NEWSLETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

Volume 26 Number 6                                                                                            December 1984 / January 1985

AT THE RIGHT TIME ...

... Romans 5:6 says, Christ died for us. Fifteen years of editing this Newsletter has taught us something about time. We're impressed with the timing of many good things happening in our Affiliations.

For starters, imagine the Weary Old Editor writing this year's annual Christmas greeting in October. And soon, we hear, JASA copy will be transmitted to the publisher over the telephone via the modem in ASA'S DECmate 11, with typesetting commands already inserted into the text. That's "state of the art" stuff, with ASA's computer telling the typesetting machine at Science Press what to do. The only bad news from Ipswich is that the "state of the heart" is working against us: we're losing Joan Lipsey because Tom now has a pastorate in New Jersey. With their baby due soon, though, Joni's leaving was just a matter of time.

A matter of time. The Lord's timing. As we praise God for coming to earth at just the right time, maybe our time has also come. Has controversy set the stage for ASA and CSCA to play a significant mediating role? Look for an exciting year ahead.

We greet you in Jesus' name, grateful for the opportunity of serving him in your company. Have a joyous Christmas and a fruitful New Year.

"But," Yancy wrote, "gradually, against this gray background, beauty began to appear, something fresh and delicate. In Saint Francis of Assisi, the flowers and stars recovered their first innocence, fire and water were

deemed worthy to be the brother and sister of a saint. The purge of paganism was complete at last, and Christians began to rediscover nature with a rush. The greatest blossoming of art in all of history, the Renaissance, immediately followed."

"Several centuries later, however, the scientific revolution sent new shock waves through the Church, from which we have not yet recovered. Nature and supernature split apart. The Church abandoned nature to the physicists and geologists and biologists, retreating to the more limited purlieu of theological speculation. The scientists, in turn, abandoned the supernatural to the Church and the paranormalists."

But God's creation has proved to be just as resilient in our age as in the Renaissance. The scientist, too, has discovered that "supernature" defies rejection. Behind the "beautiful. panoramic tapestrv'' of science. as Owen Gingerich describes it (in Frye's Is God a Creationist?), lies an even deeper and more wondrous pattern of ultimate Truth. Owen concludes, "I find some of the circumstances of nature impossible to comprehend in the absence of supernatural design."

More than three decades ago, in The Universe and Dr. Einstein, Lincoln Barnet anticipated this wonderful predicament: "In the evolution of scientific thought, one fact has become impressively clear: there is no mystery of the physical world which does not point to a mystery beyond itself ... Man's inescapable impasse is that he himself is part of the world he seeks to explore; his body and proud brain are mosaics of the same elemental particles that compose the dark, drifting clouds of interstellar space; he is, in the final analysis, merely an ephemeral conformation of the primordial space-time field. Standing midway between macrocosm and microcosm he finds barriers on every side and can perhaps but marvel, as St. Paul did nineteen hundred years ago, that 'the world was created by the word of God so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.' "

Perhaps we who are trained in science but give allegiance to the God of the Bible are meant to remove those barriers. Certainly, through his creation and through the Advent of the Christ, God has given us all the evidence we need. -Bob Herrmann

 MAKES THE NEWS

Last spring a book review in Chemical & Engineering News, the American Chemical Society newsweekly, caught the eye of several ASA chemists for its theological insights. We wrote the reviewer, Wilbert C. Lepkowski, a senior editor of C&EN, to thank him for the review and tell him about ASA.

Wil Lepkowski showed up at the Annual Meeting. Brought up a Catholic, at one stage in his spiritual and intellectual journey he turned away from the church to explore various ''religious trips" that attracted many in the '60s and '70s. Then he married Helene, a Jewish woman who has become a Christian. Through Helene and other believers, Wil found his way back to Jesus Christ. That book review was one way of flying his new flag.

Chemists and engineers function in a world where values are not determined with an analytical balance. C&EN has broadened its coverage, even juggling some political hot potatoes. Examining the evidence being used to accuse the Soviet Union of dropping toxic "yellow rain" on S.E. Asia and Afghanistan, it essentially demolished that claim. A recent issue devoted to genetic engineering deals with ethical and environmental concerns as well as regulation. And senior editors have a lot of leeway.

We clipped the August 27 C&EN cover story on "Origins ol Life'' to save. Turning the page we saw photos of a couple of chemists who looked familiar. Bradley U. prof Thomas F. Cummings and ASA executive director Robert L. Herrmann. They were smiling at us from a three-page feature story about ASA's Annual Meeting.

Chatting with Wil Lepkowski at Miami. we had no idea he might file such a story. Headed "Scientists Discuss Ways to Integrate Science with Christianity.--- it carried the subhead. "Group of scientists affiliated with the Christian faith provides unique forum for resolving debate between science and religion." We called Ipswich to see if Bob Herrmann knew about that article. Did he ever! Calls and letters of inquiry had been pouring in. By now over 100 inquiries have been received and a dozen new people have joined ASA.

Some people seem to be taking off the gloves for a knuckle-bruising legal battle over teaching "scientific creationism" in public schools. With ASA's middle-of the-ruckus position, however, what we need to take off is the bushel that Jesus referred to in Matthew 5:14-16 (RSV).

ASA's light is beginning to shine, though. We're getting a foot-candle into some doors that would have closed a year ago. The Chemical & Engineering News story (above) is one example. In his presidential address Don Munro gave another, noting that ASA rates a whole page in David B. Wilson's Did the Devil Make Darwin Do It? Modern Perspectives on the Creation-Evolution Controversy (Iowa State U. Press, 1983).

Reviewing Ashley Montagu's collection, Science and Creationism (Oxford U. Press, 1984), for the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, we found ASA mentioned on the second page of Montagu's introductory essay and described in Laurie Godfrey's chapter, "Scientific Creationism: The Art of Distortion."

People need to see that we stand for faith that makes sense and science that leaves room for faith. One ASA de-busheler is John Wiester. author of The Genesis Connection (Thomas Nelson. 1983). On August 3, for example, just before our Annual Meeting in Ohio, John was interviewed on WCKY. a Cincinnati radio station. The two-hour show with live audience call-ins, "Michaelson in the Morning," went well. John thought. He talked about ASA and invited people to attend.

John is getting a lot of air-time these days. His publisher sends promotional material on The Genesis Connection to stations all over the country and sets up interviews. So far he's been on over 50 radio and TV shows, besides giving talks to church groups, Rotary clubs, student seminars, and so on. Most of the radio shows are done by telephone from his home in Buellton, California. With source books at his fingertips, John can chat with the talk-show host and answer questions from across the country. About half of the shows have been secular.

For a show on WTAQ-AM in LaGrange, Illinois, the nonChristian host also invited a local recent-creationist. John tried to emphasize their unity in Christ, not their difference on geology. The other guest kept pushing his view of earth's history so stridently that even the host got tired of it. That was a low point. 

But on a Sunday evening show in Pittsburgh, the Holy Spirit seemed to be in complete control. The conversation about God and God's creation led dozens of people to call in. Many asked how to make the kind of joyful contact with Jesus Christ evidenced by both John and his host, a Catholic priest. In another city, one of the country's top secular talk-show hosts spent the intermission off the air confessing to John his need for Christ.

One day in Los Angeles John was on two shows, the first with a crusty secular host, George Putnam. Softening as John answered his questions on science and the Bible, Putnam ended up asking John sincerely about what it means to be "born again." Later, on Rich Buehler's KBRT Christian "Talk from the Heart," many believers called in to express to John their joy at hearing Christ honored on the George Putnam show.

One problem that constantly comes up, especially on Christian radio, is the age of the earth. Many Christians calling in have been influenced by a hyperliteral interpretation of Genesis, and are very down on and distrustful of science. There is no doubt in John's mind about the pervasive influence on the average Christian radio listener of the Institute for Creation Research and other recent-creationist groups. John tries to counter that influence by reference to such Scripture passages as Ps2lim 90:1-4, but it isn't easy.

A lot of ordinary citizens are concerned about how evolution is taught in the public schools, especially about the "We owe our existence to a long series of accidents" scenario of Carl Sagan. So far ASA has had little impact on either the fundamentalist or more moderate segments of the American public. John Wiester and many of the rest of us-want to change that.

Let there be light-and enlightenment.

EXPLORING CREATION CONCEPTS

In his story on our Annual Meeting (see above) Wil Lepkowski described us as Christians who care about "the deeper humanization of science, technology, and society." But "creationists were there, too," he wrote, with papers on "ways of reconciling the literal Biblical account of Genesis with geological facts." "Indeed, as one ASA member put it, some 18 varieties of creationists now exist, each trying to reconcile Genesis with science in some particular way." That was retired G.E. electrical engineer Dallas Cain, whose Sunday evening discussion group on varieties of creationism was well attended.

Dallas also gave a paper in the program session on creation chaired by Executive Council member Ed Olson. Dallas described the analysis of Genesis 1 offered by English scientist Hugh Capron around 1901, with fiat days followed by long periods of fulfillment of God's commands. Another paper in that session also given by an electrical engineer, Clarence Schultz of the U. of Connecticut, argued for an old earth, a recent Adam, and a Bible that is literally true except for passages in time as well as backward, with a scheme for the New Testament fulfillment of the Jewish Holy Days of Leviticus 23. (Our reporter got the idea that we should expect something dramatic to happen at the Passover full moon on Friday, 5 April 1985, at 6:33 a.m. EST; that's Easter sunrise, Jerusalem time-Ed.)

"Principles and Problems in Creation Geology" were discussed by Gerhard Nickel of Newton, Kansas, (who, allegedly, nearly fossilized a vanload of geological field trippers when the van he was driving back to Oxford tried to plow itself into the Pleistocene-Ed.). Gerhard said that uniformitarian geologists downplay the contribution of volcanic ash to the deposition of shale; youngearth geologists emphasize sediment deposition without paying enough attention to erosion. If creationists realized that limestone has a unique origin among sedimentary rocks, he said, "they would abandon the young earth view, or at least not ascribe limestone formation to the Noachian flood waters"

A paper of broader scope on "Categorical Complemetarity and the Creationomic Perspective" was given by Howard Van Till, professor of physics and astronomy at Calvin College in Michigan. To have a "creationomic perspective" means to do our natural science in a biblical context, Howard said, but we must understand that the questions we ask about the natural world fall into two distinct categories. When we ask about the internal affairs of the cosmos (e.g., physical properties, material

behavior, cosmic history), we should direct those questions to the cosmos itself through the methods of science. But questions about the external relationships of the cosmos (e.g., concerning its status, origin, governance, value, purpose), are appropriately addressed to Scripture. We must direct to each source only those questions appropriate to that source, and "we must respect the integrity and credibility of the answers provided by each source to those appropriate questions."

The ASA Publications Committee urgently needs information on classroom use of our materials to try to convince commercial publishing houses to consider publishing future JASA reprint collections. The three in print now are ORIGINS AND CHANGE; MAKING WHOLE PERSONS; and PROTEINS, POWER, AND PEOPLE. If you have used any of these in any kind of class (even a Sunday school class), or know of their use by others, please send ASA executive director Bob Herrmann (P.O. Box J, Ipswich, MA 01938) information on what classes, where, how many students, etc. JASA reprint collections can be ordered from Ipswich or from the ASA Bookservice, Logos Bookstore, 4510 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105.

Having to put a deposit "up front" for ASA's European tour following the 1985 ANNUAL MEETING in OXFORD, ENGLAND, is also bringing early registrations for that meeting.  Registration for that joint meeting with the Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship of Great Britain, 26-29 JULY 1985, which will be ASA's 40th Annual Meeting, is still wide open.

(Meanwhile, Duane Kauffmann says he can recommend some great courses for any who prefer to bat a golfball around after the Oxford meeting. If enough of you contact Duane c/o Goshen College, Goshen, IN 46526, a week-long alternative "ASA Golfing Tour" might even develop-Ed.) 

Somebody tipped us off that with the dollar now strong against the pound it might make sense to buy some pounds now at a currency exchange and save them for your trip to Oxford. (Or is such penny-wisdom pound - foolishness?)

Here's another travel tip, from ASA Council member Ed Olson. Ed has found a way to beat staying at impersonal hotels in Great Britain, through an organization called Christian Family Holidays, c/o R.M. Pallister, 9 Dale Wood Road, Orpington, Kent BR6 OBY England; tel. Orpington (0689) 22495. For $3 they will send you a small catalog listing Christian families in Great Britain who provide "EBB"-evening meal, bed, and breakfast-for 10 pounds per person per day. They also rent cars at modest prices. With the catalog you find the closest family to wherever you want to go and make direct contact with them.

In the midst of so much enthusiasm for the joint meeting with RSCF in July it occurred to the Executive Council that some ASA members might not be able to make the trip. Instead of holding an alternative national meeting in the U.S., however, the Council urges local sections to hold good meetings this year and encourages EVERYONE to attend the 1986 ANNUAL MEETING at HOUGHTON COLLEGE. Theme and keynoter are under consideration a year earlier than usual-so that should be an outstanding meeting.

In a Foreword, Dean H. Kenyon, professor of biology at San Francisco State, congratulates the authors for making the first systematic attempt to specify acceptable degrees of investigator interference in origin-of-life experiments.

Kenyon has become skeptical about such experiments since he co-authored Biochemical Predestination (McGraw Hill, 1969) with Gary Steinman. Kenyon thinks The Mystery of Life's Origin may force some to face up to their naturalistic presuppositions if they can't answer the scientific criticisms of Charlie and Co. 

Many ASAers will applaud both the spirit and the conclusions of this scholarly book. even if they have trouble keeping track of the minus signs in the entropy calculations. It's a bit repetitious in places, but we put that down to the influence of all those papers by Sid Fox on "proteinoids" and "protocells" the authors had to plow through. In an Epilogue they spell out five alternatives that might rescue research on life's origin on earth: (1) discovery of new natural laws that would make the coupling of energy flow to configurational work in prebiological systems more plausible; (2) panspermia, or the accidental arrival of life on earth from elsewhere in the cosmos; (3) directed panspermia, a space-age version in which life spores are sent to earth by intelligent beings, perhaps from another galaxy; (4) special creation by some sort of creator within the cosmos, pictured by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe as the transmission of a gene to earth; and (5) special creation by a Creator (read: God) beyond the cosmos. The authors argue that option 5 is no less plausible than the others.

We think they've shown admirable restraint in stopping there, no doubt sensitive to the littering of science-lfaith dialogue with books that claim too much. We tripped up trying to follow their philosophical footwork in distinguishing between "operation science" and "origin science." We're not sure how natural science could ever say more than that "life appeared, though highly improbable"-even if God did create life in an instantaneous, completely discontinuous miracle. Like "God of the gaps" theology, this book's "divine intelligence of the gaps" still focuses on the gaps, which is where science ought to focus. Faith in the Creator must be more encompassing than that.

Maybe it's just not clear to us why any ultimate question, the kind in which God cannot be "left out of the equation," should be considered scientific at all. Why not emphasize the-importance of religious faith as a complement to scientific understanding? All questions have both ultimate and proximate aspects, of course. For instance p. 206 has a good discussion of the role of theistic beliefs in the origin of modern science. Now, there's an origin. Can the "origin" of modern science be explained scientifically? Yes and no. Various disciplines of "operation science" can trace that origin and give a relatively satisfying explanation-but a theist can suggest a complementary one.

We know that some ASA members take a different view. We're grateful to Charlie Thaxton, Walt Bradley, and Roger Olsen for addressing such important philosophical questions in a book intended for working scientists. Let's keep working on 'em.

At the Miami U. meeting, Marilyne Sally Flora was excited about a new company called Intellitool, Inc. (429 S. West St., Wheaton, IL 60187). Why? Because it has developed a low-cost, high-powered tool for teaching muscle physiology, the "Physiogrip," which turns an Apple 11 or lie computer into a powerful physiological teaching instrument. Also because Intellitool is a sort of Mom & Pop venture for Marilyne and her husband Bob and a few other relatives.

Bob, a physicist at Fermilab and a computer nut, designed Physiogrip's hardware. His brother Stephen, a biologist, designed the overall product and wrote the user software. Their sister Hollie, once a store manager, takes care of orders and handles the money. Her husband Alan, a computer scientist, wrote the machine codes. Marilyne, "a biology teacher who can type," serves as secretary. Design work is moving ahead on Intellitool's next product, a computer-interfaced spirometer called Spirocomp.

At the ASA meeting Marilyne was handing out an attractive folder on the Physiogrip and showing printouts of data obtained in typical laboratory demonstrations. Orders are dribbling in from ads in the Physiologist and American Biology Teacher, but it's hard to get a new product onto campuses until somebody publishes a paper about using it. Several people seem to be interested. Meanwhile, Marilyne was looking forward to demonstrating their Physiocomp equipment at the National Association of Biology Teachers' convention at Purdue in November-where she also planned to display some ASA flyers.

1. Dan Wonderly wants to communicate with others who've had training in sedimentary geology and are interested in helping Christians understand the sedimentary evidence for an old earth. Address: Daniel E. Wonderly, Rt. 2, Box 9, Oakland, MD 21550. Tel.: (301) 334-3762.

2. Charlie Hummel is in charge of the faculty program at IVCF's Urbana '84, December 27-31, including afternoon workshops on topics of interest to Christian faculty and a special dinner with Dr. Will Norton on "Overseas Sabbatical Opportunities for Teaching." This will be InterVarsity's 14th Missionary Convention.

3. Del Coon of Midland, Michigan, had a helpful letter published in the 15 January 1984 issue of Christian Standard, a brotherhood magazine of the Churches of Christ. He was responding positively to an article by missions professor Al Hammon of San Jose Bible College, who had recommended treating the scientific community as a mission field rather than a battlefield. Del's letter describing ASA even managed to give ASA's address. (Editors often delete the address of an organization, but keep trying!-Ed.)

4. Don DeGraaf of the U. of Michigan-Flint calls attention to a remarkable article by William G. Pollard, "Rumors of Transcendence in Physics," in the Oct. 1984 issue of American Journal of Physics," pp. 877-81. Pollard discusses the complex state functions of quantum mechanics, the singularity at the birth of the universe, the anthropic principle, the role of chance in evolution, and the unaccountable fruitfulness of mathematics for physics. Conclusion: "None of these examples touch on the existence or activity of God, but they do suggest that external reality may be much richer than the natural world which it is the task of physics to describe."

5. Pro Rege, the Dordt College faculty quarterly, contains articles and book reviews that range over many disciplines. Chemistry prof Russell Maatman says that the last time we called attention to it in this Newsletter, at least 30 ASAers asked to be put on the mailing list. To receive a free subscription, send a note to Pro Rege, Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA 51250. The December 1984 and March 1985 issues will be heavy on the natural sciences from a series of talks on "The Potential of Responsible Technology."

6. Another free publication is Bridges, devoted to urban ministry in the U.S. It began with the summer 1984 issue, which has a good one-page bibliography of resources for urban ministry. For a subscription send a note to U.S. Ministry Division, World Vision, 919 West Huntington Dr., Monrovia, CA 91016.

7. Conrad Hyers of Gustavus Adolphus College, who has an article in the September 1984 JASA, expects the book on which that article is based (The Meaning of Creation: Genesis and Modem Science) to be released by John Knox Press in December 1984. Conrad calls attention to an essay "with a very broad historical and philosophical sweep" by Len and Madeleine Goodman in the March 1983 Zygon: "Creation and Evolution: Another Round in an Ancient Struggle."

8. David 0. Moberg, professor of sociology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, says that the second edition of his book, The Church as a Social Institution: The Sociology of American Religion; has finally come off the press. The 1984 edition, from Baker Book House in Grand Rapids. is a 602-c)age paperback (S18.95). Prentice-Hall published the 1962 edition.

9. ASA field representative Bill Monsma led a seminar sponsored by The Maclaurin Institute of Minneapolis this summer to pay tribute to the late Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer, who founded L'Abri in Switzerland in 1955, developed cancer in 1978 and died on 15 May 1984. The author of many books, he made a unique contribution to reviving an intellectual tradition among a large group of American evangelicals.

WELCOME TO THE 20TH CENTURY. PART 1

So many good things are happening in ASA that we don't have room to report them all. From the standpoint of the Newsletter editor, however, the most important thing that happened at the Executive Council meeting in August was the awarding of a $2,600 grant for us to purchase a word processor. It has already changed our life. This issue was composed on it.

A Newsletter like this is bound to have a certain personal flavor but we try not to unload our personal experiences or opinions on our readers. When we started heating the Troll House with a woodstove a few years ago we barely mentioned it, knowing that Jack Haas, the "Massachusetts Chainsaw Tree-Slasher," had already alerted ASA to the joys of huddling around the warm(est) spot in the house. When we took up jogging, did we keep you informed as we logged more and more of our 10-minute miles? No, we figured that Bill Sisterson and Jerry Albert had already taken ASA on enough "fun runs" to give you the feeling.

We know that a lot of you are already "into computers," as we say in Berkeley. Some of you make your living designing them, programming them, or just using them to do more efficiently whatever it is you do. Those of you who entered the 20th century some time ago are entitled to get some laughs from the rest of us as we ''discover" what you already know. But you sophisticates don't have to read this series about the joys and sorrows the doubts and fears. of getting acquainted with cmputers. It's not written for you.

WELCOME TO THE 20TH CENTURY" is written for those who (like the Newsletter editor until a few weeks ago) have wondered what all the fuss is about. For the editor to buy a word processor may have been a bigger step than for others-people who've at least mastered the telephone. or who had already moved up to an IBM Selectric typewriter. Not us. Except for poetry (for which we used a pencil(-with an eraser). we wrote everything on faithful old UnderWood, who's been so much like a friend that we once listed him as co-author of a paper on human beings and machines. In fact UW may be older than we are. He came into our life reconditioned and secondhand when we were still in our teens. He still has a place of honor in our study upstairs. No, we haven't told him about the intruder down in the Blue Room (now sometimes referred to as the Computer Room). For one thing, we haven't named our new mechanical friend yet, so how could we introduce them properly? And who knows - UnderWood's old keys might have a stroke.

As a matter of fact, preventing unnecessary "keystrokes" is what electronic word processing is all about. The idea is to do all your editing on the computer screen (the CRT, for "cathode ray tube"), where it is much easier to push electrons around than it is to push letters or words around on paper. And there's essentially no limit to the size of the block of material that can be moved from one place to another in your text, deleted with one stroke, or copied endlessly wherever you want it, Faithful old UW couldn't do tricks like that even in his youth, and neither could we.

Now we can, and we're loving it. More about word processing next time, but now we'll just tell you that what we bought was the Kaypro "Business Pak.'" which included a Kaypro 2x computer, a Juki 6100 daisywheel printer. and WordStar (with MailMerge and The Word Plus) as its word processing program-plus lots of other "software" for doing other things with the computer. The ASA grant covered that basic package, a "tractor" accessory for using fanfold continuous paper, and enough supplies to put us in business. Now we're in business and we'll let you know how it comes out.

Gerald W. Eichhoefer (P.O. Box 426. Bellaire. TY 774L1-1 tel. 713-723-1971) is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy) at Rice University in Houston. He has an A.B. in physics and math from Greenville College and an M.A. in philosophy from Rice. He has also done graduate work in the history of philosophy at St. Louis U.; worked on the space shuttle project at NASA; spent five years as an analyst on a super-computer project; and taught math, science. and philosophy at various levels. He's 38, has been a Christian since high school days, teaches Sunday school in a Southern Baptist church, and only recently discovered ASA. Gerald is an interdisciplinarian who could teach some unusual combinations of courses, such as apologetics and computer science, plus upper or lower division math courses.

Jeffery L. Mullins (237 Stribling Ave., Charlottesville, VA 22903) has a B.S. in math and physics from King College (TN) and in May 1984 received an M.A. in astronomy from the U. of Virginia. He is currently working as an EKG technician doing cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis while seeking employment in physics/astronomy.

James A. Rynd (15051 Greenworth, La Mirada, CA 90638) is a professor of organic chemistry at Biola University with a sabbatical coming up next year. Jim would like to know of any college-level teaching positions in his field overseas in a third-world or Muslim country.

Houghton College in New York invites applicants for a tenure track position in economics. Earned doctorate and classroom experience preferred. At present a minor is offered in economics, a program in the Division of History and Social Science. Vitae to: Dr. Frederick D. Shannon, Dean of the College, Houghton College, Houghton, NY 14774. (Received Sept 1984.)

Wheaton College in Illinois needs a laboratory associate in physics for fall 1985. Maintenance, repair, and design of electronic and mechanical laboratory equipment; some lab instruction. Contact: Dr. Dillard W. Faries, Chair, Phvsics Department. Wheaton College. Wheaton. IL 

World Vision International in California has several openings for missions-minded individuals with backgrounds in education, management, and social science. Send resum6 to: Kent Stock, Employment Supervisor, World Vision International, 919 West Huntington Drive, Monrovia, CA 91006. (Received Oct 1984.)

On October 27 the section hosted the 1984 CSCA National Meeting. This year the public program on Saturday morning consisted of short seminars on "Questions of Science and Faith." Don Erling organized the program, held at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. At the business meeting several new members of the CSCA Executive Council were to be elected, including a replacement for Ian Taylor, retiring after several years of faithful service.

Last year the section held three public meetings (speakers: Dan Osmond of LIT; Bob VanderVennen and Jim Olthuis of ICS), maintained an ongoing discussion based on Dick Bube's book, The Human Quest, and sponsored a position paper in response to the Bovey Commission report. The Executive consists of Don Erling, Peter Webster, Charles Chaffey, Dan Osmond, and Paul Larocque.

The Guelph section has received a number of requests and responses to its "Christian Guidelines in Biotechnology" produced last year as a group effort. Gary ParHow chairs the section, with Ed den Haan, Esther Martin, Bruce Holub, Bonnie Mallard, Bill Woodward, and Mary Rogers also on the Executive.

On October 27 the section's fall meeting featured two lectures on "Cosmology and Creation" by Stanley L. Jaki, noted author and Distinguished Professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. The meeting took place at the seminary chapel at Nyack College in Nyack, New York. Professor Jaki's afternoon lecture, "From a Scientific Cosmology to a Created Universe," preceded a business meeting and dinner. In the evening he spoke on "The Christian Origins of Science."

At the business meeting, four new members were to be elected to the Executive Council to replace Richard Harrison (pres.), Jack Haynes, Gary Allen, and Ghillean Prance. Carl Gustafson has stepped in to fill out the unexpired term of Wayne Ault, one of the founders of the Metropolitan New York section. The MNYS Council designated Wayne an Honorary Life Member of the section and presented an inscribed plaque to him at the spring meeting, before he moved from the area on retirement.

Dr. Felix Fernando of Sri Lanka has expressed his gratitude to the MNYS for the copies of JASA and other literature sent to him. He has donated some of the books to the only Protestant theological library in Sri Lanka. He cited several JASA articles, particularly those on "complementarity," as being of special value in his conversations with Buddhist colleagues.

A lot more is going on in our currently most active local section. If you live anywhere nearby, you should be participating. Don't miss the spring 1985 meeting on March 30 at The King's College in Briarcliff Manor, New York, with New York U. psychologist Paul C. Vitz as speaker. Contact MNYS executive secretary Robert T. Voss, 82 Carlton Ave., Washington, NJ 07882, to get on the mailing list for the section's Newsletter.

If you live near our nation's capital, you should be active in helping this section get on its feet again. Contact Paul Arveson, Box 2181, Silver Spring, MD 20902.

-THE END-

Ipswich, MA

Permit No. 46