NEWSLETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

VOLUME 30 NUMBER                                                                3 JUNE/JULY 1988


EXPLORING HUMAN PERSONHOOD

At press time, over 160 had registered for the Imago Dei Symposium being held June 2-5 at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Insiders at the Christian Medical Society, cosponsors with the American Scientific Affiliation of this significant conference on human personhood, say that busy physicians tend to show up at the last minute, so a larger registration is anticipated. The "Image of God" theme will be addressed from a theological perspective by Carl F.H. Henry, a scientific perspective by V. Elving Anderson, a philosophical one by E. David Cook of Oxford University, and a public policy perspective by James W. Skillen of the Association for Public Justice in Washington, D.C.

Other speakers include anatomist Gareth Jones, cultural anthropologist Jim Buswell, neuroscientist Dan Geisler, and psychiatrist Armand Nicholi. Publication in book form is planned. Leaders of the seventeen clinical workshops include ASA members Elving Anderson, Bob Herrmann' Gretchen Berggren, Tom Hoshiko, and Rob MacGregor.

The symposium offers 19 credit hours (in Category I of the Physician's Recognition Award of the American Medical Association) from the U. of Louisville School of Medicine's Office of Continuing Medical Education.

LOOKING GREAT IN '88

With the June Imago Dei Symposium and the August ANNUAL MEETING coming up, a lot is going on in ASA. On May 13, "anchorman" Owen Gingerich and ASA executive director Bob Herrmann were to meet in Chicago with Professor Langdon Gilkey and other advisors to go over the final segment of the preliminary script of the proposed TV series. Hopes are high for possible coproduction arrangements with some financial backing behind them. Much of this is being detailed in a letter from the national office to all ASA/CSCA members.

That letter will also spell out ASA's current financial situation and some special needs. The bad news, that gifts to ASA were sharply down last year (fitting a pattern felt by many Christian organizations) is at least partially balanced by good news, in the form of a $7,000 "challenge" grant from The Stewardship Foundation. Bob Herrmann, who immediately began seeking matching contributions, says he's encouraged by the initial response.

ROOM AT THE BEACH
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Registration materials for the 1988 ASA ANNUAL MEETING, to be held at PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY in MALIBU, CALIFORNIA, AUGUST 5-8, should soon be in your hands. The "western year" of ASA's four-year cycle is always a great opportunity to take in the Annual Meeting on a family vacation trip. Program chair Stanley Moore of Pepperdine points out that tent camping will be available at Leo Carrillo State Beach about ten miles from, campus, with RV camping even closer.

If you plan to camp, though, Stan needs to make site reservations for you as early as possible. Southern California beaches are popular places in August. Let Stan know your needs, at 1756 Campbell Ave, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360; tel. 805-495-2044 (H) or 213-456-4377 (W).

ROOM IN THE PULPIT

Would you be willing to preach or speak on science and faith on Sunday, Aug 7, at a church in the Malibu-Greater Los Angeles area? Stan Moore will try to line up such an opportunity if you give him enough in formation early enough. Use his address or phone number(s) above to tell him your denomination, something about your background, and what you would feel comfortable doing.

Participants at Annual Meetings have "spread the word" on ASA while "preaching the Word" in Sunday services or teaching adult classes at a wide variety of churches. You don't have to be an acclaimed "pulpiteer." Churchgoers like to hear the personal testimonies of scientists who are committed Christians-a story every ASA/CSCA member can tell.


ROOM ON THE PROGRAM

At press time, responses to the Call for Papers were still dribbling in and the program for the ANNUAL MEETING was taking shape. With such a thought-provoking theme, "SCIENCE, WEAPONS, AND HOPE: CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES," no one would mind if the program left plenty of time for reflection and discussion. The three keynote speakers alone will give us plenty to think about.

On Friday, Stanford professor Richard H. Bube, long-time editor of ASA's Journal, will speak on "Crises of Conscience for Christians in Science." On Saturday, Pepperdine professor Daniel Caldwell will address "Ethical Dilemmas of Strategic Deterrence and Arms Control." Sunday's keynoter Brian Hehir will discuss "Deterrence, Its Status and Future." The three will appear together Monday on a plenary panel on the conference theme.

Issues of military preparedness and foreign policy come to mind naturally in a presidential election year, but ASA's agenda is not political. At Pepperdine as at other Annual Meetings, Christian perspectives will be brought to all sorts of topics in sessions of contributed papers. For example, many ASAers are interested in serving God with their technical skills through "tentmaking" overseas. The 1988 ANNUAL MEETING will be a good place to share that interest.

LOOKING BEYOND WAR

Since 1983, The Beyond War Foundation (222 High SL, Palo Alto, CA 94301) has presented an annual award to "the group or individual who has made an outstanding contemporary contribution toward building a world beyond war." The initial 1983 award went to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (USA) for their pastoral letter, "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response." Beyond War Awards have since been given to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1984); to The Five-Continent Peace Initiative (presented to leaders of Argentina, Greece, India, Mexico, Sweden, and Tanzania, 1985); and to The Contadora Group (1986).

On 6 December 1987, the Beyond War Award honored the United States Peace Corps. As in previous years, modem satellite technology brought the award ceremony to many people through a live television broadcast from San Francisco. (The 1984 ceremony linked San Francisco and Moscow in a two-way broadcast; the 1985 ceremony linked seven countries on five continents for the first time.)

D. Wayne Linn, professor of biology at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, is one of 115,000 returned Peace Corps Volunteers who, along with 5,500 current Volunteers, were recipients of the award. In Ashland, Wayne and 60 other local Peace Corps veterans assembled to watch the live satellite broadcast and receive local honors.

Wayne wonders how many other ASA members are returned Peace Corps Volunteers and hence recipients of the 1987 Beyond War Award. He'd like to put together a roster. Send your name and what you did in the Peace Corps to the Newsletter editor (762 Arlington Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707). Maybe we can do something to honor you at the ASA ANNUAL MEETING at PEPPERDINE, UNIVERSITY on AUGUST 5-8. It would be especially appropriate this year.

A SANE PROPOSAL THAT MIGHT WORK

World Beyond War, like Ted Koppel's "Nightline" program, has put the U.S. and USSR in closer touch through satellite TV hook-ups. That reminds us of a proposal for preventing World War III sent to us by computer scientist John W. Burgeson of Georgetown, Texas. John calls his proposal SANE (for "Strategic Answer to Nuclear Exchanges"). He is serious about SANE as an alternative to NIAD ("Mutual Assured Destruction"), SDI ("Strategic Defense Initiative," dubbed "Star Wars"), and never-ending disarmament negotiations.

John sees problems with SANE, but his computer printout presses home what's wrong with the other alternatives, to prepare readers to consider a fourth possible solution. One problem with SANE, he says, is that the concept is so simple, so easy to describe, that people may dismiss it without thinking it through. Implementation, he admits, would not be cheap, but would still cost far less than either SDI or continuation of MAD. SANE has the advantage of deterring chemical and germ warfare as well as nuclear warfare-at no added cost.

SANE is like the classic method of exchanging hostages, only John proposes relocating the highest government offices. Modem communications technology could keep a U.S. president and staff domiciled in Moscow in touch with a Congress functioning in, say, London. (The present Republican administration and Democrat-dominated Congress are almost that far apart now.-Ed.) Russia's premier might work in Paris, in contact with a Politburo stationed in Washington, D.C. John's printout goes on to answer some of the most obvious objections to his proposal.

SANE does sound sort of crazy, until one thinks about the alternatives. We hope John Burgeson comes to the ASA ANNUAL MEETING at PEPPERDINE to talk about SANE. You can contact him at 101 Skyline Road, Geogetown, TX 78628. His printout's final question: "What are your alternatives?"

WHEREVER GOD WANTS US: 2

Tentmaking" is a style of mission work named for the trade carried on by the Apostle Paul, not only to support himself financially but also to open doors to the gospel as he itinerated around the Mediterranean. In much of the world today, tentmaking-whatever the trade-is the only way to get a Christian witness into a country or region. To some missions theorists, it's the way all mission work whould be done.

George Jennings, psychological anthropologist, former missionary, and mission executive, might not go that far, but he knows the importance of tentmaking in the Islamic countries in which he has specialized. George is executive secretary of Middle East Christian Outreach (MECO), formed in 1976 from three evangelical groups with a combined record of 250 years of service in the Mid East.

Even though MECO is clear that its primary goal is evangelism, not merely economic development or improvement in living conditions, George looks for committed Christians with a skill or profession. Without it they have no chance of getting the necessary visa. Eventually they must also master Arabic or perhaps Turkish or Farsee, but solid technical skills come first. MECO workers live among their Muslim neighbors, build solid friendships, and give evidence of Christ living within them.

In an article on "Mission Among Metropolitan Muslims" in Urban Mission (Nov 1987), George discussed the strategy in evangelizing great Muslim cities like Cairo, Baghdad, Istanbul, Tehran, and Karachi, each with over 10 million inhabitants. Although Muslims in such cities are under less cultural restraint than in their tribal villages, they may still live in a relatively tight cultural enclave, often in contact with many relatives. Christians who live among them must develop fluency not only in the major national language but also in the tribal language (e.g., Kurdish) or local dialect retained in the enclave. Skills of friendship and neighborliness are next in importance. It is primarily 'in the cities where technical skills like engineering or teaching science can be put to use.

George Jennings recommends his own Welcome Into the Middle East (1986), a 325-page, well-illustrated handbook ($10 plus $2 s/h in USA, $3 s/h elsewhere), as an 'introduction to a culture with a heritage of living in real tents. To order a copy, or to inquire about the possibility of "tentmaking" under MECO auspices, write to George Jennings, Middle East Missions Research, Box 632, LeMars, IA 51031.

BULLETIN BOARD

1. On July 15, Ipswich (MA) gets a new Area code. Telephone number of the American Scientific Affiliation becomes: LM 356-5656.

2. The Association for the Sociology of Religion holds its 1988 meeting Aug 21-23 at the Colony Square Hotel in Atlanta. Theme: "America, Religion, and the World." Program chair Frank Lechner, Emory U., Atlanta.

3. The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meets Oct 28-Nov 1 at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago. Theme: "Religion and Social ConfliCt." Program chair: Madeleine Adriance, Mount Ida College, 777 Dedham St, Newton Center, MA 02159. Concurrently, the Religious Research Association meets at the Bismarck. Theme: "Change and Conflict Affecting Religious Institutions." Program chair Helen Rose Ebaugh, U. of Houston, Texas.

4. Atlanta 188, an International Congress on Christian Counseling will take place Nov 9-13 at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, with pre-Congress institutes on Nov 8. The American Scientific Affiliation is one of eight organizational sponsors (in addition to academic and corporate sponsors, for a total of 23). Former ASA president Gary R. Collins is national coordinator of the Congress, which is designed for pastors, professionals, and students being trained in psychological services. Sid Macaulay, editor of CMS Journal, is on the steering committee, and several ASA members are coordinators of specific program tracks. Names we spotted included Gary Collins (Contemporary counseling); Newton Malony (Psychology of religion); James Powell (Clinical supervision); John Stoll (Pastoral counseling); and John Vayhinger (Psychological foundations). (Before his debilitating accident, Mansell Pattison was a coordinator of the Biomedical aspects of therapy track.) Registration information: Atlanta '88, 373 Lucky Drive, Marietta, GA 30067. tel. 404-578-0677.

5. Students for Origins Research has a new address: P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO 80937. SOR headquarters outgrew Dennis Wagner's garage in Santa Barbara, and Dennis arranged a job transfer to Colorado Springs after another SOR staffer landed a job there. Dave Johannsen, Bob Nisbet, and some other members of the crew remain in Santa Barbara for now, but Origins Research, the SOR Bulletin, and the CREVO/BBS electronic bulletin board have all moved. CREVO/BBS has a new phone number (719-528-1363) for access to information on creation and evolution culled from journals, wire services, and other sources. Write to SOR for details, to subscribe to Origins Research ($5/two years; $7 in Canada; free to students, educators), or to join SOR ($5 students and senior citizens; $15 associate; $50 sustaining).


"TEACHING SCIENCE" STILL SELLING
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Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy, the book let produced in 1986 by ASA's Committee for Integrity in Science Education and now in its second (slightly revised) printing, still sells an average of about 50 copies a week. Some copies go out from the Ipswich of fice one by one, others in large orders for classroom use.

At that rate they'll be almost all gone before an anticipated third printing. (Get 'em while they're nod-Ed.) The Committee has met several times to consider further revisions to the booklet, sensitive both to critical responses and to the need to keep costs down. Funds have been sought from several foundations in addition to the two that supported 1986-87 mailings to some 40,000 high school biology teachers. At least one request has been granted and another is pending that would guarantee a third printing, bringing the total in print to over 100,000 copies. Three-fourths of the "Grade Us" postcards returned still give the booklet an "A" or "A+" grade.

One of the last published reviews mentioned in this Newsletter was a scathing eight-pager in the May 1987 issue of The Science Teacher of the National Science Teachers Association (TSTA). Entitled "Scientists Decry a Slick New Packaging of Creationism," it came from the same William J. Bennetta who first attacked the ASA booklet in Creation/Evolution Newsletter. Evidently he solicited responses by sending copies of the booklet to selected scientists, possibly along with his CIE N diatribe. Nine well-known scientists, who either blindly followed his lead or independently misread the booklet as creation-science propaganda, wrote highly negative critiques, edited by Bennetta. Of the nine, only one or two actually commented on the scientific content. Berkeley anthropologist Vincent Sarich contributed a helpful essay for teachers on one aspect of evolution.

The ASA Committee (David Price, John Wiester, Walter Hearn) submitted a manuscript rebutting the most extravagant charges. After several months, editor Juliana Texley gently rejected the paper but quoted one of the referees as saying that a shorter version might serve a useful pedagogical purpose. Walt Hearn cut the manuscript in half and resubmitted it as a long Letter to the Editor, which appeared in the Feb 1988 issue of The Science Teacher.

The letter describes Bennetta's assemblage of critics as trying to cram the ASA booklet into a creation-science pigeonhole. Since it didn't fit, they themselves supplied the creationist claims they couldn't find in the booklet. The letter agreed that several sentences in the booklet should be changed because they had been misread-not because they were in error. It refuted the charge that quotations had been taken out of context. After reviewing the booklet's answers to four "open questions" in science, the letter ended this way:

"Those are the four major conclusions of the ASA booklet. We say to our critics: Stop the name-calling and pigeonholing. Skip the naturalistic or supematuralistic speculations. Just tell us (and the teachers): On the basis of presently available evidence, are those conclusions wrong?"

The Committee appreciated TSTA's openness and editor Texley's courtesy in publishing ASA's response, an act of courage that may put Texley on Bill Bennetta's hit list. When California Science Teachers Journal published a version of Bennetta's original CIE N diatribe, the ASA Committee submitted a manuscript which CSTI rejected out of hand. The editor said his journal didn't publish material "from creationists" because the state science teachers' association is affiliated with NSTA and abides by NSTA's guidelines on "Nonscience Tenets." The ASA manuscript, entitled "Teaching Science in a Climate of Trust," showed that Bermetta's CSTJ paper was riddled with opinions based on his own "nonscience tenets." (Oh well, we can't win lern all-Ed.)

More recently, voices have been heard from the other direction. The March 1988 issue of Acts & Facts from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) contained Impact article No. 177, on "The Compromise Road." The author,

Henry Morris, director of ICR, advised such writers as geologist Davis Young of Calvin and biologist Pattle Pun of Wheaton to "stay on the straight and narrow road of the pure Word of God." (No problem there-Ed.) But the ASA, he said, "has for forty years been leading Christians down this path of compromise with evolution."

Turning to Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy, Morris cited both of Bennetta's major blasts, elevating science-writer Bermetta to the rank of "biologist" in the process. To back up his own aversion to "theistic evolution," Morris quoted a sentence from The Science Teacher written by Lynn Margulis, most vitriolic of Bennetta's nine scientists. Morris ignored the fact that it was the ASA booklet's theistic religious position that angered Margulis, not what Teaching Science had to say about the scientific concept of evolution. In fact Margulis called the booklet "treacherous" because it used "authentic scientific and didactic principles" to promote "ASA's particular creation myth." (We've heard Margulis expound on her own particular creation myth on the origin of life, and we can assure you that it differs from Henry Morris's.Ed.)

As Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy points out, extremists tend to agree with their adversaries on one point: that no middle ground exists between them. So what can they do when ASA takes a firm stand in the middle, upholding what is truly biblical about creation and what is truly scientific about evolution? The creation-science people figure ASA must be in cahoots with their enemies in the scientific establishment. The evolutionist-religion people picture ASA as an ICR-tifice. (Ho hum. We wish them all the best, but we can't imagine Henry and Lynn living together happily for very long.-Ed.)

Meanwhile a mountain of correspondence has been engendered by responses to the ASA booklet. It all seems worth it if we can shed a little light, even if in the process ASA has to take a little heat.

NEVER A DULL SEMESTER

A story headlined "Making News in Georgia" in our Feb/Mar issue described the exciting move of Henry F. Schaefer from U.C. Berkeley to head the brand new Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of Georgia in Athens (UGA). What made "Fritz" Schaefer's fast semester so exciting was a ruckus he in advertently caused by speaking publicly to students outside of class about his Christian faith.

The 23 Nov 1987 issue of Columns, UGA faculty bulletin, featured on its monthly Faculty Forum page an essay by Francis Assaf, associate professor of romance languages, entitled "Evolution is scientific, creationism is not." Taking umbrage at some of Fritz's remarks in The Red and Black, UGA student newspaper, Assaf lit into him, calling Fritz (1) a fundamentalist, (2) a "militant anti-intellectual," and (3) a "living oxymoron."

The Faculty Forum page carries Responses, so Fritz responded vigorously in the 22 Feb 1988 issue, showing that his attacker was wrong on all counts. Fritz suggested that Professor Assaf could probably be more precise in a romance language than in his use of English in the essay, but recognized his "opposition to Christian orthodoxy." "However," Fritz concluded, "unsubstantiated (and unsubstantiatable) name-calling can never be an alternative to serious intellectual exchange." Of the oxymoron charge, he said that Assaf's apparent disbelief that someone could be "both a committed Christian and a professional contributor to science" showed a "shocking ignorance" of the history of science.

The 7 Dec 1987 issue of The Red and Black featured a profile of Prof. Schaefer, mentioning the controversy over his religious beliefs but emphasizing his professional leadership in his field. It was headlined "Chemist gamers respect, disputes." Since then, Fritz has kept on gamering.

On Jan 29 he gave the 1988 John Lee Pratt Lecture at the U. of Virginia (named for the mogul of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines). While there, Professor Ed Rose of the Medical School arranged for Fritz to give his now infamous lecture on "Modem Science and the Christian Faith." On Feb 22 Schaefer gave the 1988 Louis Jacob Birchen Lecture at Vanderbilt U. (named for a former Vanderbilt chemistry professor).

A member of the Presbyterian Church in America, Fritz has been invited to speak in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches. An article about him in the Savannah Morning News brought 350 people to Savannah's Independent Presbyterian Church when he spoke there-250 more than expected. At Emory University in Atlanta, 65 miles from Athens, after a story in the Emory Wheel, Fritz's lecture for IVCF packed the chemistry lecture hall with over 200 people. The lecture was preceded by a dinner with Christian faculty hosted by Ronald C. Johnson, chemistry professor at Emory.

Meanwhile, Schaefer is beginning to oversee installation of some $800,000 worth of IBM computer equipment at the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry, and to recruit graduate students to bring his research group up to full strength. It has not been a dull semester.


"SEARCH" EMERGES: WILL IT FLY?

SEARCH pecked its way out of its shell this spring like that baby Califomia condor, only with less fanfare. The fledgling four-page publication, telling the stories of "Scientists Who Serve God," is hardly off the ground, but in full flap. The first issue, focusing on engineer Walter Bradley of Texas A & M, was stapled in the March 1988 issue of PERSPECTIVES.

Editor Walt Hearn, managing editor Nancy Hanger, and the ASA Council are eager for your feedback on SEARCH and its potential usefulness. Try out the March and (coming) June issues on your pastor or other church members.

Do they like the idea? Understand the content? Appreciate ASA more? For that matter, do you? Bring your comments and criticisms to the ANNUAL MEETING in August, or let the Ipswich or Berkeley offices hear from you.

Nancy continues to play with layout on Ventura Publisher With an added PostScript@ board for her printer (thanks to a few generous gifts) she can now design a banner with larger, more attractive type. How about some color? The sky's the limit (if you're a condor-Ed.).

Our down-to-earth experiment is definitely not as classy as Science '86 or Science Digest. Unlike them, though, we're still alive. Science magazines for general audiences have been falling out of the skies. The Canadian government, losing the equivalent of $300,000 (U.S.) each year on a free-circulation magazine begun in 1969, sold it to a private publisher last year. By then the English version had a circulation of 80,000, the French version 30,000.

When free enterprise took over, 22,000 copies of Science and Technology Dimensions were sold and 11,000 copies of Dimensions Science et Technologie. Only 7,000 of those were subscription sales, however, so after four issues, the magazine folded. The publisher is now seeking a grant from the Ministry of State for Science and Technology under a program to encourage science popularization. He says he needs $1 million to do the job, with $700,000 of that for promotion and marketing. (Probably Canadian dollars, but a lot of money in any language. At least SEARCH doesn't have subscription worries, yet-Ed.)

It's hard to think of a science-oriented magazine hatched ihn the last decade that has succeeded. Time, Inc., bought Science '86 from AAAS to get rid of competition for its Discover, then had to sell Discover when it kept losing too much money. Circulation and profits were going down at even the venerable 142-year-old Scientific American when it was sold in 1986 to a West German publisher. Editor Jonathan Piel has been sprucing up the magazine, moving toward shorter, easier-to-read articles and more eye-catching illustrations. Circulation of Scientific American has risen to 605,000 worldwide.

When last we heard, the American Psychological Association was trying to sell Psychology Today, which it bought in 1983 for something over $3 million. The magazine has a circulation of about 850,000 but publication has cost APA some $15 million and a lot of internal controversy over both editorial and advertising policies.

We learned many of the above facts of economic life from news stories in The Scientist, a tabloid "science newspaper" published since 1986 by the Institute for Scientific Information, better known for Current Contents and Science Citation Index. Ironically, The Scientist itself has been having financial trouble because of low advertising revenues.

SEARCH will never be a slick full-color magazine dependent on advertising or draining ASA funds. If we have a "role model," it's Science News, a 16-page weekly published by the nonprofit Science Service, Inc., established in 1921 (Annual subscription, $34.50. Subscription Dept., 231 West Center St., Marion, OH 43305). Well edited with a touch of whimsy, unpretentious little Science News won the 1987 George Polk Award for Science Reporting, a prestigious journalism award given in that category only eight times in 40 years. (Science News, we who are about to fly, salute you!-Ed.)

FUMBLES2., GRUMBLES AND HICCUPS

When the Weary Old Editor (WOE is me!-Ed.) cleaned off the desk to do his income tax in April, he glanced at one of the piles he was shifting to the floor. An item that should have been reported in the Newsletter caught his eye, then another and another. Then a whole stack of unanswered correspondence rose up to smite him smack in the conscience. What deadline crises, ages ago, brought on the burial of that "Urgent" pile? Already shaken by the unfathomable instructions for Form 1040, he stopped probing and decided to publish this Blanket Apology to Everybody. (We borrowed money to pay our taxes, but how does one borrow time to pay more important debts? Ed.)

One thing that turned up was a big folder received from "Media Profile" of Toronto in July 1987 containing over fifty pages of press information. The Premier's Council (Conseil du premier ministre) of Ontario was designating seven "Centres of Excellence" to place the province "in the forefront of international competitive activity" (such as a Centre for Groundwater Research at the U. of Waterloo). The packet was addressed to "ASA Newsletter Editor" and the documents named scores of faculty members. We recall searching through that whole packet several times, expecting to find the name of at least one CSCA member, which might explain why it was sent to us. Nothing (Rien), save a little practice in French. Not a single Newsletter item lay buried in there (until now-Ed.).

Something we really enjoy about this job is the hiccups(Obviously a typo, but let it stand at this hour of the night.-Ed.) Anyway, here are two hook-ups from the Apr/May issue: (1) We put geologist Al Fleming of Olivet Nazarene U. in touch with Ruth Siemens' Global Opportunities (1600 Elizabeth St., Pasadena, CA 91104), after he read about Ruth's ability to find places for science teachers overseas. (2) Writer Bill Durbin saw the squib in BULLETIN BOARD about Lion Publishing, contacted them about an idea for a book, and negotiations are un,derway. (Not bad, said the Weary Old Editor.)

LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

TORONTO

Meetings have been held on Jan 19, Feb 17, and March 8. The February meeting at Ryerson Polytech featured the excellent videotape produced by Timothy Ferris for PBS, "The Creation of the Universe." It was introduced by David Cale, science teacher with the Peel Board of Edcuation. In March, Robert Mann of the U. of Waterloo spoke on "Rumors of Transcendence."

METROPOLITAN NEW YORK

The fall 1987 meeting at The King's College featured psychologist Paul C. Vitz of New York University, speaking on "Censorship of Religion in Public School Textbooks: The Problem and Solutions." Beginning in 1983, Vitz conducted research for the National Institute of Education that convinced him that our religious history, heritage, beliefs, and values have been systematically excluded from school textbooks. His participation in court cases in Alabama and Tennessee received wide publicity. His ASA talks were based on material in his book Censorship: Evidence of Bias in our Children's Textbooks (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1986).

The spring 1988 meeting was held April 16 at Nyack College, with Russell Stannard as speaker. Stannard, chair of the Physics Dept. of the Open University, U.K., has been on a year's leave as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton. At Princeton he is writing a book stimulated by discussions at Windsor Castle arranged by Prince Philip to draw experts in science, philosophy, and religion together. At Nyack he spoke on "Is the Physical World There? Problems Arising from Quantum Physics" and "Is God There? Reflections of a Christian Quantum Physicist."

The 1988 Executive Council consists of Richard Rommer (pres.), Edward Demarest (vice-pres.), Stanley Rice (sec.), Ernst Monse (treas.), Harold Decker, Robert Hsu, Randy Isaac, and Darrell Singer, with Robert Voss as exec. secretary.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

A potluck supper on March 26 drew a small turnout to Paul McKowen's Irvington Presbyterian Church in Fremont to hear about the Presbyterian Consultation on "The Church and Contemporary Cosmology" held last December.

Paul McKowen described the motley crew of scientists, theologians, campus ministers, and ordinary church folk who came together from all over the U.S. to grapple with the relevance of "the new physics" for Christian faith. Many were startled when invited NASA scientist Eric Chaisson led off by declaring, "Astrophysics is my religionand evolutionary change is my god." U. of Chicago theologian Langdon Gilkey, asking "Whatever Happened to Emmanuel Kant?" set out philosophy, science, and theology as distinct "hermeneutical disciplines" not to be naively scrambled together. The sophisticated scrambling done by some speakers, however, led the assembled motleys to express doubt that the denomination's constituency as a whole would appreciate such deliberations.

Walter Hearn reviewed the more moderate approaches, such as forging new religious metaphors or drawing parallels between familiar theological paradoxes and the new paradoxes faced by "quantum metaphysicists." A theologian's complaint that modems respect science but not theology made Walt reflect on the limited role of theory in both disciplines. We take scientific theories seriously when they lead to experimental results. When our theologies lead to changed lives and other evidence that Christ lives among us, our "Christian theories" will generate the same kind of interest. At times the Consultation seemed to emphasize purely speculative aspects of scientific theory. Paul McKowen noted that a new Overture for another Consultation, this one specifically adding technological issues to the agenda, has been submitted to the General Assembly.

Walt pointed to the relative maturity of ASA, which has been going at the same issues since 1941. He commented on the positive input of ASA members at the Consultation and on how ASA can encourage and interact with denominational groups interested in science/faith issues. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has set up a polling mechanism to find out what different segments of their denomination think about all sorts of issues. The fact that 99 percent knew about Darwin's theory of evolution but less than 20 percent had heard of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle may account for the emphasis on physics at the December Consultation.

Instead of planning another spring meeting, the section urged members to attend a New College Berkeley conference on "Good News to the Poor" in April and the ASA ANNUAL MEETING at PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY in MALIBU, AUGUST 5-8.

PERSONALS

William A. Durbin, Jr., of Cary, North Carolina, will begin doctoral work in Religious Studies at Duke University in the fall. With a 1972 M.A. in intellectual history from the U. of Michigan, he hopes to study the science-religion dialogue from that perspective. Bill has published many articles on the dialogue already. He is now polishing an article on origins for the Christianity Today Institute, scheduled for August publication in CT. It is based on a panel discussion that brought scientists Howard Van Till, Pattle Pun, and John Meyer together with theologians Kenneth Kantzer and John Woodbridge.

Affired J. Fleming is a professor in the Dept. of Geological Sciences of Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, Illinois. In Dec 1987 he completed his Ph.D. in geology at Northern Illinois University, with a dissertation on stream disequilibrium and the associated sediment erosion and pollution problems. Al reports some challenging opportunities at Olivet, where a new program in engineering has strengthened the program for geology majors. Olivet is also beginning a Masters program in science education, for which Al will serve as program coordinator.

Walter R. Hearn of Berkeley, California, editor of this Newsletter, describes his adventures as a Christian in academic life in the current issue of Radix magazine ("Where Can Truth Be Found?"). After years as its "poetry rejection editor," Walt is still a contributing editor of

Radix, a hardy survivor hanging on by its fiscal fingernails to show the world that Christians care about the whole of life. (Still $10 for 4 issues, P.O. Box 4307, Berkeley, CA 94704.) Ginny, Walt's Wedded Editor, moums the demise of U (for "University"), formerly the His magazine of which she was associate editor from 1957 to 1964. (They met after Walt submitted a poem to the magazine in 1963, a "Scientist's Psalm.") In Sept 1988, U will shrink to a mere four-page insert for students in World Christian magazine.

Conrad Hyers, professor and chair of religion at Gustavus College in St. Peter, M[innesota, is known to most of us for his best-selling book, The Meaning of Creation (John Knox Press, 1984). Conrad's latest book, And God Created Laughter: The Bible as Divine Comedy (John Knox Press, 1987) is also doing well. Looking at the Bible as a whole in the light of the Apostle Paul's theme of "the foolishness of God" and Dante's theme of a "divine comedy," it provides "an estimable balance between faith and humor" in a tragic world- A world tamed "upside down" with the proud humbled and the lowly exalted is really pretty funny.

Russell Maatman is professor of chemistry at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. Russ also edits the quarterly Pro Rege, published by the Dordt faculty and mentioned before on these pages. In the March 1988 issue on history, Russ's own article on "Natural Science and the Two Themes in Human History" analyzes science and technology as agencies of both God's justice and mercy. ASA/CSCA members can receive a free subscription to this thoughtful little Reformed journal on request to the editor (Dordt College, 498 4th Ave., NE, Sioux Center, IA 51250).

Neal Matson plans to put his "third-world" lifestyle in wilderness Alaska, his "home church" planting experience there, and his cross-cultural marriage (to Lisa, a filipina) to work as a missionary in the Philippines. He plans to teach English part-time at Philippine Bible College in Baguio City while helping in church planting work in remote parts of Luzon. The final hurdle, now that Lisa has become a U.S. citizen, is to sell their Alaskan homestead to finance their mission. Neal wonders if some ASAer with $40,000 would like to buy 10 acres of Alaska (with trout stream and sauna) adjacent to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Details: small furnished home plus partly furnished guest cabin and greenhouse; spring, road access, near airstrip; no property taxes or local government; schoolbus and mail delivery only a quarter of a mile away; TV reception now, telephone service soon; big game hunting in a minimally touched forest area, salmon fishing three miles away; and "you have to pass through Alaska to get to Heaven anyway." Interested? Write to Neal Matson, SRA Box 1122, Slana, AK 99586.

Joe W. Palen is grateful for God's help in the recent completion of his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania-after 21 years out of school. He is now returning to a position he left that long ago at Heat Transfer Research in Alhambra, California. Joe's wife Dina is a native of Java, raised as a Muslim. She will be taking cross-cultural studies at the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena in preparation for the next phase of their lives: a tentmaking career in Indonesia. Joe is one of the people you ought to meet at the ASA ANNUAL MEETING at PEPPERDINE in MALIBU, AUGUST 5-8.

Charles B. Thaxton of the Julian Center in Julian, California, is pleased that a lecture on human rights he gave at the Harvard Law School back in 1980 has finally made it into print. Soon after that, Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon came across it and read it into the Congressional Record. Eventually journalist Steve Meyer, now studying at Cambridge, reworked it. "Me Thaxton/Meyer piece appeared as "Human Rights: Blessed by God or Begrudged by Government" on the Opinion page of the 27 Dec 1987 Los Angeles Times. It also went out over the wire to some 600 papers in the Times-Post News Service. The article ties the concept of "inalienable human rights" to the Judeo-Christian view of human origins. After discussing the tendency of science to diminish the distinctiveness of human beings, Charlie concluded that if the scientific view prevails, "then there is no dignity and human rights are a delusion, not only in Moscow but here in the West as well."

Laurence C. Walker is Lacy Hunt Professor of Forestry at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. His most recent book, Farming the Small Forest (1988), is written for holders of 25 to 25,000 acres of timberlands who depend on mills to buy and harvest their timber, and for professional foresters who advise non-indusaW private forest landowners. It's available for $24.50 from Forest Industries Book Dept., 500 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94105. The blurb from Forest Industries Magazine, which cites Larry's extensive work on "herbicide use, nutrient fertilization, and policy matters," also lists him as a Fellow of AAAS, the Society of American Foresters, and the American Scientific Affiliation. The flyer does not mention that Larry is also pastor of the Rock Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Church. (A sharp-eyed ex-timber-cruiser, Larry counted the word Presbyterian some 16 times in the Feb/Mar Newsletter. We're not sure we could spot a Presby-tree, but we were once baptized in a Baptist-tree.-Ed.)

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE: Whitworth College: vice-president for development to "generate gift revenues" and promote college goals. Contact V.P. for Development Search Committee, Whitworth College, Spokane, WA 99251. Northwestern College: tenuretrack, Ph.D. required, in experimental psychology and biology (cell, micro, or vertebrate physiology). Contact Dr. Harold Heie, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA 51041. tel. 712-737-4821. Calvin College: For 1989-90, Visiting Fellow in almost any discipline for year-long study of *Gender Roles: Stability and Change in the Context of a Christian Worldview" with other scholars in Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship, teach up to two courses. Postmark applications by 15 Sept 1988. Write to Dr. Rodger R. Rice, Academic Dean, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49506.