NEWSLETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

Volume 26 Number 4                                                                August / September 1984

ox ox ox ...

That binary code for "hugs and kisses" from the end of mushy letters has other meanings here. OX, refers to Luke 14:5, since we worked right through a Sunday to "get our ox out of the well" (RSV). This time, though, we have a better excuse than usual for being late (see JETLOG, below).

OX2 is for the 1984 ASA ANNUAL MEETING IN OXFORD, OHIO, probably over by the time you're reading this. (At presstime more reservations arrive in Ipswich every day, so we hope to see many of you.)

OX3 stands for "that other Oxford," the one in England, site of the next ASA ANNUAL MEETING. To be held jointly with the Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship of Great Britain, 26-29 JULY 1985, it will be followed immediately by a spectacular "History of Science" tour. We've heard that Britain's Donald MacKay and Canada's Walter Thorson are already lined up as two of the plenary speakers. The theme will be "Christian Faith and Science in Society," with the sub-themes "Biblical and Scientific Truth" and "Science as a Servant: Use and Abuse."

Most of the conference will be given over to plenary sessions. Several sessions will be open for contributed papers, especially for those whose authorization or funds for travel depend on presenting a paper. This conference will be the 40th Annual Meeting of ASA and the 20th anniversary of the first joint ASA/RSCF Oxford conference. In a "package deal" you can travel for the next 15 days, with ASA friends (and your family) across the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Germany to points of scientific, religious, artistic, and historic significance. All transportation, housing (double occupancy), two meals a day, a cruise on the Rhine, entrance to science museums and other sites, baggage handling, an English-speaking guide-the whole works, including roundtrip airfare from New York-at an amazingly low $1,600 per person. A full description is in preparation. Here's a sample:

"Day 1: Today you fly to Amsterdam from London and begin your holiday with visits to the Rijksmuseum (art), the Anne Frank House, the Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy. Tonight you may wish to take a boat ride along the winding tree-lined canals."

There's a limit to the number of people we can take on the tour, so reservations will be made in the order in which we receive them. We expect that tour space will fill up quickly, so get your reservation in soon! To reserve your spot on the tour, send in the reservation form at the back of this issue by October 15, 1984, with a nonrefundable deposit of $50 per person to: Dr. Jack Haas, Tour Co-ordinator, c/o American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box J, Ipswich, Mass. 01938. Make checks payable to American Scientific Affiliation.

Newsletter editor Walt Hearn and wife Ginny have been practicing for that 1985 ASA European tour, you might say. They just returned from a five-week trip to three meetings, punctuated with sightseeing. Travel tip: Jetlag from flying east is the worst kind.

A conference in Athens in June paid their way to Greece. Before it began they had time to see the Acropolis, both with (10 a.m.) and without (7:30 a.m.) wall-to-wall tourists; the Areopagus (Mars Hill) overlooking the Athenian agora (a bronze plaque with Acts 17 in Greek marks where Paul gave his famous speech); and the abandoned ruins of Corinth, a bustling city when the apostle wrote to the Christians there. Plus five restful days off the touristbeaten track on the Ionian island of Lefkada. Why? That's where, in 1850, the "only famous Hearn" (so far, Walt says) was born, named "Lafcadio" for his birthplace. (No kidding. Look him up.-Ed.)

The week-long conference was sponsored by the New Ecumenical Research Association (New ERA) of the International Religious Foundation. IRF is funded by "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity," more commonly known as The Unification Church or just "the Moonies." Having attended several regional New ERA conferences, a science conference (Walt), and a sociology conference (Ginny), we knew that scholars of all persuasions are free to interact openly at such conferences, whatever Sun Myung Moon's motives in supporting them. This particular one focused on Unification doctrines, with five or six lectures by bright young graduates of the Moonie seminary in Barrytown, New York, each followed by two prepared responses from non-Unificationists.

For example, an outstanding response to Unification's strange Christology was given by ASA associate member Stan Grenz, associate professor of systematic theology and Christian ethics at North American Baptist Seminary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Moon's Divine Principle acknowledges a role for Jesus in salvation history, so that one might say the seeds of the Christian gospel lie in there somewhere, but they're buried so deep that in practice the Moonies know almost nothing of divine grace. To them, Jesus merely laid a foundation for humanity to earn its own salvation. That comes through a second and far more emphasized "blessing" of holy marriages (performed by "True Parents"; guess who) and a "third blessing" of a theocratic government initiated by the (Korean) "Lord of the Second Advent." Stan pointed out firmly but graciously that such doctrines constitute a "thorough-going departure" from the New Testament and Christian theology.

At least a dozen evangelicals attended the conference, some of them rather nervous at first about being there. But we kept getting together to check out our responses and pray for people at the conference. We had various opportunities to witness, not only to the 20 or so Moonies who made the conference run smoothly but also to some 200 other participants. In the discussion groups many people classified themselves religiously as atheists, humanists, agnostics, ex-Christians, "ethnic-only" Jews, or "nothings." Some with no religious interests at all were there to confront Moon's strident anti-communism or his political and economic aspirations.

All of us, of course, were lured by an expense-paid trip to Greece. Rhetorical question from a Unification propaganda paper: "How is it that Rev. Moon continually draws persons of good will to his side?" Our answer: "Easy. He pays their way." If anybody asks, we'll be glad to say more about our impressions of the Moonies we know (positive) and of Moon (skeptical). (Hint: Beware of Greeks bearing gifts-or of Korean engineers bearing metaphysics. -Ed.)

Immediately after that conference we flew via New York to Boston and collapsed into the waiting arms of Betty and Bob Herrmann. Two pleasant days in Ipswich revived us and gave us time to confer at the ASA office with managing editor Ruth Herr. Then to Wellesley College for the biennial conference of the Evangelical Women's Caucus. There we spotted Miriam Ross of Ottawa and Mildred Carlson of Des Moines among the 500 women and few dozen men in attendance. Informative workshops and some challenging plenary sessions, great conversations with sisters and brothers in Christ, plus some humorous twists on EWC buttons, like "SHOULD WE ORDAIN MEN?" Our favorite, on using exclusive language: "WISE UP, 0 MEN OF GOD!"

After a whirlwind trip through four New England states, including an early-morning hike around Walden Pond (MA) and a visit to L.L. Bean's (ME), we flew to Chicago (IL). In a rented car we visited relatives in Wisconsin and spent several days at Green Lake (WI), where a group of Christians Walt was close to in Urbana grad school days (1948-51) were having a reunion. Bob Bohon of 3M Corporation (MN) is one of the people in that group, hardly the "Young Adult Fellowship" it once was (at Champaign's University Baptist Church) but still knit together by Christ's love.

Back to Berkeley on July 3, past the Newsletter deadline but in time for Ginny's ninth journal-keeping workshop at New College, several houseguests, and a stack of mail we haven't finished going through. And wherezat pile of stuff left over from the last issue? (Maybe we still have some residual jetlag.-Ed.)

It was CSCA's own H. Miriam Ross who fully bridged science and religion, however. She received a Doctor of Divinity degree for her work in international health and education, intercultural communication; and care of the elderly. Miriam, who spent 10 years in Zaire, first as a staff nurse in rural hospitals for the Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board and then as assistant director of a large school of nursing attached to a regional hospital, is now a professor in the School of Nursing at the U. of Ottawa. Miriam has managed to move from the practice of health care into scholarly research in the field of health care as a sociocultural anthropologist.

Miriam Ross was born in Digby County, Nova Scotia, and received her R.N. from Victoria Hospital in Halifax in 1951 and a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Gordon College in Massachusetts in 1955. She went to Zaire after getting five more years of specialized training, earning a degree in medical-surgical nursing and certification as a midwife. On her return from Zaire she did graduate work in anthropology at the U. of Washington in Seattle, receiving her Ph.D. in 1981 after picking up an M.S. along the way. Before taking up her present post at Ottawa she found time to lecture at Regent College in Vancouver and at the Acadia Divinity College and serve as a consultant at the School of Medicine of the U. of Hawaii.

And now, we're happy to say, Miriam finds time to participate in activities of the Ottawa local section of CSCA.

When Stanford professor Richard H. Bube turned the Journal of ASA over to Wilbur Bullock last year, Dick assured us that retiring from the editorship would free him to serve in other ways. This spring he seems to have been ASA's "European connection," at least in Switzerland and Germany. During a three-month sabbatical at the Institut de Microtechnique of the Universitd de Neuchatel in Switzerland, Dick and Betty maintained an apartment in NeuchAtel but traveled to more than two dozen cities on Eurail passes.

In Neuchatel the Bubes got to know one of the three ASA members in Switzerland, Johan Ramon, and his wife Reine. Johan is associated with the Albert Schweitzer Ecological Center there, and he and Dick worked together on a paper for JASA on "Appropriate Technology for the Third World." Reine Ramon translated from English to French when Dick gave a talk in Neuch9tel on "La Science: Ni Tout, Ni Rien" to the Eglise Evangelique Libre (Evangelical Free Church, right?).

During May Dick gave a special course on the materials science of photovoltaic solar cells in Lausanne, for the Troisl6me Cycle de la Physique de Suisse Romand at the tcole Polytechnic Federal Lausanne. The Bubes also made a three-week trip to Germany, where Dick visited major photovoltaic research laboratories ("cell groups"?-Ed.) in Freiburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Konstanz. At a talk at the U. of Stuttgart about his Stanford group's research on cadmium telluride solar cells, Dick was able to meet one of the three ASA members in West Germany, Erastus Filos.

Apart from those ASA contacts, highlights of the Bubes' trip included community life on the shores of Lake NeuchAtel, dinner on shipboard while sailing on the Thunersee, observing life at the Stuttgart Schlossplatz and Schlossgarten, walking along Lake Leman at Montreux, viewing the Jungfrau from Interlaken and the Eigerglacier from Grindelwald, and enjoying the marvelous bus and train systems and the intrinsic courtesy and orderliness of the Swiss. And, oh yes, Pentecost worship services at the Stiftkirche in Stuttgart.

The first is God's Foreign Policy (Eerdmans, 1984. 140 pp., paper, $6.95) by Miriam Adeney, who teaches missions and anthropology at Seattle Pacific University and Regent College. With an M.A. in journalism, a Ph.D. in anthropology, and a lot of overseas experience, Miriam has good stories about "Practical Ways to Help the World's Poor" (the book's subtitle) and knows how to tell them. This can be called a popular book, meaning that it's full of human interest and written for the general Christian public. It's not popular in the sense of "trendy," however. Standing against popular trends in North America, it could be called gently prophetic, if there is such a category.

What God's Foreign Policy stands for is something like this: Although the world is in such a mess that we can't do everything that needs to be done, Christians can probably do a lot more than we think we can. Further, we should be sure that what we do for the world's poor is done well. That generally means investing ourselves in some carefully chosen projects, not just contributing money to "good causes"-which sometimes do little good and may even make bad situations worse.

The author's anthropological insights and overseas experience inform five chapters on how to help people survive ("Health Care"), feed themselves ("Agriculture"), support themselves ("Business"), fight oppression ("Politics"), and take root ("Refugees"). She gives general principles for operating sensitively in other cultures, checklists for evaluating projects, examples of successes and failures. A sixth chapter, "The Kingdom of God: A Treasury of Cultures," discusses ethnicity and nationalism, rejoicing in the diversity that gives each culture something distinct to teach us.

A final chapter on "American Alternatives" tells us where to begin. A Chinese proverb says that before we can do anything, there must be things we will not do. Adeney questions our preoccupation with nonessentials by raising questions about her own priorities. The mother of three small boys, she is clearly challenged by the lives of such energetic Christian women as African pioneer missionary Mary Slessor and Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army. Booth had to take her eight children with her when she preached in mill towns, counseled converts, and tried to find jobs for ex-prostitutes and pickpockets; she had only one woman to assist her with all those diapers ("with out any washer or dryer, in rainy England"). What's more, Booth managed to write eight books ("and without a word processor, either!"). Now there's a role model for parents, writers, or Christians in general.

An ASA member quoted in the final chapter is U. of Pennsylvania physiology professor John R. Brobeck. In a poignant speech at Wheaton College, "Why Am I unhappy as a Professional Scientist?" (Wheaton Alumni Magazine, April 1975, p. 4), John spoke of his frustration that although "so many scientific discoveries raise philosophical and moral problems that seem to me to be terribly urgent," yet he was "unable to persuade friends who are Christians to try to answer them . . ." John went on to suggest some ways to live in a needy world so that our neighbors would know we are Christ's disciples.

Adeney notes that Christians who sing "This World is Not My Home" may dash from Bible study to handball court or board meeting, to exercise class or beauty parlor, in order to feel more at home here. We do well to affirm that this world is the Lord's she says, "but when we spend so much effort on preserving our material possessions and our physical bodies, shouldn't we care for the basic physical well-being of God's other children?"

All the books we've seen by James C. Hefley have been personal. That is, they've been about persons: Cameron Townsend and Wycliffe Bible Translators, Jimmy Carter and Southern Baptists, scientists who believe in God, and so on. Life Changes (Tyndale, 1984. 197 pp., paper, $5.95) is even more personal, coming directly out of an accident that changed Jim's own life. A few years ago when a small explosion affected his hearing, Jim thought he might lose his hearing entirely, a grim prospect for someone who makes his living interviewing people to write about them. Precipitated into his own "mid-life crisis" in spite of long-standing Christian faith, he became alert to the panic and depression of those who suffer loss.

Life Changes looks at such crises as losing one's health, losing a job or recognizing that we've lost interest in our work, losing a spouse through death or divorce, taking early retirement or being forced to retire, aging, and finally looking inevitable death in the face. Jim writes as one grateful for being forced to think "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" He decided to follow through on an idea he had toyed with for years, entered graduate school at the U. of Tennessee, and earned a Ph.D. in mass communications. A disciplined full-time writer for the past 18 years, Jim finished Life Changes soon after completing his dissertation.

Jim Hefley stayed depressed just long enough to empathize with all those caught in the negative thinking that can shrivel lives or even lead to suicide. His stories of real people in real situations make us feel "This could happen to me." But we can draw courage from the examples of those who came through pain by taking charge of their own lives-or rather, by giving God full charge of their lives. There's also some solid advice on how to look for a job or "retool" oneself, how to cope with loneliness, and in general how to survive. The final chapter on "Getting Way Up There" helps us face our mortality with courage and faith.

In the introduction Hefley says that he asks two questions before beginning a book. "Who cares?" is a marketing question, to see if enough people will want to read a book for the information it contains on a particular subject. But "Who will it help?" is an ethical question. As a Christian, Hefley doesn't want to spend time writing even a popular book (in the sense of a best-seller) unless he believes it will be "helpful,. encouraging, and challenging-that it will stir readers to take new steps of faith and action and find life more worth living than when they began." Life Changes will undoubtedly accomplish those goals for many "fellow -sufferers."

Maybe Hefley has done more than that. Above, we called Miriam Adeney's God's Foreign Policy a gently prophetic book. Life Changes intends to comfort and encourage, but one also catches a prophetic note, not from any direct warnings but from stories of people who were unprepared to face loss, philosophically or financially. Why must we wait for an explosion (of one kind or another) in our lives to wake us up? Isn't this the only life we'll live on earth, and isn't it drawing to a close?

That made me think about the two books together. To carry on God's Foreign Policy, to live responsibly as God's agents of transformation in a twisted world, a lot of us will have to make Life Changes. Adeney is urging us to find creative ways to live on less so we can share with those in need, and more directly and personally serve the world's poor. Hefley, while helping those who've had painful changes forced on them, is saying to the rest of us, "Look, everybody goes through changes. With God's help you can survive them and come out closer to God and enjoying life more."

What we may need is more help in making joyfully and deliberately the changes the Lord is waiting for us to make. (Well, that's the book the Weary Old Editor started writing in Oregon last year.-Ed.)

The Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) in Toronto and the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies (IFACS) are known to us since CSCA and ASA members have been in their leadership. Jim Neidhardt of New Jersey Institute of Technology recently reminded us that Bob Newman of Biblical Seminary is director of the Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute (IBRI, P.O. Box 145, Hatfield, PA 19440). In addition to Bob, Allan MacRae and Perry Phillips serve on the IBRI board, and Frank Roberts is an IBRI Fellow.

IBRI's library of cassette tapes and Research Reports includes some on science/faith issues as well as strictly theological themes. Some examples: RR#10, David C. Bossard, "Information and Order in the Universe: How Much is There?"; #12, Robert Z. Dunzweiler, "A Proposed Creationist Alternative to Evolutionism"; #15, Robert C. Newman, "A Critical Examination of Modern Cosmological Theories"; #16, Daniel C. Wonderly, "Coral Reefs and Related Carbonate Structures as Indicators of Great Age"; #17, W. Jim Neidhardt, "The Open-Endedness of Scientific Truth"; #18, W. Jim Neidhardt, "Personal Knowledge: A Communication-Oriented Model of Exploration and Discovery"; #19, Robert C. Newman, "A Critique of Carl Sagan's TV Series and Book 'Cosmos.' " IBRI Research Reports sell for $1.50-2.50, depending on length; write for a full list of publications and tapes.

Soon we plan to do full Newsletter stories on two important science/faith organizations that may operate from a somewhat broader theological base than our Affiliations. One is the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS, c/o The Graduate Theological Union, 2465 Le Conte Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709). It was founded in the last few years by Ph.D. physicist Robert J. Russell, an ordained minister to higher education of the United Church of Christ and a former associate of Ian Barbour on the Carleton College faculty.

The other is the World Institute for Scientific Humanism, Inc. (WISH, Lowenstein Center at Fordham University, 113 W. 60th St., New York, NY 10023). WISH was founded by Enrico Cantore, a philosopher with higher degrees in physics and theology and a Jesuit priest. By "humanism" is meant the understanding of human beings "not only as factual beings but also as value-oriented persons," an understanding to which Cantore believes science must contribute. Hence, "scientific humanism," however bad that may sound to some ears, is based on theological principles in WISH's view.

In thinking of groups of people whom our Affiliations might serve better, we may have been overlooking Christian teachers in public schools. ASA's booth at IVCF's San Francisco '83 gave us a chance to meet Forrest Turpen, executive director of Christian Educators Association, Inc. (CEA, 1410 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91105). CEA, which was founded in 1953 as the National Educators Fellowship, publishes a magazine called Vision. Evidently there was some kind of disagreement within CEA a few years ago and the president at that time, Robert L. Simonds, left to form his own organization called the National Association of Christian Educators (NACE, P.O. Box 3200, Costa Mesa, CA 92626). NACE publishes Christians in Education magazine.

While we were getting CEA and NACE straight in our mind, we learned of AEA from the New York ASA local section Newsletter. The American Education Association (AEA, 663 5th Ave., New York, NY 10022) was founded in 1938 to foster "Americanism, true democracy, and worthy education" based on "Godly moral and spiritual values," AEA publishes Signpost magazine. The story in the NY Newsletter was about Rudolph P. Blaum, a member of the ASA local executive council, being elected president of AEA beginning February 1984. Rudy, a retired Captain of the NYC Police Department, was an administrator of the Police Science College Program (now John Jay College).

It seems to us that with sufficient grace (and caution, in some cases), our Affiliations should be able to cooperate on specific tasks both with "more liberal" and "more conservative" groups. From some ASA correspondent we heard of a new networking organization called International Christian Studies Association (ICSA), which might be the "federation" we've had in mind. Frustratingly, the one page of the first issue (Fall/Winter 1983-84) of the ICSA Newsletter we received gave no address. The Newsletter mentioned ASA and an "Association of Christian Scholars" (ACS), and gave the name of Oskar Gruenwald as acting president of ICSA. Can anyone tell us more about ICSA or ACS?

Even if you passed language exams in grad school, better brush up on your German and French before that 1985 ASA European tour. In Greece this spring we found ourselves suffering more from language-shock than from jetlag, even after cramming three Modern Greek conversation grammars. Greeks seem to run their words together in speaking. And the more they sense they're not communicating, the faster they talk.

One big help was listening repeatedly to a 60-minute cassette tape (cost, $7) from a new outfit devoted to helping Christians witness in other languages. The tape begins with phrases like "Thank you" and "Where is the men's room?" spoken by a native speaker, first slowly, then at conversational speed. Soon come phrases and whole sentences about faith in Christ, finally a dozen Scripture verses explaining the gospel. Such introductory tapes with study guides are available in over a dozen languages, plus more advanced study materials in Spanish, from Logos Language Institute (LLI, P.O. Box 374 UMHB, Belton, TX 76513).

Having tried years ago to get our home church to sponsor at least one Bible study in a foreign language, we think Logos Language Institute is a great idea. Logos was begun by Michael D. Thomas in his spare time as a professor of Spanish. He now teaches at the (Baptist) University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and the paid employees of Logos are mostly students working part-time. So far the sale of materials (over 1,000 language training packets) has paid only half the Institute's expenses, the rest coming from contributions. LLI has 24 more languages in preparation and 160 more targeted for development, and is beginning to operate a summer language school for Christians. Write to them for a list of their materials and for information on how you can support their ministry.

The small theological vocabulary picked up from the LLI tape proved useful even before we arrived in Greece. On the Olympia flight from New York we sat next to a Greek woman who spoke almost no English after 10 years in the U.S. Eventually we understood that she was going home for the funeral of her sister. We broke out 0 Logos Zontanos, the Living New Testament in Modern Greek (another great buy at $5.25 plus postage, from Living Bibles International, 1809 C Mill St., Naperville, IL 60540).Turning to 1 Peter 1, Wait told her he had read that chapter to Ginny's mother not long before she died, and parts of it at her funeral. The woman read carefully the whole book of 1 Peter. Then she said with great emotion how much the Bible meant to her (or at least we think that's what she said). After we had done the best we could at communicating with words, she gave us a small wooden icon she had been holding-another form of communication.

Books and tapes couldn't prepare us to read the ubiquitous signs in all-caps, however, especially in type styles that made certain letters hard to distinguish. Further, "demotic" Greek, the spoken language, differs from the "puristic" Greek used in a lot of print. Also it was hard to get used to neh meaning "yes" and ochi (sounding like "O.K.") meaning "no." And in the villages, where hardly anyone spoke English, you had to ask where the bus stopped because there was never a sign, and so on.

Ginny wanted to go to Ithaca (Gk, Itaki), the island Ulysses spent 20 years trying to get home to in Homer's Odyssey. From the village of Vasiliki at the tip of Lefkada we could see it off in the distance. We hunted up a sort of travel agent who spoke a little English, sort of. "In a few days, maybe. Might be boat." We gave up. We didn't have a few days. Ginny spelled out the words in English, slowly: "Ulysses had trouble getting to Itaki. We have trouble getting to Itaki, too."

"Neh," said this modern Greek philosopher, "but he was not in a hurry."

Spiritual Counterfeits Project in California has openings for several administrative staff, including a bookkeeper/ clerk and a production person for SCP publications. (Housed in the same building as New College Berkeley, SCP researchers alert the Christian community to groups and cultural trends challenging our biblical view of the world. For example, Dean Halverson reviewed God and the New Physics by Paul Davies in the May/June 1984 SCP Newsletter, he is preparing a report on New Age interpretations of the New Physics for a 1985 issue of SCP Journal.Ed.) Contact: Karen Shackleford, Administrator, Spiritual Counterfeits Project, P.O. Box 4308, Berkeley, CA 94704. (Received May 1984.)

Gordon College in Massachusetts needs someone in psychology (or several part-time teachers) for a one-year replacement position in 1984-85, teaching introductory, research methods, statistics, developmental, perception/cognition. Salary in 18K-20K range for full-time. Send vita to: Dr. Bert Hodges, Chair, Dept. of Psychology, OR Dr. R. Judson Carlberg, Dean of Faculty, Gordon College, Wenham, MA 01984. Tel.: (617) 927-2300. (Received June 1984.)

Hope College in Michigan invites applications for a tenure-track position in organic chemistry at any rank. All candidates must show promise of developing a vigorous research program and teaching undergraduates effectively; for a senior-level appointment, applicants must have demonstrated accomplishments in both areas. Submit resume, transcripts, description of research plans, and have three letters of recommendation sent to: Prof. William S. Mungall, Chair, Dept. of Chemistry, Hope College, Holland, MI 49423. Applications should be completed by 16 November 1984. (Received July 1984.)

LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

CHICAGO

Turnout for a May 26 meeting organized on short notice at the Wheaton College Science Lecture Hall was quite remarkable, we hear. About 100 people showed up even though it was a holiday Saturday evening during summer school. The good attendance was partly due to the quality of the program, "Let There Be Light: Modern Cosmogony and Biblical Creation," an illustrated lecture by Harvard professor Owen Gingerich, snagged on his way to give a similar lecture for ASA at the U. of Southern California. But a major factor was fast work by ASA section coordinator Marilyne Sally Flora and by Richard Aulie, who was a founder and the first liaison of the Chicago Committee of Correspondence on Evolution. In fact the Chicago CCE was a cosponsor of the lecture along with ASA and the Wheaton Physics Department.

Nineteen people had dinner with the speaker before the talk and many stayed for continued discussion at a coffee hour following the talk. Considerable interest was expressed in ASA director Bob Herrman's vision of a "counter-Cosmos" series on TV to balance Carl Sagan's scientism with Owen Gingerich's theistic interpretation.

Marilyne says several ASA members have responded to her request for potential science/faith speakers for churches and other groups, but not enough to meet "our educational responsibility." She hates to see the recent-creationist position being responded to only by non-Christians defending evolution, with both sides ignoring the broad middle way respecting both science and Scripture. She hopes to get Chicago area people together for a planning meeting at the ASA ANNUAL MEETING at Miami U. in Ohio, August 3-6.

to any Christian who is going through suffering or who is ministering to suffering people; tapes of the retreat are available for $12 from the C.S. Lewis Institute, 1800 N. Kent St., Suite 901, Arlington, VA 22209.

Jerry Bergman of Bowling Green, Ohio, sent us a further update on the court case over his dismissal from Bowling Green State U. Jerry's deposition by the university's lawyer on June 7, which lasted six hours, consisted primarily of questions about his religious beliefs and those of his friends, relatives, and even his witnesses in the case, plus questions about whether he ever talked about religion in the classroom or halls, after school, or at any time whatsoever on school property. The university charter states that teaching, research, and service are the only criteria that can be considered in tenure decisions, yet Jerry was asked only two questions about them. Why did he think his teaching was superior? (Ans.: From student evaluations.) Why did he think he has published more than others in his department? (Ans.: From comparing his vita with those of his colleagues.) Jerry says he is scheduled to talk about his case soon on TV's 700 Club. He'll probably be glad to talk to you in person about it at the ASA ANNUAL MEETING coming up in August.

J. Frank Cassel is moving this summer from North Dakota to Colorado, where he will teach in the Biology Department of the Air Force Academy. Never one to take short cuts, Frank is going to CO from ND via Australia (for a mammology meeting), New Zealand, and Tahiti. Frank has already retired twice, once from N.D. State in Fargo and this spring from serving as IVCF North Central Regional Director. Peg retired from coordinating Student Services at the School of Nursing in time to travel with  Frank and talk to students on his campus visits. In preparing to teach the History and Philosophy of Biology at the Academy, Frank has been impressed with some of the reasonable responses made recently by professional biologists to recent-creation arguments. Looking back 20 or 30 years to ASA discussions about creation and evolution, he says "It's fascinating to see some things recycling once again."

Edward B. (Ted) Davis will spend the coming academic year as a visiting professor of history at Vanderbilt U. in Nashville, Tennessee, while completing his dissertation on 17th-century science, biology, and philosophy for his Ph.D. at Indiana U. Ted will also teach courses in the philosophy department; his load includes a course in science and religion and another on the creation/ evolution debates. For 1985-86 he'll be looking for a permanent teaching post. Any suggestions?

Sidney Macaulay of Atlanta, Georgia, edits the Christian Medical Society Journal. The spring 1984 issue is devoted to the experience of patients, particularly the experience of doctors as patients. From an article Sid contributed entitled "The Great Physician/The Great Patient," we learned that he himself had coronary bypass surgery at Emory University Hospital in early 1983. Sid is also Southeast Regional Director for CMS.

Eric Miller, international consultant for IVCF's multimedia ministry, Twentyone-hundred Productions, expected to be in Manila in December 1983. Instead, because two Asian student conferences he was to participate in were canceled, Eric spent Christmas in Madison, Wisconsin-with a wind-chill factor of minus 700F. His ten-week Asian trip was rescheduled to begin Feb. 24 (if he thawed out by then).

Chris G. Palacas is currently practicing international medicine in Bloomfield, Michigan. He was active in Park Street Church in Boston while at Harvard and Boston University School of Medicine (1947-64), where he knew Bob Herrmann. Now Chris and his family are expecting to go to Uganda in October, where.he will be field director of Mission: Moving Mountains. When Chris began raising Support for his Ugandan ministry, he sent ASA a check, realizing that he might not be able to make another contribution to ASA's ministry for some time.  

John R. Wood is teaching biology at Simpson College in San Francisco while writing his Ph.D. dissertation for U. C. Berkeley. John told us about a course he enjoyed teaching this past year based on the current creation/ evolution controversy. John used Duane Thurman's How To Think About Evolution (IVP) as a text and liked the way it alerted students to the whole range of positions a Christian might take.