American Scientific
Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation
VOLUME 34 NUMBER 5
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
1992
NEWSLETTER of the ASA/CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box 668, 55
Mar ket
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.
Hearn, 762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. 0 1992 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All fights reserved.
THINKING AHEAD
We know you want to hear
about the 1992 ASA Annual
Meeting in Hawaii. Something
about the setting, theme, and program of that meeting, though, has
us thinking already of the 1993 ANNUAL MEETING, to be held
AUGUST 6-9 at SEAT`TLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY in Seattle,
Washington, with a focus on ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES.
From the outse-, much of die Hawaii meeting was devoted to thinking about ASA's future role. On
Friday night we were welcomed by
a chemist known since the 1950s
for his contributions to electronic *instrumentation, Howard Malmstadt, Provost of our host institution. He
described University of the Nations
as a very experimental place. The
University (known to Youth With a
Mission folks as "the Kona base")
has a modular, "hands-on" curriculum born of YWAM's efforts to
channel the energies of Christians
from around the world into active
outreach projects, from evangelism
and performing arts to disaster relief and appropriate technology.
Malmstadt's talk set the stage which was quickly filled with
young Pacific island dancers of the
"Island Breeze" company, one of
YWAM's performing groups. Their
rousing "Aloha" program raised the
rafters and drummed out any stuffiness not left behind on the
mainland.
The "formal" program began Saturday morning with one parallel
session devoted primarily to science
education, another on Christian responses to human needs. In the
latter, ASA president Ken Dormer reported on ASA's ongoing efforts
to help Christian colleagues in East
Africa. Martin Price described hunger-related projects at ECHO
(Educational Concerns for Hunger
Organization) in Florida.
After professional meteorologist Donna Tucker's Christian prospective on global warming, amateur
meteorologist Jack Swearengen presented data on regional climate
changes in his northern California
area. Meanwhile, speakers in the
other session were not only analyzing science education but some
were describing their own approaches to doing a better job of
it.
On Sunday afternoon there was
no doubt about the excitement engendered by guest speaker Forrest
Mims. Telling the tale of his rejection by Scientiftc American, Mims
sincerely thanked ASA members for
writing letters and offering encouragement at a critical time when he
was being discriminated against because of his beliefs. Mims, who
now edits Science Probe!, is a science writer, an instrument designer,
and an "amateur scientist" whose unbounded enthusiasm for scientific
experimentation proved infectious.
On Monday afternoon a panel
from the four Saturday night discussion groups laid out a few "doable" projects ASA could undertake.
By then, something seemed to gela feeling, perhaps, that ASA has devoted much attention to the philosophy of science/religion but too little
to doing science as a Christian calling. For the next two days, small
groups fanned out over the Big Island for field trips in rented cars
and vans. They saw exciting things,
which we'll tell you about later.
Some of their car-pool conversations
led to the next three stories.
LET'S DO IT!
Endiusiasm for "doing science" instead of merely talking about it
ran high in Hawaii. The theme of
"LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
AND ACROSS THE GLOBE" got
people to thinking about what form
future meetings should take: Should
we plan Annual Meeting programs
more than a year ahead, structuring
them for greater local impact and
better press coverage? Could more
"data-driven" empirical papers be included? Shouldn't ASA encourage
certain types of research, in particular small-scale, labor-intensive,
applied projects?
One argument seemed to go like
this: Our Affiliation began 51 years
ago with a stated purpose of "studying the relationship between science
and theology and publishing the
sults of such studies." Today all
sorts of science/religion "think
tanks" that didn't exist back in
1941 have sprung up. Without in
any sense yielding ASA's philosophical territory to others, we could
now add a more empirical focus.
Many speakers pointed to public
disillusionment with science. Reporting on a current project of ASA's
Committee for Integrity in Science
Education, Walt Hearn argued that
"authentic science" could use more
visible support from "authentic Christians"; he hoped that On Being a
Christian in Science would be a
step in that direction. John Kuhne of University of the Nations, back
from the environmental summit in
Rio de Janeiro, said that in the
light of both local and global environmental deterioration, evangelical
Christians should not be passive but
become "radically green."
One action-oriented ASA member
pushed things in that direction by
offering a $100 prize for the best
environmental research done in the
Lord's name and reported at next
year's Seattle meeting. He persuaded your Weary Old Editor to
announce immediately a sort of
prize competition. By press time
the Committee for Integrity in Science Education had taken up the
idea, broadened the research areas
to be covered, and upped the ante.
The Committee's hastily drawn Contest Rules in the following story
are set out to get people
started on an appropriate investigation without delay.
The ASA Executive Council,
which meets in Ipswich Nov 20-22,
may want to modify things a bit.
We're barging ahead because action
taken then wouldn't be reported
until the Feb/Mar issue. Research
takes time to plan and carry out.
The Committee sees the prize offer
as itsetf an experiment. If it works,
research reports could become a fixture of ASA meetings.
Nobel Prizes honor important research. We could call ours the
No-grant Prizes, honoring "small research" that also contributes to
useftil knowledge. For now we'll
call them "Caring Research" Awards.
RESEARCH WITH A
HEART
Announcement: The Committee for Integrity in Science Education of the American Scientific
Affiliation hereby introduces the
ASA AWARDS FOR CARING RE-
SEARCH for 1993, in three categories:
A. Caring for the Earth
B. Caring for People
C. Caring for Science
Each award, consisting of at
least $100 in cash, will be given
for the best empirical paper in that
category presented at the 1993
ASA Annual Meeting at Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington,
6-9 August 1993. Basic contest
rules are as follows:
1. Papers must report a study
based on experimentation or observation, using a format acceptable for
scientific papers (e.g., an Introduction outlining the problem to be
solved, followed by sections on
Methods, Results, Conclusions, and
References Cited). To be eligible, papers must be either unpublished or
have appeared in print within the
twelve months prior to the August
1993 Annual Meeting.
2. Research eligible for an award
may be either "professional science"
(i.e., work done on a problem in
an investigator's own area of expertise) or "amateur science" (i.e.,
work in an area in which the investigator has an interest but no professional credentials such as an
advanced degree). The awards are intended to stimulate both good amateur science and professional work
by caring Christians.
3. Authors or coauthors need not
be members of ASA or CSCA, but
the individual presenting the paper
must register for the 1993 ASA Annual Meeting. Christian motivation
for vying to solve the specified
problem must be implicit, yet need
not be explicitly expressed in the
paper. That is, research done with
care for the needs of the Earth, of
people, or of science may be reported in a form acceptable to an
appropriate secular journal. Submission to such journals is encouraged.
4. Papers will be judged on the
basis of creativity of the investigator(s); significance of the problem
chosen; suitability of quantitative
methods used; usefulness of data obtained; appropriateness of conclusions; and presentation of the paper
as a talk or poster at the Annual Meeting as well as in manuscript
form.
5. A copy of the manuscript,
complete with graphs, tables, and
any other illustrations, must be in
the hands of the Awards Committee
at the Annual Meeting by the time
the paper is actually presented in a
program session. A paragraph of biographical information on each author and coauthor must be
appended to the paper (for press release purposes).
6. If possible, the 1993 Caring
Research Awards will be presented
at the close of the Sea?& meeting;
otherwise, checks will be mailed by
the Awards Committee soon afterward and the winners announced in
the Newsletter.
GET QUANTITATIVE
1. Caring for the Earth. The
environmentalist's motto is "think
globally but act locally." Several papers in Hawaii showed that even
amateurs can make useful atmospheric measurements or calculations
based on local or regional variations. Quantitative studies could be
made of local sources of pollution;
of community waste disposal problems; of ecological diversity; of recycling effectiveness; of educational
efforts, legal constraints, political
controversies, or technical alternatives. Read the local papers as well
as the technical literature, and use
your imagination. If you teach, put
a class to work gathering data. Or
enlist the help of your family or
church group, educating them about
science in the process. Even young
kids could learn a lot about experimental design, quantitative measurement, record keeping, sampling
error, and so on from simply cataloguing the "waste stream" of your
own household, their school, or a
local factory.
2. Caring for People. For millions of people, even the most
basic human needs are not being
met. Research to meet the needs of
the poor is seldom done because it
is not "profitable." If you can't
think of a feasible research project
to do on behalf of needy people,
write to Martin Price (ECHO,
17430 Durrance Rd, N. Ft. Myers,
FL 33917) for a set of Academic
Opportunity Sheets. They outline
clear-cut technical problems needing
immediate work to benefit the poorest of the world's poor, who have
few if any advocates. (Chemist Rolf Myhrman of Judson College
is already working on how to cope
with high levels of DOPA in protein-rich velvet beans now grown 'in
Belize, a problem Martin mentioned
in Hawaii.) Do public or private
agencies need technical assistance to
facilitate their services to the poor?
Could a "gleaning" operation be set
up to help feed the hungry? Would
some form of "appropriate technology" benefit local poor people?
What are the dimensions of the
problems of hunger, homelessness,
or health in your area? What about
a cost-benefit analysis of various
ways of coping with such problems,
or a study of what churches or
other organizations are actually
doing about such problems? Which
youth programs achieve results?
How serious a problem to children
is lead pollution in your area? If
your family offered hospitality to
poor people, would it make any
measurable difference in their lives?
3. Caring for Science. Why not
experiment with teaching a new
kind of course and try to measure
its effectiveness? What about making a study of science-related curriculum materials used in your
district? What science-related books
are in school and church libraries?
What innovative local section programs work? A "science camp" for
kids? If you prepared a good bibliography on science/faith issues, how
could you get it distributed?
Through Christian bookstores? As
church bulletin inserts? What would
it take to get ASA members on
the air on radio or television in
your area? If you began writing letters to your local newspaper on scientific subjects, what fraction would
be published? What would help science teachers in your local schools
do a better job? Could you help
them obtain used scientific equipment? How well trained are they?
Would they be interested in cumiculum materials that teach critical
thinking skills? What resources in
your community (such as museums,
factories, artists, etc.) could be used
more effectively in teaching science? What are the best ways to
encourage Christian students to go
into science? To mentor graduate
students? To meet the personal
needs of scientific colleagues? To
promote the goals of ASA in your
area? What
works?
What
doesn't
work?
These ideas for feasible quantitative studies fell out in a few minutes when the Weary Old Editor
stormed his own brain. Any bright
young scientist worth his or her sodium chloride could do better
(WOE is me.-Ed.). Like Christianity, though, science is easier to talk
about than to do. One purpose of the Caring Research Awards is to
remind us that doing science should
be a joyful, creative activity. As
grants get harder to come by,
that's good to remember. Another
thing to remember: ASA members
are in scientific work to glorify
God and to care for his Creation.
Let's inspire each other in 1993.
COMING SOON
...
From an enchanted island. Tales
X
of the mid-Pacific. Revealing photos (if they come out). Lava. Coral
reefs. Surf. Sea turtles. Orchids, anthuria, coconut palms. Geckos, mongooses, myna birds. Flora, fauna,
passion fruit More lava. Predictions
of the future of physical, biological,
and medical science. Great papers,
discussions, ideas. Good news and
bad from our friends in Kenya. ASAers from "Across the Globe"
gather, then scatter. Great hospitality
at "Kona base." Lots of sun. Lots
of fun. Lotsa lava-and more!
Worship, fellowship, exploration.
Christian geologists and biologists
meet, trip out. Peak experiences on
Mauna Kea. New ASA Fellows
elected. Council gets counsel on endowment fund. ASA gets recognition in Spanish, in a publication
from Spain. More recognition in Chinese, in a new book from Taiwan.
Steve Gould & Co. take aim at
Phil Johnson; Johnson returns fire.
Strange happenings in California science education. Help for Christian
grad students coming up. Caring for
the Earth, for people, for science.
This
year the Earth Summit in Rio.
Next year the ASA Annual Meeting
in Seattle! All these stories, and more, in
coming issues.
BULLETIN BOARD
- David K. Larsen (5412 S.
Ingleside Ave Apt 3, Chicago, IL
60615),
1
Phb. student at the U.
of Chicago Divinity School, plans a
dissertation on Christian responses
to environmental problems. He has
requested information on ASA and
would probably welcome
correspondence from ASA members
who have 'addressed such issues.
- The Interdisciplinary Biblical
Research Institute (IBRI, P.O. Box
423, Hatfield, PA 19440-0423), will
hold its 6th annual seminar on
origins held at Biblical Seminary in
Hatfield on Friday evening through
Saturday, 22-23 Oct 1992. A
9-volume video set of a previous
"Dice or Deity" seminar is
available, as are some new
publications: IBRI Research Report
#40, "Are the Days of Genesis
Longer than 24 Hours? The Bible
Says, 'Yes!"' by Perry Phillips costs $2 plus p&h (p&h: 10% of
total order or $1.50 minimum). A
request plus a self-addressed
stamped envelope will get you a
free copy of IBRI's 4-page
bibliography, "Some Helpful
Resources for Home-Schoolers on
Origins and Christian Evidences."
- A "Ministry in Daily Life Consultation will be held in the
Washington, D.C., area the weekend
of 13 Nov 1992, The event will
begin on Friday night with the
annual Mark Gibbs Laity Lecture at
Christ Church in Alexandria,
Virginia. For information, write to
Editor Henry Sholar, Laity
Exchange,
311 MacArthur Blvd,
San Leandro, CA 94577. Laity
Exchange is
published by the
Vesper Society Group in partnership
with denominations and institutions
concerned about stirring up and
supporting the day-to-day ministry
of all Christians. At a similar
Consultation in Sept 1991 at
Daylesford Abbey in Paoli,
Pennsylvania, Princeton sociologist
Robert Wuthnow described various
models of the church and the implications of each for activating
lay ministry. (That's lay, not lei; it
includes all Christians in science
and technology, not just Hawaiians
who put garlands of fresh flowers
around visitors' necks-Ed.)
- At the American Academy of
Religion meeting in San Francisco,
21-24 Nov 1992, the Religion &
Science Group will host a
reception. (Contact: AAR Meeting
Manager, Scholars Press, P.O. Box
15299, Atlanta, GA 30333-0399.)
- The meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) in Boston, 11-16
Feb 1993, will feature three
"Science and Religion" symposia
among many others of ASA
interest. An AAAS affiliate society,
the Institute on Religion in an Age
of Science (IRAS, 65 Hoit Rd,
Concord, NH 03301) has proposed
such symposia in the past,
sometimes with success. In Jan
1992 Kevin Sharpe, editor of the
IRAS-sponsored Science & Religion
News, asked for proposals for the
IRAS Council to consider at the
1992 AAAS meeting in Chicago.
IRAS also publishes Zygon. Check
future issues of Science for
program details or contact AAAS
(1333 H Street, NW, Washington,
DC 20005).
Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, will hold a forum on
"Ethics, Values, and the Promise of
Science" in San Francisco, 25-26
Feb 1993. The forum will focus on
"the ethical framework in which
research should be conducted, and
will include the new challenges
raised by pursuit of the frontiers of
science." The Society hopes to
disseminate the results to its more
than 100,000 members in the
research community and to update
its booklet of guidelines for young
scientists, Honor in Science. For
registration information, contact
Linda Ray, Sigma Xi, P.O. Box
13975, Research Triangle Park, NC
27709. (Should ASA have a
presence there?-Ed.)
- C. Gordon Winder is organizing
a session on "What Is Life?" for
the July 1993 biennial meeting of
the international Society for the
History, Philosophy, & Social
Studies of Biology at Brandeis U.
in Waltham, Massachusetts. His
session will precede a session on
"History of the Origins of Life
Problem." He is requesting
submissions of "dictionary-type"
definitions of life in about 200
words, understandable by the
general public, by 28 Feb 1993.
(Address: Dept of Geology,
University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada;
Fax: 519-661-3198.) To those who
submit, Winder will circulate the
definitions without identifying the
submissions, before the meeting.
- The North American Conference
on Christianity & Ecology
(NACCE) will hold a 2nd touring
ecological conference in Russia,
7-24 July 1993. From Moscow the
tour will travel into the agricultural
heartland to explore the traditional
(pre-communist) Russian ethic of
the land. At the initial 1991
conference, the Zelenyi Krist
("Green Cross") of Russia invited
NACCE to organize a loosely
affiliated earth-restoration
organization in the West. The
proposed Green Cross would care
for the earth's needs just as the
international Red Cross cares for
human needs. NACCE hopes to
build the Green Cross into the first
church-oriented earth restoration
effort in North America, linking it
to international efforts as the
movement grows. Recognizing that
ecumenical efforts are not very
effective in enlisting local church
participation, NACCE is now
developing denomination-specific
materials for environmental
education. Handbooks tailored for
Baptists, Roman Catholics,
Episcopalians, Lutherans, Orthodox,
Pentecostal-Assembly of God, and a
general Protestant version will
contain similar lesson plans,
programs, and resources. These two
projects, plus another plan for
providing environmental education
through a summer camping program
for inner-city youth, will go
forward as funds become available.
A good way to stay in touch is to
read the quarterly Firmament: The
Magazine of Christian Ecology by
joining NACCE (P.O. Box 14305,
San Francisco, CA 94114) for
$25/yr, which also brings you the
new bimonthly Earthkeeping
Newsletter.
(Shouldn't NACCE have
a presence at the 1993 ASA
ANNUAL MEETING in
Seattle?-Ed.)
SQUIBS
- Educatonal Concerns for Hunger
Organization (ECHO, 17430
Durrance Rd, North Ft. Myers, FL
33917-2200) is a "nonprofit
interdenominational Christian
organization dedicated to the fight
against world hunger." It provides
agricultural information and seeds to
people working in the Third World
with peasant farmers or urban
gardeners. The May-July issue of
ECHO News summarized articles
from the latest quarterly agricultural
bulletin, ECHO Development Notes
(EDN), on such topics as farming
in volcanic ash, keeping monkeys
out of gardens, and a new tomato
variety that tolerates tropical heat.
EDN goes to some 2,700 people in
over 100 countries, and to U.S.
residents interested in Third World
development ($10/yr; $5/yr for
students). ECHO News, sent free on
request, also outlines ECHO's
particular needs for financial support
and for dedicated volunteers. (In
August, ECHO suffered little or no
damage from Hurricane Andrew,
whose 140-mph winds passed about
60 miles to the south.-Ed.)
- The Institute for Christian Studies
(ICS, 229 College St, Toronto,
Ontario M5T IR4, Canada), a
graduate school devoted to "the
integration of Christianity and
academics," celebrates its 25th
anniversary this fall. Since 1967,
hundreds of full-time students have
spent time at ICS and over 90
have graduated from its
Masters-level degree programs.
- Since 1978, the Center of
"Ibeological Inquiry (CTI, 50
Stockton St, Princeton, NJ 08540)
has sought to provide new contexts
for discussing what CTI director
Daniel W. Hardy has called "the
largest issue confronting thoughtful
people in the world today: what
relationship does faith have to the
modem understanding of life?" This
year Thomas W. Gillespie became
chair of the Center's board of
trustees, replacing Roland M. Frye ed., Is God a
Creationist?,
Scribners, 1983). According to the
semi-annual CTI
Centerings
(Summer 1992), Gillespie has been
on the CTI board since 1983, when
he became, president of Princeton
Theological Seminary.
- Not to be confused with CTI
(above) is CTi (with a small i),
the Christianity Today Institute, a
panel of evangelical scholars
assembled by
Christianity Today
from time to time to discuss issues
pertinent to the magazine's
readership. The 17 Aug issue of
CT welcomed Miami (OH)
University history professor Edwin
Yamauchi
as a new senior editor.
Other ASA members among CT
fellows and research scholars have
been Elving Anderson, Carl F. H. Henry, Armand Nkholi, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Charles
Hummel, David Moberg, Stephen Monsma, and W. Stanford Reid.
- The Creation Research Society
(CRS) has received a major grant
to build and operate a research
facility near Chino Valley, Arizona.
Founded in 1963, CRS is composed
of "more thaii 700 scientists who
are committed to a Biblical view
of origins." The CRS
Quarterly is
described as "the world's foremost
scholarly technical publication in
creation science." The new CRS
facility, funded by the Jay & Betty
Van Andel Foundation, will be
named The Van Andel Research
Center. John R. Meyer, chair of
the CRS Research Committee (1306
Fairview Road, Clarks Summit, PA
18411), will direct the new center,
which will be staffed by visiting
scientists from throughout North
America. Initial research projects
will include re-evaluation of the
geology and origin of the Grand
Canyon, limits in the variation of
animal and plant populations,
re-evaluation of the fossil record,
and a complete study of geological
dating procedures. The Van Andel
Center will house several
laboratories, support shops, and a
technical research library.
- David Willis of Oregon State
University has alerted us to the
existence of an M.S. thesis on
"History and Analysis of the
Creation Research Society" (I Mar
1990) by William E. Elliott (4136
Cranston SE, Salem, OR 97301).
Elliott came to OSU as a faculty
member of Western Baptist College
in Salem, with a background in
science and a theological degree
from Grace Theological Seminary.
While working on his graduate
degree in the history of science,
Elliott served as a TA in physical
science in Dave's department. Since
Dave Willis was phasing into full
retirement by 1989, he didn't serve
on Elliott's committee. When Dave
came across the completed thesis
this June, he was impressed with
its thoroughness and objectivity on
such issues as the relationship of
CRS to ASA, for example. The
thesis can be obtained from the
OSU Library on interlibrary loan,
or perhaps Bill Elliott would lend
you a copy.
- A timely book by medieval
historian Jeffrey Burton Russell,
Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus
and Modern Historians
(Praeger,
1992), was reviewed in
First
Things
(Mar 1992, pp. 45- 46) by
Robert Royal of the Ethics &
Public Policy Center. The review
says that by 1492 essentially all
educated Europeans already knew
that the world wasn't flat. For
various reasons, later historians
invented the myth that Columbus's
voyage revolutionized thought on
the subject, some wanting to
demonstrate the superiority of the
modem world or to portray
Christianity as "a reactionary force
and an opponent of enlightenment.
Cosmas Indicopleustes (writing
around 547-549), one of only two
ancient writers of any importance
to put forth a flat-Earth theory,
was unknown to Western Europe
until 1706. In his
Divine Comedy
(written about 1300), Dante took a
spherical Earth for granted. After
1870, certain defenders of Darwin
wanted to make ideas that seemed
"biblical" look foolish; by ignoring
the evidence from medieval
scholarship then available, Andrew
Dickson White and others created
"a body of false knowledge" about
"the Flat Error." (Thanks to Dave
Fisher of Wheaton, Illinois, for
spotting this review. If beliefs about
progress influence the writing of
human history, might they also influence views of the history of
other life-forms?-Ed.)
- The 20 Jul 1992 issue of
Christianity Today (p. 53)
contained
a brief squib condensed from "A
Whale of a Tale," Edward Davis's paper in
Perspectives on Science
and Christian
Faith (Dec
1991) on
a fictitious "fish story" that has
often found its way into sermons
on the book of Jonah. (CT used
the old name, Journal of
the
American
Scientific Affiliation,
but
who cares? This way ASA actually
got mentioned by name.-Ed.)
- "The Puzzle of Perfection,"
Chapter 14 of Michael Denton's
Evolution: A Theory in
Crisis is
available in Russian translation for
75 cents/copy, postpaid, according
to Dave Fisher. The 32- page
booklet can be ordered from Dave
at the Slavic Gospel Association,
P.O. Box 1122, Wheaton, IL
60189-1122. (Tom Woodward of
the C. S. Lewis Fellowship was
able to distribute 9,000 of these in
Russian universities this spring.-Ed.)
- The International Association for
the Promotion of Christian Higher
Education (IAPCHE) has undergone
a number of changes in the past
two years. After being housed
temporarily at Dordt and Calvin
colleges, it has an office at 2017
Eastern Ave SE, Suite 203, Grand
Rapids, MI 49507. Its periodical,.
Contact, now in newsletter rather
than journal format, is edited by
Paul G. Schrotenboer. Contact
continues to link Christian
institutions and scholars together
under a worldwide Reformational
banner. In the 1980s, what to do
about the racial policies of
Potchefstroom University for
Christian Higher Education in South
Africa was a cause of concern to
IAPCHE. An IAPCHE conference at
the U. of Zimbabwe in Harare,
Zimbabwe, was postponed from
Aug 1990 to Mar 1991, when it
was held despite organizational
problems caused by the Gulf War.
A conference on Christian Higher
Education in Eastern Europe is
being planned for Hungary in 1993.
Groups from Asia and Latin
America have also asked for help.
IAPCBE hopes to double its
membership in 1992.
WHEREVER GOD
WANTS US: 24.
- Dorothy Woodside has spent the
past year at Chitokoloki Hospital in
the bush of Zambia, Africa,
delivering babies, learning the
language(s) and culture(s), and
encountering diseases she never saw
in the States. She has enjoyed
watching Zambian birds and sharing
her faith with hospital workers and
villagers. As an amateur astronomer
she appreciates the clear skies.
When we heard from her in the
spring she had decided to stay on,
after a trip to California
this
summer to do something about her
mobile home, car, and other
possessions. If she qualified for a
free "frequent flyer" ticket, she
even hoped to attend the ASA
Annual Meeting in Hawaii.
Evidently the Hawaii part didn't
work out, though she would definitely have contributed to our
"Across the Globe" theme. Speaking
of contributions, her hospital can always use good clothing, shoes,
bedding, baby blankets, and knitted
baby things, sent to her at P.O.
Box 25, Chitokoloki, Zambezi, Zambia, Africa (marked "Gift for
missionary"). Checks for Dorothy's
financial support should be sent to
CMML (Christian Missions in Many
Lands), P.O. Box 13, Spring Lake,
NJ 07762, with a separate note indicating that the funds are for
Dorothy Woodside in Zambia. As a
child Dorothy wanted to be a "missionary nurse in Africa." The Lord
has given her the desire of her
heart, but she asks for our prayers
in an area ridden with bacterial diseases and parasites.
- Besides Zambezi, about the
farthest-out place we can think of
is "outer" Mongolia, where two
former ASAers have been at work
this year in the name of Christ. Warren Willis, once a Campus
Crusade staffer in Berkeley and
then in Guam, has been leading a
team showing the "Jesus" filin in
the Mongolian language. Frank
Tichy spent the first three months
of 1992 in follow-up ministry in
places like Ulan Bator (the capital),
Darkhan (the second largest city),
and provincial centers like
Mandelgobi. The film was shown
to 50,000 people, each of whom
received a Gospel of Luke in
Mongolian. Frank then returned to
California, where the Tichys, who
served 21 years in West Africa,
represent the U.S. Center for World
Mission. Frank headed back to
Mongolia in September. He and
Nancy may both go tn April 1993,
if they can find financial support.
(Checks made payable to Bible
Fellowship Church without further
notation will be cftted to the
Tichys' account if sent to them at
1600 S. San Jacinto Ave, #44, San
Jacinto, CA 92583.)
"Bud" Tichy says the gospel is
taking an amazing hold in Mongolia, one of the strictest Buddhist
nations on earth until it became the
first communist country in Asia in
1921. In 1990 it declared itself free
of Soviet domination, and in 1992
it adopted a constitution guaranteeing religious freedom. Though only
a handful of Christims were known
to be in Mongolia in 1990, since
that time three churches have
emerged and the number of Christians, mostly under age 25, is
growing. Economic life is in turmoil in what amounts to a brand
new country twice the size of
Texas with a population of over
two million. In June the communist
party won some 95 percent of the
seats in parliament. Pray for Mongolia and for our brothers and sisters
serving there.
- If you have a Ph.D. in religion,
theology, education, psychology,
sociology, economics, history,
political science, or literature, plus
experience in articulating a Christian
worldview in an academic setting,
the International Institute for
Christian Studies (IICS) is looking
for you. IICS is an evangelical
organization that tries to place
Christian professors in "Christian
studies" slots in secular universities.
IICS has signed contracts with
universities throughout the former
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
To find out more about this
strategic opportunity, contact: IICS,
P.O. Box 12147, Overland Park,
KS 66282-2147; tel. 1-800-776-IICS.
(Source: The News of the Christian
College Coalition.)
WITH THE LORD
Bernard Ramm of Irvine, California, died in his sleep on 11
Aug 1992, after a lifetime of theological scholarship. Although he
wrote many books on many subjects, it was The Christian View of Science and Scripture
(Eerdmans,
1954) for which he was best
known within ASA, and which led
to his election as an Honorary Fellow of ASA in 1963.
"Bernie" Ramm grew up in the
northwest, thought about majoring
in chemistry but switched to speech
at the U. of Washington. To his
A.B. from Washington he added a
B.D. at Eastern Baptist Seminary,
and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy at the U. of Southern
California. While studying at USC
he taught a course in science and
religion at Biola College. He later
served on the faculties of Bethel
College and Seminary, Baylor University, American Baptist Seminary
of the West (Covina), Eastern Baptist Seminary, and American Baptist
Seminary of the West (Berkeley),
and taught at a number of other
schools, including Haigazian College
in Beirut, Lebanon.
For other details of Bernie's life,
and the impact of his writing on
others, see the Dec 1979 issue of
Journal of ASA, a Festschrift marking the 25th anniversary of
publication of The Christian View
of Science and Scripture. (For that
issue, I had the privilege of interviewing Bernie and his wife Alta,
who survives him. I knew I was
in the presence of a true scholar
and a dear brother and sister. After
Parkinson's disease forced his retirement and move to southern
California, he complained that nobody else in the retirement home
where they lived ever read a book.
"They just want to play bridge or
golf," he said.--Ed.)
On learning of his death, the
ASA Executive Council sent Alta
Ramm a message of sympathy and
made a donation in Bernie's memory to a designated benevolent fund
through Geneva Presbyterian Church
at Laguna Hills, California. Bernard
Ramm will be included in the memorial resolution read at the 1993
Annual Meeting in Seattle.
THE EDITOR'S LAST
WORDS: 23.
0ops. Room for only a few short words. How about: wua ffwu ke ea o ka aina i ka
pono?
(Hawaiian state motto, "Me life of
the land is preserved in righteousness.")
PERSONALS
Arnold Claassen of Newton, Kansas, is a medical technologist who
has retired after working in a hospital laboratory for over 35 years. He
earned his B.S. in biology from
Bethel College in North Newton,
Kansas, and in 1961 completed the
hours but not the thesis required
for an M.S. at the U. of Minnesota. Retirement has given Arnold
more time to be active with the
Gideons and to catch up on his
reading. Impressed with Denton's
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis and
Johnson's Darwin on Trial, he worries that some of the "textbook
dogma" taught to science students
is "being less than honest with our
youth." As a new ASA member
this year, Arnold enjoys both the
journal and Newsletter.
William H. Cliff has become assistant professor of biology at
Niagara University (Niagara, NY
14109), after doing postdoctoral
work in the Dept of Physiology &
Biophysics at the U. of Alabama in
Birmingham. For four years Bill
has studied the function of chloride
channels in normal human epithelial
cells and how dysfunction of those
channels leads to symptoms of the
genetic disease cystic fibrosis. He
has enjoyed a productive collaboration with Francis Collins's cystic
fibrosis lab at the U. of Michigan.
At Niagara Bill will continue his research on chloride channels,
supervise undergraduate research,
and teach human and cell physiology. Bill and wife Nancy have two
daughters, Abigail and Hannah.
Norman Geisler has become
dean and CEO of a new graduate
school of theology, Southern Evangelical Seminary, which will offer
Master of Divinity and Master of
Theological Studies degrees. According to a news note in Christianity Today
(17 Aug 1992), the seminary
will be housed at Calvary Church
in Charlotte, North Carolina. Norm
has a B.A. and M.A. from Wheaton, a Th.B. from William Tyndale
College, and a Ph.D. from Loyola
U. in Chicago. He has taught at
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School,
Dallas Theological Seminary, and
other institutions. After the initial announcement, nearly 200 people
expressed interest in taking courses
at the new seminary. Dean Geisler
was scheduled to teach a course in
Christian apologetics as classes
began this fall.
Eldon Hitchcock retired in June
1992 after 35 years of teaching
chemistry at Colorado College in
Colorado Springs. He will remain
at the college as pre-med advisor
and continue to work with local
school districts and the Colorado Alliance for Science as a guest
scientist in elementary and junior
high classrooms. An analytical chemist, Eldon has had great fun
delivering chemical lecture-demonstrations in local schools for the past
20 years. Many ASAers will remember him as the busy local
arrangements chair for our 1987 Annual Meeting at Colorado College.
After that meeting, he and others
in the area organized a Rocky
Mountain ASA Section, with Eldon
serving as co-chair until last year.
He joined ASA in the early 1950s.
Eldon expressed appreciation for the
"encouragement and inspiration I
have received from the journal,
Newsletter, and the national and
local section meetings I've attended.
Ann Hunt, chemist and former
ASA president, is on a year's
study leave at the Scripps Research
Institute in LaJolla, California. She
is learning the ins and outs of macromolecular nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) spectrometry, so
when she gets back to Eli Lilly in
Indianapolis she will switch from
using NMR for elucidating structures of small molecules to using it
to study protein structures. Living
in Solana Beach by the ocean, Ann
has found the ground a bit shakier
than in Indiana and the climate
more like that of Louisiana, where she once did postdoctoral work.
She has been delighted to discover
Solana Beach Presbyterian church.
William B. Monsma, director of
the MacLaurin Institute at the U.
of Minnesota, has been teaching
physics for Augsburg College in
their extension program at 3M Company in Minneapolis. During the
academic year he taught electromagnetic theory and this summer he
taught quantum physics. Bill says
that a debate on "Jesus: Myth or
History?" at U.M. this spring drew
500 people, mostly students. U.M.
classics prof Gerald Erickson argued
that Jesus was a typical mythic
hero; Bethel College theology prof
Gregory Boyd argued for the historicity of the resurrection.
Chris G. Palacas and his wife
Jane are missionaries seconded to
the Ugandan Church in East
Affrica. They help the national
church establish community clinics
as outreach ministries of local
churches. Chris says that in the 2040 age group in Uganda, over 45
percent of the population is HIV
positive. According to some estimates, by the year 2000 more than
10 million children in East Africa
will be homeless because their parents will have died of AIDS.
Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe (RTB) is excited about the
recent confirmation of big bang cosmology by instruments on NASA's
COBE satellite. Believing that the
big bang was not a random explosion but "a carefully controlled
burst of matter, energy, space, and
time from a reality that exists beyond," Hugh is convinced that "the
more we learn about that burst, the
more we see the hand of the transcendent Creator in it." RTB would
like to assemble an international
symposium of scientists to express
what the new astronomical findings
mean, and is working on several
new publications. Meanwhile Hugh
has produced an audiotape, "Big
Bang Ripples," explaining in down-to-earth language how the new
evidence points to the God of the
Bible. The tape is available for
$5.00 postpaid from Reasons to Believe (P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena,
CA 91117). Hugh would welcome contributions toward RTB's ministry
of apologetics and evangelism.
Henry F. Schaefer, Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry at the
University of Georgia, lectured on
quantum chemistry and gave his
Christian testimony in St. Petersburg, Russia, this spring. "Fritz"
also ranked 3rd in a list of "the
world's 50 most cited chemists
ranked by total citations, 1984-1991." His 142 papers published in
1984-1990 were cited 2,504 times
(an average of 17.63 times per
paper, compared to about 5 for the
average chemistry paper). The list
appeared in Science Watch (May
1992), a publication of the Institute
for Scientific Information (ISI) tracking "trends and performance in
basic research." The citation data
were derived from a set of 377,790
articles, reviews, and notes published in the 339 chemistry journals
indexed by ISI worldwide. Four
Nobel Prize winners appeared in
the list: E. J. Corey, Harvard (9th);
R. R. Ernst, Switzerland (10th); R.
Hoffmann, Cornell (13th); and J.
M. Lehn, France (21st). Fritz Schaefer topped the list for total number
of papers published.
Ken W. Smith is assoc. professor of mathematics at Central
Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. Listening to the "Art of
Family Living" broadcast on
WUGN radio this summer, Ken
took exception to its promotion of
a "young-earth" position as the
only legitimate Christian interpretation of Genesis. He wrote to the
speaker, with copies to the program
manager and the station, calling attention to the many evangelical
Christians working in science who
take a different view. He praised
the more balanced treatment by
"Focus on the Family," which aired
conversations with both young earther Duane Gish of Institute for
Creation Research and old-earther
Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe
in August. Ken enclosed copies of John McIntyre's call for Christian
participation in science and Dan
Wonderly's call for honesty in
Bible/science matters from the June 1992 Perspectives on Science and
Christian Faith. He suggested that
the speaker could get a broader
view by conversing "with practically
any of the 2,300 members of the
American Scientific Affiliation."
Thomas E. Woodward of Florida has been traveling so much for
the C. S. Lewis Fellowship that his
wife Normandy could go with him
to the ASA Meeting in Hawaii on
a free "frequent flyer" ticket. The
CSL Fellowship is devoted to evangelism among academics, particularly
overseas. In Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary, this summer Tom
led seminars on science and apologetics, gave Christian books to key
professors, and planned strategy for
future contacts. Then he traveled
with philosopher Alvin Plantinga,
who lectured at universities in Hungary, Romania, Moscow, Siberia, and
Germany on evidence for the existence of God. (C. S. Lewis
Fellowship, P.O. Box 9000, Holiday, FL 34690).