NEWSLETTER

of the

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation


VOLUME 31 NUMBER 5                                                                          OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1989

NEWSLETTER of the ASA/CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, 55 Market St., Ipswich, MA 01938. Tel. 508-356-5656. Information for the Newsletter may be sent to the Editor: Dr. Walter R. Heam, 762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. 01989 American Scientific Affiliation (excepting previously published material). All Rights Reserved.

HOOSIER FAVORITE?

The 44th Annual Meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation, held August 4-7 at Indiana Wesleyan University, was a big success. Attendance was down slightly from the 200+ usually anticipated for a meeting in the midwest, so one might say that the emphasis was on quality rather than quantity. Yet there was plenty of stimulation, plenty of air conditioning-and plenty of people to talk to. After talking to over a hundred, the Weary Old Editor lost count anyway. (WOE is me-Ed.)

Each ASA Annual Meeting has distinctive features that make it stand out in one's memory. Granted, Marion, Indiana, is a long way even from the Indianapolis airport. But Indiana Wesleyan was a wonderful place to meet, the program was full of important issues and ideas, and the ASA itself seemed full of energy and promise.

If you're among the 1,800 or so in the ASA family who missed this Annual Meeting, make up your mind not to miss the next one. Next year is our year to go east. The 1990 ANNUAL MEETING will be held at MESSIAH COLLEGE in GRANTHAM, PENNSYLVANIA on AUGUST 3-6. The program is already being planned by ASA's Commission on Creation, led by Dave Wilcox of Eastern College. It could turn out to be your favorite meeting.

ASA comes back to the midwest in 1991, meeting at Wheaton College in Illinois. That 46th Annual Meeting will mark ASA's 50th anniversary. (World War 11 kept the Affiliation from meeting for several years after its founding in 1941.) Appropriately, that historic meeting will have a History of Science theme. Maybe that one will be your favorite.

MIDDLE EAST TOUR SET

The 1990 ASA TOUR to the Middle East will take place immediately following the ANNUAL MEETING at Messiah College, leaving Philadelphia on August 6, returning August 20. This tour will provide a remarkable (and remarkably inexpensive) sampling of the "awesome mosaic" of the Islamic world. It will be led by anthropologist and missions consultant George Jennings, who has specialized in that part of the world.

At the Indiana meeting, George gave a paper on the ecological outlook for the Middle East, confessing his hope that the 1990 tour will focus ASA attention on a region where development will require many western skills well into the future. The need for technologically trained "tentmakers" is great in the very region where the apostle Paul pioneered the concept. George set up a booth with maps, photos, and information about the cities to be visited. He passed on some inspiring accounts of Christian witness in the region, which are best left unpublished.

Bob Herrmann's original hope of combining an African development conference with the tour had to be abandoned, George explained. Nairobi was just too far away for efficient travel arrangements. Further, despite the desire of many to visit Israel, experience has shown it best not to package Israel and Arab countries together in a single tour. Suspicions are easily aroused, sometimes leading to unanticipated travel difficulties. Air travel within the Arab world is both safe and efficient, George insists-but he's also skipping Lebanon and Iran on this trip.

Present plans are to fly to Cairo for five days of sampling the elite ethnocentrism of the Egyptian Muslim mentality while viewing pyramids and temples from the more ancient world. On Aug 12, fly to Amman, Jordan, center of the Levant and of the best of Arabic literature. Take a side-trip from Amman to the desert wilderness to see the rock-carved ruins of Petra, the ancient Nabataean city in Edorn (mentioned as Sela in Judges 1:36; 2 Kings 14:7, and Isaiah 16:1 and 42:11) held by the Romans from about A.D. 100 to 600. On Aug 15, fly to Istanbul, Turkey, where the (non-Arab) edge of Islam meets the West. This is where. in the 4th century Constantine first made Christianity an official religion, and where, in the 20th, after 1,000 years of Roman rule and 500 years of Ottoman rule, drastic modernization was introduced into the Islamic world by Kemal Ataturk.

Sound exciting? You bet. So far 24 people have expressed definite interest in going. George says he can keep the cost below $2,500 per person, including round-trip airfare from Philadelphia, but he needs to have commitments by 15 November 1989. Make your advance reservation by sending a check for $200 per participant, marked "Mid-East Tour" to ASA, P.O. Box 668, Ipswich, MA 01938.

Like the 1985 European Tour and the 1987 Chn in.ina Tour, the 1990 Mid-East Tour will be an outstanding bargain, with ASA fellowship and glimpses of Christian work throw For more information, contact Dr. George Jennings, Middle East Missions Research, P.O. Box 632, Le Mars, IA 51031.

NAIROBI CONFERENCE POSTPONED

The African conference detached from the 1990 ASA Mid-East Tour (above) has not been scrapped, merely postponed. ASA executive director Bob Herrmann says the conference is intended to initiate a program of ASA participation in Third World research and development, beginning in Kenya.

A new date for the conference has not been set. The Herrmanns went to Kenya this September to consult further with zoology professor George Kinoti of the University of Nairobi. Kinoti first set thm*gs in motion by describing some of Africa's needs at the 1985 ASA meeting in Oxford, England. ASA is now exploring funding possibilities, as well as cooperation with Christian colleges and groups such as MAP (Medical Assistance Programs).

STATEMENT OF FAITH REVISED

At the annual Business Meeting, final tally of votes on the proposed revision of ASA's Statement of Faith was announced. Of some 801 ballots cast, 650 favored the new statement. The total number exceeded the one-third of eligible voters (1,339 Members + 200 Fellows) required by ASA By Laws for a quorum. A majority of votes cast was required to pass the measure.

ASA STATEMENT OF FAITH

1. We accept the divine inspiration, trustworthiness and authority of the Bible in matters of faith and conduct.
2. We confess the Triune God affirmed in the Nicene and Apostles' creeds which we accept as brief, faithful statements of Christian doctrine based upon Scripture.
3. We believe that in creating and preserving the universe God has endowed it with contingent order and intelligibility, the basis of scientific investigation.
 4. We recognize our responsibility, as stewards of God's creation, to use science and technology for the good of humanity and the whole world.

Many at the meeting expressed satisfaction that such a large proportion of those voting agreed on the changes. Not everyone voted for them, of course, and of those who did, not all were pleased with the way the ballot was presented. One member said that, after all, everyone who voted must have been satisfied with the old statement at the time they signed it, so why change it now? He could go with either statement, he said, but whenever changes are proposed, people need to have the underlying reasons explained to them. The committee charged with studying the Statement of Faith and recommending new wording deliberated for over a year. (Perhaps the Newsletter should have received regular reports of those deliberations, and published them-Ed.)

Another criticism heard at the meeting was that the committee wasn't sufficiently representative of the whole membership. Although they consulted a range of theological experts, Charles Hummel, George Murphy, and Jim Neidhardt were probably more attuned to the "high church" end of the spectrum (Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc.) than to the "low church" end (Baptist, Plymouth Brethren, etc.). We talked to Daniel & Doris Andersen of Michigan, who prayerfully decided not to make an issue of their dissatisfaction at the Business Meeting (after all, Doris said, the votes were already in).

Dan Andersen has eloquently expressed the distrust of creeds felt by many "low-church" Christians in a 36-page booklet, Bible Study-A Personal Quest, published by The Open Bible Trust of the U.K. (U.S. office, 10622 44th Ave, S.E., Everett, WA 98204). Of course, one person's "creed" may be another's "doctrinal basis"; on the first page of Dan's booklet is a statement that a copy of "the Doctrinal, basis" with which OBT publications must be in accord is available from The Open Bible Trust.

When we learned that many voters had written comments on their ballots, we asked Janet Neidhardt to tabulate those comments and summarize the results for Newsletter readers. Of those who voted for the new version, 187 made general comments; of those who voted against it, 110 made comments. Janet also tabulated comments directed at each of the four points of the new statement. On #3, for example, 7 who voted Yes nevertheless said that the word "contingent" would be misunderstood; 7 who voted No nevertheless thought that the new #3 was worded better than the old one. The new statement of commitment to stewardship (#4) rated the highest approval from both groups: 23 Yes voters and 17 No voters added notes expressing specific agreement. (Several on both sides considered its language ambiguous, several others thought it overemphasized one aspect of ASA's calling.)
ASA/CSCA NEWSLETTER

On the No ballots, Janet found three major objections. On statement #1, substitution of "trustworthy" for "unerring" was objected to specifically by 15 people. Even on the Yes ballots, 7 people said they preferred the term "inerrant." Others commented favorably on the change. On balance, Janet thinks the change probably pleased more people than it annoyed. Although "biblical inerrancy" has seldom been an issue in ASA discussions, feelings about the term tend to run strong.

On statement #2, besides a general objection to creeds, Janet found 22 No voters and 3 Yes voters objecting to removing the name of Jesus Christ. In retrospect, she thinks, that was a mistake, even though over a third of each creed cited pertains to Jesus Christ. For example, the Apostles' Creed (from The Book of Common Prayer) states:

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, 
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary, 
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. 
He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. 
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. 
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, 
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 
Amen.



Citing the creeds was a convenient way to avoid spelling out lot of biblical doctrine, but even creeds appear in different versions. No wording could be completely satisfactory to everyone within even a particular denomination, let alone a trans-denominational group like ASA. Some No voters liked all but one part of the new statement-but not always the same part. And of course different people probably read different meanings into certain phrases and worried about their implications.

Janet Neidhardt suspects that when the previous statement was adopted, some people objected to it as being "too conservative" or "too liberal," but came to trust ASA as a whole and its governance. She points out that 10 No voters and 5 Yes voters reacted negatively to the last phrase in #1, feeling that "in matters of faith and conduct" limited the role of the Bible to only two areas of life. Yet that phrase was almost identical in the earlier Statement of Faith. Looked at separately, either version states the main points that ASA members hold in common.

(Given our space limitations, the Newsletter would be glad to continue discussion of these matters. Back in the 1960s, any applicant for membership who had any objections to ASA's Statement of Faith was asked to write out his or her own statement. The Council never received one that seemed outside reasonable boundaries of interpretation of the official statement, so those members were voted in, with thanksgiving for their integrity and creativity-Ed.)

TEACHING SCIENCE TAKES OFF

The 1989 revision of Teaching  Science in a Climate of Controversy, on sale at the Annual Meeting, drew many favorable comments. Several praised the completely rewritten section on "Where Did the First Animals Come From?" for giving a clear picture of both the possibilities and limitations of a macro-evolutionary account. Other changes, as in "What is Known of the Earliest Hominid?" and the bibliography, were also considered "on target." Newsletter readers who missed the chance to "stock up" at convention discount prices are reminded of the 1989 price scale, postpaid from the Ipswich office: One copy, $6; 2-9 copies, $5 each; 10 or more, $4 each.

The new version deserves the wide distribution it is getting. Foundation grants enabled ASA to mail some 20,000 free copies to several
lists purchased from the National Science Teachers Association  (NSTA): all high school science department heads; science curriculum specialists; and school board presidents in the country. Several thousand more went to members of the Christian Legal Society (CLS), frequently drawn into litigation over public education. CLS also sent a letter commending the booklet to its list of 11,000 friends and supporters, ordering 500 copies to have on hand when people respond. Several thousand more booklets went to IVCF-related faculty members on Charlie Hummel's list.

Walt Hearn reported that ASA's Committee for Integrity in Science Education had bought a full-page advertisement in the programs for each of the four fall NSTA regional conventions, plus a quarterpager in the advance program. In August that advance program was mailed to some 250,000 people in science education.

MORE TO COME

New Council member Ken Dormer discovered how much activity goes on "behind the scenes" in ASA. So much is going on, in fact, that the Council appointed David Swift to head a Long-Range Planning Committee to step back and take a look at it all, then suggest priorities. The TV series, under Owen Gingerich's leadership, continues to move ahead. Various ASA commissions are undertaking significant projects, some seeking out side funding. Contributions for ASA's general operations and special projects are needed more than ever. The offering at the close of the annual Business Meeting totaled some $3,200 in contributions-a sign of confidence in the directions ASA is moving.

Jack Haas was introduced as the new editor of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith and retiring editor Wilbur Bullock was given a big hand in appreciation for his six years at the helm of ASA's quarterly journal. Jack met with the Council to discuss his plans for Perspectives. A Templeton Foundation grant will finance a campaign for new subscriptions. A copy of Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy is being offered as an inducement for new subscribers. Some 3,500 people (including ASA/CSCA members) now receive the ASA journal. Direct mailing campaign tests are now being run, as well as advertisements in Christian magazines such as Christianity Today (Sept 8).

More news next time on many of these developments.

A LIVELY EMPHASIS

What about the papers and discussions at Indiana Wesleyan? With so much else in this issue already, we can give you only an impression of the keynote addresses. (More next time-Ed.)
Howard W. Jones is one of the world's leading authorities on "Assisted Reproduction," having founded the first in vitro fertilization (IVF)
clinic in the U.S. in 1982. He is professor of obstetrics & gynecology at Eastern Virginia School of  Medicine in Norfolk, Virginia. Although not
a Roman Catholic, was invited to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1984 to discuss both technical and ethical aspects of IVF in anticipation of a papal message on human reproduction. Many Catholics hoped for a change in the position laid down by Pope Paul VI in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, which outlawed all forms of contraception except the "rhythm" method, condemned abortion, and generally reaffirmed the traditional doctrines of the Catholic Church. Jones evidently convinced 8 of the 9 Vatican moral theologians of the legitimacy of IVF-but the 9th, who was a close friend of Pope John Paul II, wrote the official document in 1988, which took a stand against IVF.

Dr. Jones began his talk by sorting out various elements of ethical decisions, then presented the "ethical frontiers of IVF." In particular he focused on the moral status of the pre-embryo, from the time of conception (which itself is a time-consuming process, not a momentary "event") to about day 14. The conceptus is properly termed an embryo from day 14 to day 24, when the fetal stage begins. Up to day 7 there is no hint of an embryo, most of what is produced being supportive structures up to that time. Until individuation begins (at day 14) wit~ the appearance of a single primitive streak, it is not accurate to say that "an individual" exists; twinning, for example, can still occur.

Jones outlined his own technical reasons for assigning a separate moral status to the pre-embryo. Evidently Catholic doctrine was quite fluid on these matters until fixed in 1869. Jones took a less rigid position, arguing for a gradation of moral status related to the degree of pre-natal development.

Certain IVF procedures yield surplus" pre-embryos. Even though Jones would not assign "full human status" to such pre-embryos, he said that any human tissue should be treated with respect, and not subjected to trivial experimentation. IVF is fraught not only with ethical dilemmas but also with legal challenges. As the Annual Meeting ended, a front-page story about IVF litigation appeared in the Aug 7 issue of USA Today. According to reporter Laurence Jolidon, the Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk was being sued over the disposition of a frozen embryo. In some lawsuits the argument is over whether such an embryo is legally a "child."

James Swanson, chair of ASA's Biomedical Ethics Commission, is a Ph.D. in physiology who directs the Andrology Laboratory at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. He does some lab work in collaboration with Dr. Jones. Jim broadened the discussion somewhat, agreeing with the keynoter on many points, disagreeing on others. He said he had problems with Jones's conclusion that ethical judgments are seldom either universal or immutable. Jim showed how he tries to apply biblical principles to his work on human reproduction but acknowledged that absolutes are difficult both to determine and to apply consistently.

Throughout these discussions the audience was supplied with-many statistics to ponder. What percentage of fertilized human eggs normally survives? (20%; in fact the birth process is so inefficient and fragile that "just being born is a fantastic accomplishment.") How many couples in the U.S. are infertile? (about 15 million) Where does the problem reside? (40% in the male; 40% in the female; 20% unidentified) At what stage is the human fetus clearly distinguishable from other primates? (6 weeks) At what stage is the human fetus survivable without attachment to the womb? (about 6 months) And so on.

Audience participation was at first limited to questions on technical matters, but eventually, after an evening panel of the plenary speakers, no holds were barred. The ensuing discussion was amazingly friendly and rational, though both "pro-life" and "pro-choice" protagonists were present. Maybe that was because the "A-word" had not appeared on the program to arouse passions. Or, because Howard Jones is engaged in producing babies, not terminating pregnancies. One of his compelling arguments for the moral legitimacy of IVF research was a slide of some of the 560 families for whom the technique has offered God's gift of life.

BULLETIN BOARD

(1) The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) is an affiliate of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), loosely attached to the University of California at Berkeley. With a two-year grant to get it on its financial feet, CTNS now has open a full-time position for an "executive director for program & development." The executive director will be responsible for overall administration of the CTNS program & capital campaign, including conferences, publications, financial services, membership, new programs, foundation and donor research & solicitation, grants, publicity, and public relations. Inquiries, including rÈsumÈ's and references, should go to: Dr. Robert J. Russell, Director, CTNS, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709. This could have been run as a back page ad under POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE, but we wanted to call attention to this strategic opportunity. The right person in the job could draw CTNS and ASA closer together. Besides, CTNS announced the 1989 ASA Annual Meeting in its Jun/Jul Newsletter, so we owed 'em one. (If anyone in ASA is good at fundraising, of course, Bob Herrmann probably wants first crack at them-Ed.)

(2) The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and the Religious Research Association (RRA) will hold their annual meetings at the Marriott Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct 27-29. Theme of the SSSR meeting is "Religion, Diversity, & Change"; of the RRA, "Religious Institutions & Diversity. Contact: SSSR Executive Office Dept. of Sociology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.

(3) As ASA's Commission on Global Resources & the Environment moves ahead with preparation of Sunday school curriculum materials, other Christian groups are also stressing responsibility for ecological stewardship. The North American Conference on Christianity & Ecology (NACCE, 114 Rising Ridge Rd, Ridgefield, CN 06877), publishers of Firmanwnt, plans a major 1990 conference to explore strategies for healing the earth. Meanwhile, the Christian Nature Federation (CNF, 2381 Daphne Place, Fullerton, CA 92633) is a new organization with an evangelical flavor. CNF president Dean Ohlman described the Federation in a July 1989 press release as "a combination of the Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, and Sierra Club--but with a Christian world view." CNF considers conservation and other environmental issues important, but primarily will strive "to restore appreciation and understanding of the natural world as God's handiwork and to show that the biblical understanding of nature is the only one that truly gives direction and purpose to mankind's dealings with it."

(4) The Servant Leadership School is a new institution growing out of the 40-year experience of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. The school is dedicated to cultivating "servant leaders" who will create "the new structures within existing organizations" needed "to transform society, especially within our deteriorating inner cities." Located in the Adams Morgan area of the nation's capital, the school begins offering classes and workshops in Sept 1989. Provost of the school is chemist Allen Holt, who learned about ASA at the Presbyterian Conference on Cosmology & the Church in Dec 1987. Allen served ten years with NSF's Division of International Programs, has taught in west Africa and southeast Asia, and most recently was dean of Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Allen will be glad to supply more information (especially if you'll be spending any time in D.C.). Address: Servant Leadership School, 1640 Columbia Rd, N.W., Washington, DC 20009. Tel. 202-328-7312.

THE EDITOR'S LAST WORDS: 5.

A reader responded to our mention in the Jun/Jul issue (in the story on Harold Nebelsick, p. 3) of the two recipients of the 1989 Templeton Prize. He already knew of Carl von Weisacker as a distinguished physicist with a hand in the 1979 World Council of Churches conference on "Faith, Science, & the Future." But why didn't the Newsletter further identify "the Very Rev. Lord MacLeod"? You can probably guess why. Anyway, now we know. MacLeod is the 93-year old minister of the Church of Scotland who founded Iona as a sort of protestant monastic community on an island off Scotland's coast. Iona has grown to a worldwide community of some 100,000 adherents committed to prayer, Bible study, charity, and peacemaking. John Templeton, who established the prize in 1972, was quoted in the New York Times (9 Mar 1989) as saying that the two 1989 winners "demonstrate the rich variety of religion."

Well, editors make a rich variety of mistakes. Example: On that same page of the Jun/Jul issue we invited southern California ASAers to visit ASA's booth at the Christian Congress for Excellence in Public Education in late June. At least one did, math prof Russell Benson of Cal State Fullerton. Russ was a bit fussy, claiming that he had to hunt all over Anaheim because the Newsletter gave the wrong location. Though hesitant to argue with a mathematician, we immediately checked that issue to assess the magnitude of our ineptitude. We said the Congress would be "at the Inn at the Park Hotel," and that's where it was. Alas, we should have put in hyphens, even though the Inn-at-the-Park Hotel omits them. Thinking "the Inn" was the name of a meeting room, Russ had searched for a nonexistent "Park Hotel." Sometimes the Weary Old Editor can't get it right even when he gets it right. (WOE is me-Ed.)

 PERSONALS

Ralph Blair, founder and director of Evangelicals Concerned (EC, 311 E. 72nd St., New York, NY 10021), was featured in a Christianity Today cover story (18 Aug 1989) written by-CT senior writer Tim Stafford. In "Coming Out," Stafford presented a thoughtful evaluation of the Christian "ex-gay" movement, exemplified by Exodus International. Ralph Blair was interviewed as a major critic of the movement; he regards sexual orientation as inherently unchangeable. Ralph is a psychologist with theological training who counsels homosexual clients to give up a promiscuous lifestyle. (He also edits EC's Record, a newsletter we've read for years-Ed.) Stafford expressed "cautious optimism" about ex gay ministries. Such efforts are now held "in quarantine" by evangelical churches, though many people with homosexual desires "desperately want help" from the church. "Most congregations know nothing about the needs of homosexuals, and many don't want to know." A companion article by Wheaton College psychology chair Stanton L. Jones examined "Homosexuality According to Science." Jones concluded that homosexuality is neither a psychopathology (in the same sense as schizophrenia or phobic disorders) nor a normal "lifestyle variation" (on a par with being introverted vs extroverted).

L. Russ Bush has left Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas to move to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, where he is dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs. (Vice-president Bush? That has a familiar ring.. Russ says his forthcoming Handbook for Christian Philosophy (Zondervan) includes a chapter on "Creation: A Reasonable Alternative.,,

Douglas B. Cameron is a grad student in physical/theoretical chemistry at Northwestern University. He learned about ASA from the chemistry faculty at Wheaton College, where he graduated in 1985. Doug says ASA has had "a quiet but influential impact on my Christianity," affirming him in his goals as a Christian and as a scientist. One of those goals is to teach chemistry in Africa. Doug would welcome contact with other ASAers with similar interests or who know of such opportunities (c/o Dept. of Chemistry, Northwestern U., 2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 602083113). He applauds ASA efforts to think of "the world" rather than 11 our country" as home, and to recognize our kinship with brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere. A few years ago Doug's wife Mary spent six months in Burkina Faso in West Africa and he had a chance to visit her there. That trip changed their view of the world and gave them a desire to help Third World development through education. Mary hopes to complete a Masters in history (specializing in African history) while Doug works on his Ph.D. in chemistry.

John & Ruth Chambers have been back in Calgary, Alberta, for home assignment with Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) this year. Since 1970 they have been 11 academic missionaries" to Indonesia under OMF. The British-born couple emigrated to Canada in 1965, where they taught geography at the university level while waiting for political turmoil in Indonesia to quiet down. With their one-year-old son Paul they first went to the National Agricultural Insitute in Bogor, Java, where John taught soil science, Ruth taught climatology, and both taught Bible classes to Protestant students. Their daughter Mary was born in Bogor. After moving to Java's Bandung University, they set up a Graduate Training Center (GTC) with a four-month residency program to prepare Christian university graduates for fruitful ministry in professional life. Although Ruth and John left without the visa renewal that would assure their privilege of return, Indonesian Christian leaders are determined to carry on the GTC program with or without ONIF help. Jan Decher is now curatorial assistant in zoology at the Bell Museum of Natural History at the U. of Minnesota. Jan had a busy summer, receiving his M.S. in zoology from Fort Hays State U. in May and marrying Laurel Schneider of Summit, New Jersey in July. The Dechers, who attend Bethany Presbyterian Church of Minneapolis, would welcome ASA contact (address: 945 Bayless Ave. #5, St. Paul, MN 55114).

Clare Fuller of Hillier, Ontario, left for Nigeria in July to teach for two years at the United Missionary Church of Africa Theological College in Ilorin. Clare describes the school as the equivalent of a Bible college in North America.

Roy J. Gritter is a chemist with IBM Corporation in San Jose, California. In June, the Newsletter editor was startled to see Roy's face on a Bay area TV news broadcast and later to see Roy and wife Jean Ann identified on national news. The Gritters told how they had been held hostage in their home by a man fleeing from what they later learned was a murder. The victim was an 18- year-old Japanese exchange student who had been able to describe her assailant before she died. The case made national and even international news because she was the second student from Japan murdered in the Bay area in three years. The man who held the Gritters hostage was soon arrested and charged with her murder plus 17 other sex-related crimes.
James Hefley has gone from writer to scholar in mass communications (Ph.D., U. of Tennessee) to publisher. In fact he is all three at once. As writer-in-residence, Jim still directs the Mark Twain Writers Conference at Hannibal-Lagrange College in Hannibal, Missouri. Now he and wife Marti (co-author on some of his 50 or more books) have founded a new publishing house, Hefley Communications, using the Hannibal Books imprint. They will publish family-centered books for a wide audience plus distinctively Christian books to meet special needs, such as Penny Giesbrecht's Where Is God When a Child Suffers? At the Christian Booksellers Association convention in Atlanta this summer, Hannibal Books had its debut exhibit, with Ms. Giesbrecht and Dr. Rochunga Pudaite there to autograph their Just published books. A Christian from the Hmar tribe in the Himalayan foothills of India, Pudaite is author of a Hannibal book on the Bible, The Greatest Book Ever Written. Jim Hefley has continued to chronicle current controversies in the Southern Rapust Convention, extending The Truth In Crisis (1986), to its 4th volume, published in 1989 by Hannibal Books.

Avak A. Howsepian plans to practice general medicine part-time among an indigent population of South Bend, Indiana, while he continues graduate studies at Notre Dame. In July 1988 Avak completed an internship in psychiatry at the U.C.S.F.-Fresno Medical Education's V.A. Medical Center in Fresno, California. Then he went to Notre Dame to study philosophy on a John O'Brien Fellowship, with concentrations in philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and ethics.

Charles E. Hummel, ASA's immediate past president, is faculty representative for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. He is well known among ASAers for his 1986 book, The Galileo Connection, and a new IVP booklet, Creation or Evolution?, both about the interaction of science and theology. (Beware of saying "science and faith" around Charlie; he bristles at what he considers a misleading dichotomy-Ed.)

Also interested in the theology of the Holy Spirit, Charlie wrote Fire in the Fireplace (IVP, 1981) and with wife Anne as co-author has produced a booklet on Spiritual Gifts, just published by IVP in its "Lifeguide" series of Bible study guides. Meanwhile, The Galileo Connection has gone into its 4th printing, and has been translated into both Chinese and Korean.

G. Archie Johnston has moved from Long Beach, California, to San Francisco, where he will be clinical director for a new one year program for certifying lay counselors at First Covenant Church. Archie is a licensed marriage/family/child counselor with both a D.Min. and a Ph.D. At the 1989 meeting of CAPS-West he described his three-year study on megavitamin therapy as an adjunct to psychotherapy, using the MMPI as an index. That study is to be published in J. Orthomolecular Med. He has another study underway, looking at AIDS as a form of suicide.

Stanley E. Lindquist, ASA's current president, is a psychologist and founder of Link Care Center in Fresno, California. A para-church ministry offering psychological support to the evangelical missionary enterprise, Link Care also supports research on effectiveness among missionaries and other cross- cultural workers. At the 1989 ASA Annual Meeting, Stan showed us his 18-page Link Care Story, with much more detail than in either his ASA presidential address or issue No. 3 of SEARCH. Stan's article on "Creation" in the Evangelical Beacon (15 May 11989) urged commitment to the divine Creator but also openness in seeking to understand how God has created. He wrote it partly in response to an earlier Beacon article setting forth a young-earth "creation science" view as the only way to interpret the biblical doctrine of creation.

Clarence Menninga, geology professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, presented a demonstration (entitled "Some Demonstrations Tell Lies") at the national meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in Seattle, Washington, in April. A few days later he led a field trip among the fossil displays at the U. of Michigan's Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor, for an adult study group of the Dearborn Christian Reformed Church.

Gary Paukert, a geophysicist employed by Exxon, has moved from Midland, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta. Gary has a two-year assignment as senior project geophysicist with Exxon's Canadian affiliate, Esso Resources. He will be exploring for hydrocarbons in northeastern British Columbia.

Lewis S. Salter of Crawfordsville, Indiana, is back in the classroom this fall as professor of physics and president emeritus of Wabash College. Although he has always believed his basic calling to be teaching, he has spent the past 21 years in administration (11 as dean of Knox College in Illinois, then 10 more as president of Wabash). Now he'll see how the challenge of "discharging into nonconductors" compares with the challenge of academic leadership.

Charles Thaxton of the Julian Center in Julian, California, has been editing a high school biology supplementary text for the Foundation for Thought & Ethics in Texas. Now the book is finally at the printer. Authors: William Davis and Dean Kenyon; title: Of Pandas and People; publisher: Haughton Publishing Co. of Dallas. Chemistry prof Walter Thorson of the U. of Alberta calls the "Introduction to Teachers" written by Charlie "an important clarification of what the real issues are in the debate over evolution and creation."

John Templeton is co-author with Bob Herrmann of The God Who Would Be Known (Harper & Row, 1989), which was selling well at the book table in Indiana. John, who lives in Nassau, Bahamas, is an investment counselor whose name is on a dozen investment funds managing $9 billion for some 600,000 investors; on a business management college at Oxford University; and on a prize for Progress in Religion funded by a major foundation. An article by him on "Basics of Global Investing" appeared in the Feb 1989 issue of World Monitor magazine. After listing the principles that guide him in investing, John went on to explain how the laws of love and charity differ from those of mathematics: "The more we give away, the more we have left. Love hoarded dwindles, but love given grows. If we give all our love, we will have more left than he who saves some."

Dean-Daniel Truog of Cambridge, MA, is on the staff of the Navigators, discipling students at Harvard University, where his wife Dorothy teaches French. After the Truogs spent over a decade in France pioneering Navwork in Europe, they returned to the States and Dean earned an M.A. in the history of science at Harvard. (Dean-Daniel & Dorothy are the parents of Denise and David, but his double D-D name makes them a 5-D family, a slight alliterative edge over San Diego's  Jerry Albert amily.-Ed.) Dean assists psychiatrist Armand Nicholi in a course at Harvard on Freud and Freud's influence. We learned all this when Dean dropped in at the Newsletter office on his way back from China in July. The turmoil had forced him to cancel plans to lead a Nav student group ("The Orient Express") to China, but he went to Hong Kong anyway with an E.R.R.C. orientation group, then spent two weeks inside the People's Republic. In Beijing, he says, people were apprehensive, but away from the capital, few seemed to know what had happened in Tiananmen Square.

Jonathan H. Woodcock is a psychiatrist. He recently moved from Waltham, Massachusetts to Boulder, Colorado, where the Woodcocks now attend First Presbyterian Church. Jon's new position is medical director of the Neurobehavioral Institute of the Rockies (2255 So. 88th SL, Louisville, CO 80027).

PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS: Computer software: Vasanthkumar Livingston (74 Central Ave, Newark, NJ 07102. Tel. 201-6245431) seeks a position in software design & development. He has a B.Sc. in biochemistry from St. Xavier's College of Gujarat Univ. in India, M.S. in computer science from N.J. Inst. of Technology, familiarity with a half-dozen programming languages, and experience as a teaching assistant in math, physics, and computer labs (M.S. thesis on asynchronous framing technique in UNIX system V environment). He holds an F-1 student visa from India. At NJIT, Vasanthkumar has been a teaching assistant under Jim Neidhardt, who can supply further information. Ecology or environmental medicine: Kay Schloe (Wrest Park Hall, Silsoe MK45 4DP, Bedfordshire, England) is a citizen of West Germany seeking an opportunity to use his skills to do research toward a Ph.D. Kay has a degree in environmental engineering from Giessen, is now in his final year of an M.S. program in applied ecology at the Agricultural Engineering College in Silsoe, England, Fluent in English, he has worked as a chemical technician on environmental problems and gained computer experience, including some programming and use of the GEMS (Global & Environment Monitoring System) image-processor. Kay is an evangelical Christian active in church and campus ministries who seeks to glorify God by advancing environmental knowledge. He learned of ASA from British aeronautical scientist Roy. E. Peacock (23 Church St, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, MK45 2PL, England). Prof. Peacock visited several ASA members on a 1988 trip to the U.S. and is currently wdting a popular-level Christian response to Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. He would be glad to serve as a further reference for Kay Schloe.