Collier in Oak Ridge. (John is the son of Jack Haas, editor of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, who is evidently not a scion of the thoroughbred Haases in the 1991 Forbes list of the world's wealthiest families. -Ed.)

Glenn Kirkland, retired physicist of Bethesda, Maryland, is known to our readers for his support of Alzheimer's sufferers in general and for his tender loving care of his wife Grace, who died in May 1990, some 13 years after diagnosis. Over those years Glenn found fellowship and support at ASA meetings, but this year he missed it. On July 27 Glenn and Barbara Ann Nielsen were celebrating their recent marriage at a reception at Fourth Presbyterian Church of Bethesda. We wish them joy.

Allan N. Nishimura of the Dept. of Chemistry at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, was awarded a $4,500 summer-research supplement to his American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund grant. The grant was for work on optically detected magnetic resonance of adsorbed molecules on thin metal films in ultrahigh vacuum.

Frank Roberts retired this year after 36 years of teaching at Delaware County Christian School (DCCS) in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. On 28 June the Towne House restaurant was packed with school administrators, faculty, and alumni testifying of Frank's profound influence on their lives. The Spring issue of the DCCS Keynoter also expressed former students' high regard for this gifted teacher who cared about them. Over the years Frank taught math and many science courses, specializing in physics, astronomy, and geology. But he also taught Bible classes and Greek to small groups of interested students. His classes were hands-on experiences, wrote Beverly Hoyer

Reno of Albuquerque, New Mexico (class of '75), who went on to study education and geology. After receiving a B.S. in physics (Haverford, 1951) and a Th.M. (Dallas Seminary, 1955), Frank Roberts founded the DCCS science program and taught full-time there while earning an Ed.M. in secondary education (Temple, 1958) and a Ph.D. in geology (Bryn Mawr, 1969). He has been active in the Mid Atlantic Christian School Association as well as ASA, to which he would sometimes bring DCCS students. (Hooray for Beverly for mentioning ASA by name in her profile on Frank!Ed.) Frank and wife Shirley were at Wheaton for the 1991 Annual Meeting, but his energy and enthusiasm made it hard to believe that he had just retired.

PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS. Biology; Kirk Larsen (Dept of Zoology, Miami Univ., Oxford, OH 45056; tel. 513-523-2646) seeks position at a Christian college. Has B.S. (Calvin), Ph.D. (entomology, Ohio State, 1991), experience in ecology, animal behavior, environmental studies, postdoc research at Miami; married, one child, will relocate.

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. Health, faith, ethics: Full-time Associate with doctorate in religious ethics; philosophical ethics; or religion & society, medicine, or health care. For research, publishing, & education on relations between faith, health, & ethics. Applications were due 15 Sept, but check to see if still open: John F. Kilner, Search Committee Chair, The Park Ridge Center, Suite 450, 676 N. St. Clair, Chicago, I L 60611.