From: SteamDoc@aol.com
Date: Sat Aug 10 2002 - 14:15:08 EDT
Name: Allan H. Harvey
Age: 39 & 5/4 ;-)
Family: Married Paula in 1999, no children so far
Vocation:
Physical and Chemical Properties Division, National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly the National Bureau of Standards,
see www.nist.gov), Boulder, Colorado. My specialty could be called
"chemical thermodynamics" or "chemical physics", mostly developing
theory and models for thermodynamic properties of important fluids and
mixtures. Also represent the U.S. in the area of international standards
for the thermodynamic properties of water ("steam tables" for those who
encountered them in school) and maintain a NIST database on water properties.
Educational Background:
B.S. 1983 University of Missouri-Rolla in Chemical Engineering
Ph.D. 1988 University of California-Berkeley in Chemical Engineering
(Dissertation: "Molecular Thermodynamics of Mixtures Containing
Electrolytes with Common Gases and Solvents")
Vocational Background:
1988-90: Postdoc, Thermophysics Division, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD (extending
my engineering background by working mostly with physicists)
1990-94: Senior Engineer, Thermophysical Methods and Data, Simulation
Sciences Inc., Brea, CA (an engineering software company)
1994-present: NIST-Boulder, see above
Avocations:
hiking in the Rockies; reading; playing softball; following baseball
Some books recently read:
Stephen Carter: Civility
Michael Collins: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys
Gerald Cootsona: Creation and Last Things: At the Intersection of Theology
and Science
John Haught: God After Darwin
Jon Krakauer: Eiger Dreams
Kenneth Miller: Finding Darwin's God
Phillip Yancey: Reaching for the Invisible God
Church/Faith Background:
Became a Christian at age 16 through the youth ministry of the (Methodist)
church my parents attended (seeking initiated when God reached me with the
concept that there needed to be something personal if religion was to mean
anything). Growth, then a few dry years as several Christians I was close to
strayed into "spiritual left field" ("name it and claim it" theology, Ken
Copeland, etc.) and others reacted to the insanity by drifting away from
faith. By the grace of God, somehow I did not drift too far. Renewal during
my years in Berkeley where I grew a lot at the First Presbyterian Church
(also attended by Phil Johnson, though I don't think I ever met him) and was
also involved in Intervarsity. While I'm not very picky about denominations,
I've mostly ended up in Presbyterian churches (exceptions being a few months
in an Ev-Free church and about 3 years in a church on the evangelical end of
the Quaker tradition).
Currently a member of First Presbyterian Church of Boulder (PCUSA). This
church is pretty far toward the conservative end of that wide-ranging
denomination, though I'm probably a bit left of center (certainly
politically, maybe even doctrinally) within this particular congregation. I
do some teaching there, particularly in a program called Network that teaches
about spiritual gifts and seeks to have people learn how God has designed
them so they can serve where they will be most effective and fulfilled. My
wife teaches in an English as a Second Language ministry for women that is
primiarily aimed at the wives of foreign students at the U. of Colorado.
Faith/Science story:
I have never struggled much with science/faith issues personally, at least
not the ones that make the most noise. I suspect that is because my coming
to faith and maturing was in environments where Biblical literalism was not
endorsed or at least not made central. My pastor in Berkeley (Earl Palmer)
emphasized the centrality of Christ above all else, and that rubbed off to my
benefit.
I got to know and admire the late Charles Hatfield in my undergraduate years,
but I was unaware of his ASA involvement. I first heard of the ASA from
Fritz Schaefer at Berkeley, but didn't get involved then. After I came to
Boulder, I participated in the Science and Christianity e-mail list that
Steve Schimmrich used to run. Through that, I learned of the ASA list, soon
joining it and then the organization. I've gone to a few Rocky Mountain
local section meetings but no national meetings; I hope to get to the 2003
national meeting since it will be nearby. I signed off the ASA e-mail list a
few months ago due to pressures on my time and exasparation with the
signal-to-noise ratio, but I still lurk some via the Web archives.
Having thought about science/faith issues these past 7 years or so, I have
concluded that most of our troubles in this area spring from two basic
problems:
1) Versions of Biblical literalism that insist on making the Bible be a
science text. I think it is foolish and dishonoring to the Author of
Scripture to ask the Bible questions it is not trying to answer.
2) "God-of-the-Gaps" theology. I define this as the premise that "natural"
explanations exclude God -- essentially a denial of God's sovereignty over
nature by saying that only extra-natural acts "count" as God's work. This is
the foundational assumption shared by atheists like Richard Dawkins and many
"Intelligent Design" advocates like Phil Johnson. In this framework, every
discovery of science counts as points against God. I think that, in its
failure to allow God to work through nature (not to mention its elevation of
a Jesus-free apologetic), the ID movement is taking the evangelical church in
unhealthy directions.
I have found a number of books particularly helpful on science/faith issues.
At an introductory level, my favorites are Charles Hummel's "The Galileo
Connection" and George Murphy's "Toward a Christian View of a Scientific
World." More advanced books that have helped me include Howard Van Till's
"The Fourth Day" and Richard Bube's "Putting it all Together," and also books
by John Polkinghorne.
I've gotten a couple of chances to speak on these issues with groups at my
church, but I also try to pick my battles. These are not salvation issues
(though sometimes it is a battle to establish that), and it is easy to get so
caught up in these arguments that more important aspects of Christian faith
get obscured.
Webpage:
http://members.aol.com/steamdoc/
Under "Things I have written" you can find a number of essays and book
reviews related to science/faith topics.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Aug 10 2002 - 15:08:42 EDT