NEWSLETTER

of the 

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation

Volume 38, Number 6                                                         NOVDEC 1996


The Newsleter of the ASA and CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box 668, 55 Market St., Ipswich, MA 019380668. Tel. (508) 356-5656, FAX: (508) 3564375, E-mail: asa@newl.com. Send Newsletter information to the Editor: Dennis Feucht, 14554 Maplewood Road, Townville, PA 16360.



The City, in Theory and Practice

The ASA Annual Meeting theme centered this year on the social sciences and urban issues. Key note speaker Robert C. Linthicum offered a theology of the  city and the Yonge St. Mission demonstrated Christian practice in downtown Toronto, a city of over two million people. Linthicum, who was with World Vision, is now Executive Director of Partners in Urban Transformation. He lives in the Los Angeles area. His credentials, both academic and missiological, are extensive, and were apparent as he opened his remarks with a story of his time at Smoky Mountain in Manila, home to 5,000 families.

The "mountain" is a huge, 20-story garbage dump. Amid the squalor and abject poverty, he found two "delights" there: the people who are full of hope and the Philippine priest, Fr. Ben Beltran, who worked with them. Beltran organized the village into 20-family Bible studies and also aided them politically.

Meeting attendees were later given the unexpected ending to this story. Smoky Mountain is being transformed into landfill for an artificial peninsula, the location of the new Manila airport. (As Robert said, it was a literal "mountain cast into the sea.") A village will be built where the dump was and the 5,000 families are being trained to be the first employed in running every aspect of the new peninsula. General Ramos was reelected president because he agreed to the reclamation of Smoky Mountain and got the critical vote of the urban poor.

Linthicum described the urban situation in his first talk. The most profound reality today is the urbanization of the world. In 1950, only New York had over ten million people. Today, 14 cities do, and 34 have over five million. Africa is urbanizing most quickly (347% in five years), followed by Asia (269%), then Latin America (216%). The emerging urban world has four characteristics:

1. Economic globalization marginalizes nation-states and no government can regulate or control it.

2. Localization is the "Balkanization" of the world. Of 82 armed conflicts between 1989 and 1992 that killed four to six million people, only three were between nations. The nation-state is increasingly impotent to stop tribal and ethnic warfare. Ethnic groups are globally dispersed.

3. Poverty and powerlessness due to economic separation between rich and poor are rapidly expanding. Sao Paulo is the largest city in South America (17.5 M) and has 700,000 street children who have been abandoned by their parents. And 84% of Cairo is below Egypt's (rather low) poverty level. Over a fourth of the developing urban population are poor.

4. Information revolution causes greater marginalization of the poor.

In his second talk, Linthicum developed a theology of the city, drawing from his book, City of God, City of Satan: A Biblical Theology of the Urban Church (Zondervan, 1991). The ancient world was quite urban. Rome was the first city with over a million population, and had many high-rise apartment complexes. The Bible is also very urban in its setting, both for ancient Israel and the NT church. Most of the OT prophets were city dwellers.

The city, Bob continued, is a system of systems: political (how we decide corporately), economic (how we spend our money) and religious (who/what we value). He emphasized, in his Presbyterian preaching style of delivery, that if we are to understand the Bible, we must hear its message in these contexts. Every statute in the book of Deuteronomy, which describes God's intention for the nation, is political, economic or religious.

The religious system (Deut. 10:12-21) exists to sustain people in relationship with God -the purpose of society. In Deut. 16:18-20, regulations limit the rights of kings, a limitation found only in Israel. ne king was subject to the Law and his primary responsibility was justice for all (and not to feather his nest, build a military power, etc.).

Illustrating Deut. 6:10-15, Linthicum drew a triangle with top vertex labeled " religion as relationship with God," lower-left vertex, "economics of stewardship" and lower-right vertex, "politics of justice. " This, he believes, is the city as God intends it. When things go wrong, as Ezekiel 22 describes in detail regarding Jerusalem, the vertices are relabeled: "religion of control," "economics of exploitation," and "politics of oppression."

Bob compared the lion from Ezekiel with political power and the wolf with economic leaders, who, like wolves, go after the most vulnerable in society and are closest to temptation. The priests also failed in not telling the people how to obey the Law. The systems of the city were held accountable by the people, then prophets, then God.

The original city name of Jerusalem was Urushalam. "Shalam" is not the Hebrew word "shalom" (meaning "welfare" or peace); it signifies the Canaanite manifestation of Baal and means "city of Baal." (Shalam later became Satan.) David changed the name by prefixing it to mean "city of Yahweh."

In his third and final talk, Bob continued with more biblical examples. Attendees were told in advance to bring their


Continued on page 3, The City


The Executive Director's Corner

The last two exciting months of 1996 are upon us. Thanksgiving and Christmas are holidays of thankfulness - thankfulness for God's daily sustenance and for the gift of his Son almost 2000 years ago. In the hustle and bustle of the season, this is not always easy to remember.

The ASA staff is very thankful for you and how you sustain us. Your end of-year gifts are so important to us. We do need a very good response to meet our budget and take care of those nagging bills. We pray that the Lord will lay the needs of the ASA upon your heart.

Another year of the mentor program is completed. Mentors invite the new graduate student in science to church and perhaps to a Bible study, meet them for lunch occasionally, entertain them in their home, or whatever both the mentor and the student feel comfortable with. Some students from Christian colleges are surprised by the lack of professing Christians around them. A network of Christians is developing among the colleges and universities to care for this. Special thanks to Terry Morrison for his help in providing contacts. It has not been possible to find contacts at all schools. Even now I still need mentors at U. of Arizona at Tucson (Biology), Colorado State U. at Fort Collins (Chemistry), Dartmouth C. (Physiology), DePaul U. in Chicago (Physics), MIT (Chemistry), U. of Northern Colorado at Greeley (Chemistry), Northwestern U. in Evanston (Chemistry), and Wayne State U. in Detroit (Biology). If you know a Christian in science at one of these places, please let me know.

A thank you to the colleges which have responded with a list of potential science graduate students for either one or both of the last two years. They include Calvin, Dordt, John Brown, Messiah, Mount Vernon Nazarene, Nyack, Point Loma Nazarene, Roberts Wesleyan, Trinity Christian, and Wheaton (IL). In addition to these schools, Bethel (MN), Covenant, and Houghton responded to the call for people attending medical or dental school. The latter lists went to the Christian Medical and Dental Society. Next year the Christian Legal Society asked me to solicit for beginning law school students and pass it along to them. If your school is not on the list and you are willing to collect the names, please send me an e-mail note or a letter. You will hear from me in February or March. There is so much more potential in this program. Let us pray that God will honor the efforts of this year's mentors. Some are ASA members and some are not. Not every student responds well but at least they know someone whom they can talk to during a spiritual crisis.

The puzzle of fitting speakers, dates, and schools together for the Templeton/ASA 1996/1997 lecture series is now complete and some of it was even fun. There are 33 talks in the series. I will list the late Oct. through Jan. talks below and put more in next time. If you are near enough to attend one or more of these lectures, I suggest you call the school to confirm the time and to find out the exact location. A contact number, location, and some speaker information are included the first time a school or speaker is listed. Please invite your friends and colleagues to attend with you.

Oct. 31, 7 p.m..- Messiah C., Grantham, PA -David Myers, Ph.D. (Hope C.) -"The New Scientific Pursuit of Happiness: Who is Happy?" (717) 766-2511 -ask for Ted Davis or Rhonda Jacobsen.

Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.-Augustana C., Sioux Falls, SD-Robert John Russell, Ph.D. (Center for Theology and Natural Sciences, Berkeley, CA) - "Cosmology from Alpha to Omega" (605) 336-5489 - ask for Ann Pederson.

Nov. 6, 8 p.m. - U. of Wisconsin at Oshkosh - Robert John Russell - "Cosmology from Alpha to Omega" (414) 424-7097 ask for Allen Utke.

Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. -Creighton U., Omaha, NE - Robert John Russell - "Cosmology from Alpha to Omega" (402) 280-2229 - ask for Eugene Selk or (402) 280-2154 - ask for Charles Austerberry.

Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m. - Messiah C. - Howard Van TiU, Ph.D. (Calvin C.) - "Is Evolutionary Continuity a Heresy?"

Nov. 12, 3 p.m. -Western Kentucky U., Bowling Green -Owen Gingerich, Ph.D. (Harvard U.) - "Galileo and the Church: A Contemporary Perspective" (502) 745-3137 - ask for Edward Schoen

Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. -Gordon C., Wenham, MA -Ronald Numbers, Ph.D. (U.Wisconsin at Madison) - "The Evolution of Scientific Creationism" (508) 927-2300 Ext 4387 - ask for Jack Haas

Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. - U. of the Ozarks, Clarkesville, AR -Edward Larson, Ph.D. (U. Georgia) - "Eugenics and Genetic Engineering: Religious Interplay in the History of Science" (501) 979-1360 - ask for Gordon Beavers

Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. - Messiah C. - Mary Stewart Van Lecuwen, Ph.D. (Eastern C.) - "To Ask a Better Question: The Heterosexuality/Homosexuahty Debate Revisited."

Jan. 27, 7 p.m. -Grand Canyon U., Phoenix, AZ - Ronald Numbers - "Evolution of Scientific Creationism" (602) 589-2450 - ask for Robin Baker

Jan. 30, 7 p.m. -Wingate C., Charlotte, NC - Owen Gingerich - "Dare a Scientist Believe in Design?" (704) 233-8071 - ask for Jim Peterson

In September, my wife and I spent a wonderful week visiting Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod as we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. We had never been to any of these places and the off-season prices, sales, and smaller crowds were a real plus. We wanted to get there before those big sand bars disappear in an estimated one to two thousand years. As it is, they will have to keep moving the lighthouses back from the brink of the tall dunes. One has already been moved and a second one is scheduled to be moved this fall. In August we went to Houghton, NY to attend a medical conference where I gave devotions and saw many former graduates. We also spent quality time fixing up our house for the new renter. Someday that house will sell but it will be in God's time, not ours. Then we may be able to have our own home again.

Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you in our office meetings and around the dinner table at night. Your gifts are critical to see us through this year and to start the new year on the proper footing. To those who have gone the extra mile, thank you very much!
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The City, continued from page I

Bibles. In Jeremiah 29, the Jews in captivity were asked to seek the welfare (shalom) of the city of Babylon.

The shalom of the city requires confronting the problems of the city, the forces of darkness. Jesus addresses this in Luke's gospel to the poor. ne call of Jesus is to free the oppressed and bring them into a new social order, the kingdom of God. In Luke 4:18-19, we are called to seek the shalom of the city by confronting evil, by building up the church and by praying for the city and its systems. It means, for both early Christians in Jerusalem and ourselves, "calling society to values it says it believes but in reality it does not."

The city is loved by God - is his City - but can also be a city of Satan. Life requires choice: we can embrace society's values, "march to a different drummer," or live somewhere in between. Whether the city is dominated in its systems by God or Satan depends on the choice of its priests, politicians, commercial leaders, prophets, and people. 


Mayor of Kitchener Addresses Sunday Evening Audience

Richard Christy, the mayor of Kitchener, Ontario, gave a moving address Sunday evening on "The Crisis in Faith and the Crisis in Masculinity" before a panel discussion moderated by management consultant and sociologist Kathleen Gow, of KMG Associates in Toronto.

Christy spoke of triumph and failure. After two election losses, he faced the pain of possible defeat in a third election. He had not intended to enter the race but another Christian encouraged him. He decided to run and sought how God could use him in his kingdom. He won!

Richard asked some reflective questions. What are our deepest thoughts? What are the things that break the heart of God and how will we respond to them? Speaking of the personal challenge of character, he said that civilization seems to have lost a collective sense of our religious heritage. Although potential leaders are born, effective leaders are made. 

The key ingredient, Christy said ' is showing the love of God. He drew on incidents from his academic (sociology) and political background, such as the time when a student hugged him in his office for help he had received, though such expression ordinarily is considered inappropriate in that setting. And there was the city council who was surprised when, as mayor, he thanked them for their efforts - and without a political goal in mind! He has also participated in and benefited from Promise Keepers.

Failure, Richard said, is never fatal; it is courage that counts, courage to love. Men especially have a hard time expressing their love and feelings. In his sermon that morning, he recounted his youthful days with his father, a Royal Canadian Mountie, who had a hard time expressing affection for his son.

Tony Carnes of the International Research Institute gave a response. In coming to the podium, he gave Richard Christy a big hug while the audience responded, and acknowledged Christy as a first-class guy. Carnes said that idolatry divides up the world in a different way than God does. What is "god" determines what is holy - that which is apart from everything else. The idol of Reason reveals our minds but hides our feelings , Carnes questioned whether Promise Keepers is promoting manliness because men must also be able to think rationally and there are times when suppression of emotions is the right response.

In his ad lib response, Robert Linthicurn addressed a topic he believes is neglected in Protestantism, the doctrine of vocation. Occupation is how we earn our bread; vocation is what God has called us to do. God wants to do a work through us as well as in us. What lay people want is what clergy take for granted: the sure and certain call of God. Work and worship must go together. Bob finished by saying that God calls us to do one thing-neither nothing, nor everything. And every story about Jesus in the Bible is a story about the church. The stories remembered and recorded were those of the church.

Considerable discussion followed, with audience interest oriented largely toward gender roles. Physiologist Ken Dormer asked, in view of the biochemical differences between men and women (which he briefly described in biochemical language), whether this has correspondence in social roles. Judy Toronclink, also a life scientist, noted (also in biochemical language) that the biochemical differences between left- and righthanders is statistically larger than those between men and women. Other participants raised questions about the role of women in the church and women's rights.

CSCA Founders at Annual Meeting

The three founders of the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation were in attendance at the 1996 Annual Meeting in Toronto. : W. Douglas Morrison, John F. Stewart, and Daniel H. Osmond.   Bob VanderVennen


ASAers Walk to Yonge St. Mission

As part of the ASA Annual Meeting's social science emphasis, small groups of attendees were seen walking the streets of downtown Toronto on their way to the Yonge St. Mission, an interdenominational Christian humanitarian organization founded a century ago (in 1896) by churchman John C. Davis out of concern for the poor and needy in downtown Toronto.

The mission is regarded by many as a model urban mission. The Evergreen facility on Yonge St. is focused on meeting the complex needs of Toronto's large street youth population. Hal's Sandwich Factory next door is run by youth in Evergreen's programs. "The idea behind Hal's is to create a place where three or four street youth at a time can develop job and life skills so they'll have experience and references," according to Con tact, a newsletter for friends of Yonge St. Mission (Jul/Aug 1996, p. 1). The mission site also has extensive medical care facilities run by volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, hygienists, and ophthalmologists.

The walkers took circuitous routes intended to illustrate "the forces of the city that face you" as an imagined 15-yearold homeless youth, who is evading police, hungry, ill, dirty, and lacking social contacts. Along the way, one group saw several high-rise apartments of various architectural styles (including "parking garage motif"), pornography stores, homosexual eateries, a giant (and loud!) video arcade, and also a grand, historic church. The mission seemed somewhat like a sanctuary after the walk.

At the mission, ASAers heard about its purpose and operation from its director, and also a wider-ranging talk on "Responding to Human Need in an Era of Fiscal Restraint," by Gerald Vandezande, National Public Affairs Director for Citizens for Public Justice. Gerald stirred some passionate discussion with his political recommendations, including one for U.S. politics, that the recent welfare reform bill be vetoed by Pres. Clinton. Questions about welfare dependency were also raised. His dedication to the Mission was apparent and appreciated regardless of the political issues affecting inner-city missions.


Down to Business at ASA Meeting

The major ASA annual business meeting items were: new Council candidates are Jay Hollman and Jack Swearingen, contributions are needed, and proposed constitutional changes will require a third of members and fellows to vote.

Ken Dormer reported on AISRED, the Kenyan Christian's scientific effort in East Africa to develop ways to grow crops in semi-arid conditions and to counter domesticated animal parasites. Ken, Don Munro and Martin Price are on the AISRED board.

In a joint venture, Daystar U. gave 80 acres to AISRED for demonstration farming. Plot development is underway. Ken showed pictures of how soil erosion-prevention and irrigation methods, requiring a good bit of hard work in landscaping, were being carried out. Results on the Commifera project-to use extract from a local plant to treat ticks on cattle - are that it kills larval, but not


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adult, ticks. More research is required for a total treatment.

Calvin DeWitt is becoming involved with AISRED in an environmental program and the Presbyterian Church of E. Africa offered AISRED 450 acres for a Masai rural development center. The Masai have historically been into cattle, not crops.

Ken asks us to pray for Daystar U. management (especially financial), Amos Waco (the new Christian attorney general of Kenya), for smooth AISRED registration, a successor for AISRED visionary George Kinoti, and the Masai center. George can be reached at:  g-kinoti@ken.healthnet.org


Even More ASAers Reach Churches

Brand offers elective class in church on care of creation

Past ASA President and biologist Ray Brand offered a seven-week adult elective class at the Wheaton Bible Church on the topic, "Creation and Its Care: The Church as a Creation Awareness Center." Topics included: "Creation in the Biblical Context," "Stewardship," "The Value of God's Nonhuman Creatures," "Recovering Resources" and "Restoring the Land." The last two lectures emphasized the practical work of Christ in creation, such as missions to developing countries, the role of appropriate technology, and that of redeeming creation as Christians. The last meeting offered a guest speaker and/or a panel.

The course bulletin made clear that the creation/evolution issue would not be considered. Rather than address the topic of how creation was (or is) carried out, this course was about redeeming creation, "a task which God gave to humans in the here and now and which he will ultimately accomplish in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 2 1: 1). Ray has been interested in ecology and environmental affairs in the Wheaton area for over 35 years. This and other credentials were briefly stated on the bulletin. The class format was: a half-hour of material presentation (including audio/visual clips) and the remaining time for questions and discussion.

Here is how Ray went about the first (Feb. 4, 1996) session. He divided the lecture material into three parts, beginning with the "Biblical Basis." He selected Scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments, such as Gen. 1:1, 21, 27 and 2:15; Job 38:4, 5; Pss. 24:1, 2 and 104; Eccles. 12:1; Is. 40; Neh. 9:6; Hos. 4:14; and Mal. I 10. From the NT he cited: Matt. 19:4 and 25:1; John 1:13; Rom. 1:20, 25; 1 Cor. 4:1-2; and Col. 1:15-19.

Proceeding from this biblical base, Ray introduced "The Christian Doctrine of Creation" and considered five aspects, beginning with the foundational account in early Genesis, involving Adam and Noah. He then covered Israelite belief in the Creator. Their view of nature was closely tied to the way God acted in the world around them. The mighty works God did in their presence, such as providing their way across the Red Sea, the plagues against Egypt, manna from heaven, and birds feeding Jeremiah, showed that he was also the Sustainer of creation.

References in the early church were made to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, Francis of Assisi, Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, and John Wesley. During the nineteenth century, emphasis was on the time and method of creation, such as Ussher's chronology (4004 BC), Darwin's influence, and the endless debates on the extent of change since the original creation.

Finally, Ray covered twentieth century contributions to the topic, such as the book, Time and Creation, by Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe. Ray also included the shift in emphasis to the care of creation, noting the influences of Francis Shaeffer, the environmental movements of the '60s and '70s, Loren Wilkenson's book, Earthkeeping, and Whatever Happened to Eden, by John Sheaffer and himself. This second part also made reference to the Evangelical Declaration on Creation and groups such as the Evangelical Environmental Network and the Christian Environmental Association.

Ray closed with the third part, "Tending the Garden," as the mandate of caring for creation. On this closing point, he class was readied for session 2 on "Creation and Its Care." In it, he emphasized the continuing dependence of nature on God "in whom all things consist" (Col. 1:1). Ray's hand-out advised that "Advocates of New Age thinking need to worship the Creator rather than the creation (Rom. 1:25)" and that "we need to replace the secular use of the word 'nature' in our thinking with the biblical word 'creation'." Science usually helps us to know how something works, but not why. The most basic "why" question is why there is something rather than nothing. The Christian starting-point is that God chose to create and "there is a limit to scientific explanation which stops short of providing answers about the ultimate purpose of our existence." 

Ray addressed "Missionary Earthkeeping," proceeding from a previous session's resource recovery (recycling at the local level) to topsoil conservation. World Vision discovered that, left unchecked, environmental degradation becomes a poverty issue. Ray wrote in the course notes that "most missionaries take to the field only a fuzzy understanding of how the world works and how we as humans relate to it."

Missionary William Carey was an exception. As an amateur botanist, he founded the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India. Also, Jim Guistafson, with the Mission Covenant Church in Thailand, has spawned over 100 churches through an integration of social and spiritual ministries that includes the development of local ecosystems as part of integrated farms.

Lastly, Ray cited Martin Price of ECHO in N. Fort Myers, Florida. Most ASAers by now are aware of Martin's unique operation, an experimental farm which develops seeds genetically crafted for the poverty-stricken areas of the world and roof-top garden technology for urban areas, such as in Russia, without adequate cropland. (By the way, Martin I s farm has become a significant tourist attraction in Florida - a destination for an ecologically-oriented family vacation?)

Ray was one of four ASAers (the others were: Fred Van Dyke, David C. Mahan and Joseph K. Sheldon) who recently wrote Redeeming Creation (IVP, Downers Grove, IL, 1996; 180 pages, $14.99 paperback). Ray said that the book was initiated as an outgrowth of ASA's Global Resources and Environment Commission, headed by David Mahan. As might be expected, this book was the textual basis for Ray's course.

Though most of us who might consider teaching a church class on sci/Xny might not write a book on the subject, Ray's example shows that he drew heavily from existing material, assimilated it for himself, and organized his resulting understanding into a form that took the shape of a class outline. He also brought in guest speakers and used a variety of media to teach the concepts he identified as the subject-matter to be covered. His preparation was broader and deeper than the actual material covered so that he could open the class for half of its time to questions and discussion. H Ray Brand

Hearn teaches church about Scripture and science

Former ASAN Editor, the irenic Walter Hearn, brought this tone to his "Scripture and Science" class, taught at First Covenant Church in Oakland, CA from Jan-Mar 1996. This "study in the biblical doctrine of creation" began with the biblical side, then the scientific. The seven-page handout outlines the course content. Like Ray Brand (see previous article), Walt began with the biblical references to creation, but unlike Ray, he started with the NT. Wait's notes quickly put the Christian student on the confident ground of faith in Christ:

The God of Creation remains transcendent, but he has made himself known to us in Jesus Christ, when "the Word became flesh" and lived among us to "enlighten" us in the darkness of ignorance and sin, so we can belong to him as part of his intimate family. Christ not only sustains God's children in forgiveness, but "he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." So it is no small thing to be on intimate terms with the Creator of the whole universe! Let that assurance override any questions about creation.

Walt drew early attention to the differing uses of language in Scripture and science, referring to Bernard Ramm I s comments about hermeneutics. About a third of the OT is in poetic language and many of the most striking references to God's creative acts are in those parts. In referring to natural things, Ramm noted that the language of the Bible is popular instead of scientific, and is phenomenal and non-postulational instead of offering theories about nature. It is also set in its own culture, as reflected in its concepts of time, psychology, medicine, math, geography, etc. Consequently, biblical language is pre-scientific but not anti-scientific and more generally understandable and meaningful, relevant to all ages.

Walt sampled several Psalms in the handout (Psalms 19:1-4; 24:1-2; 111:2-4; 119:89-92; 139:13-18) along with references to Isaiah and Job.

He proceeded to exegete early Genesis, raising typical questions about authorship, dates, and sources. Under literary genre, some alternatives for its kind of text, which is not explanatory in the scientific spris ' e, are: history, pre-history, myth, parable, poetry, and retrodictive prophecy. Walt concluded that the genre is story: Genesis is a story told to show the power and love of God towards his people. He noted the great symmetry and parallelism in the construction of the account of the workdays in Gen. 1: Days I and 4, 2 and 5, and 3 and 6 correspond.

Next, the words for create were examined. The Hebrew words bara and asah are roughly interchangeable but bara always has God as subject, creating God's people, a pure heart, etc., which are neither instantaneous nor ex nihilo. Walt concluded: "Creation by God's command ('fiat') is not pictured as magic. The emphasis is on God's purpose in creating."

The significance of the Hebrew word yom (day) is given passing mention as used in many ways other than for a 24hour period in the rest of the OT. Perhaps, Walt mused, these days are days of revelation to the writer? He also noted the two-stories issue of Gen. I and 2.

Walt then referred to various interpreters of the Genesis creation narrative and genealogies, such as Ussher, Lightfoot, Gosse, Scofield's notes, and G. M. Price of this century. He offered quotes from some evangelical biblical scholars: Bernie Ramm, Aldert van der Ziel, Blocher, Hyers and Stek. The quote from Conrad Hyers illustrates the point behind all the quotes, that the divine revelation in the biblical accounts are rooted in a particular history and culture:

The crucial question in the creation account of Genesis I was polytheism versus monotheism. That was the burning issue of the day, not something which certain Americans 2,500 years later in the midst of a scientific age might imagine was the issue. One of the reasons for its being such a burning issue was that Jewish monotheism was such a unique and hard-won faith. The temptations of idolatry and syncretism were 


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everywhere. Every nation surrounding Israel, both large and small, was polytheistic, and many Jews themselves had similar inclinations. Hence the frequent
prophetic diatribes against altars in high places, the Canaanite cults of Baal and Ashtoreth, and "whoring after other  gods."

Recognizing the potentially divisive nature of the subject-matter, Walt drew back for the bigger picture in which Christians are called to be peacemakers. He said: "The doctrine of creation should be a massive rock on which our faith rests (like Gilbralter), not a brick to be thrown at others." His notes are laced with practical advice, like father to son:

"turn battlefields into mission fields; win friends for Christ rather than battles over contentious points. ... Remember that every viewpoint (including yours has problems. Try not to claim too much. Be willing to ask questions, and to say, "I don't know." Pray for wisdom (James 1:5-8). Stick to God's Word and don't worry about being labeled "liberal" or "conservative." A liberal believes that something could be changed for the better; a conservative believes that something is worth keeping. Who wouldn't want to be both?

Wait's advice ends with "four helpful questions" to ask anyone (including ourselves) who claims to know the truth:

1. What exactly is it that you claim to be true?
2. What is the evidence on which you base that view? (How did you come to accept it as true?)
3. Is there anyone whose judgment you respect who disagrees with you.?
4. What difference does this view make in the way you actually live?

With such preparation, Walt went on to discuss the scholarly debate among believers over creation, beginning with Augustine and the great pioneers of science (Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton). He positioned the scientific story of origins as not better or more complete than the biblical one, but different. To choose between science and the Bible as mutually exclusive options is a false choice. Science is important, though it is less universally helpful in people's lives, because it "makes sense" (coheres and is consistent with many facts), it "works" (produces reliable technology), and it supports the concept of objective reality (against "New Age" thought). Our Christian faith must do the same, and "like science, Christianity should be an empirical way of life." Demonstration that God's Word bears spiritual fruit is compelling evidence that the Bible is true.

Walt annotated many references of scientific information from sources, such as the AAAS, sci/Xny (PSCF and others across a broad spectrum), NCSE Reports, and Skeptical Inquirer.

 In the final class session, Walt discussed the etymology of some key words, such as philosophy, physics, nature, and science. He surveyed the history of science beginning with the Egyptians and faded out with passing comments about nature (philosophy)
of science. Walter Hearn


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Closure

Each of the ASAers reaching churches demonstrate their unique emphases, styles, and choice of subject-matter. Yet each is bringing together the worlds of science and Christianity for local churches in ways that are strangely uncommon in an age when science and technology are so common and life-affecting for our society. Perhaps these examples of ASAers teaching about the relationship of science and Christian faith in churches (as well as those given in the previous issues) will encourage other ASAers to follow their examples. Please let the Editor know of your efforts to bring understanding of science and Christianity to your church.


1997 Annual Meeting at Westmont C.

Next year, West-Coasters, "Be there or be square!" The Annual Meeting is from August 1-4 in sunny southern California, at Westmont C. in Santa Barbara. Be sure to tell your family members about the meeting so that they will encourage you to make it their summer vacation.

In 1998, the Meeting turns cosmopolitan and will be jointly held in Cambridge, England with Christians in Science and the Victoria Institute, ASA's British counterparts. Start saving those frequent-flyer miles and get your passport in order.

In 1999, we talk science and faith amid Southern hospitality at John Brown U. in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where PSCF book review editor Richard Ruble professes psychology and William Frix does electrical engineering and participates in the ASA list-serve discussion.

Besides family, bring students in science. This year, some students attended the Meeting in Toronto. Pearl Christie, a biology major at U. of Toronto is from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Ruth Pavkov is a social science major at Mt. Vernon Nazarene C. in Ohio from Edinboro, Pennsylvania.


ASA Videotapes

Paul Arveson put together some nicely done slide shows awhile back. He now has them on videotape. They are: "The New Biology" and "James Houston's Views on Creation." Show them in your church or ASA local section. To get hold of them, contact Paul at 10205 Folk St., Silver Spring, Maryland, 20902; tel: (301) 649-4104; Compuserve address: 73367,1236 or Internet address: arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil

Millers Miss Meeting Maternally

Keith B. Miller was slated to give a talk at this year's Annual Meeting on "The Similarity of Theory Testing in the Historical and 'Hard' Sciences," but a new family member had other plans. Keith and Ruth Douglas Miller are both ASAers at Kansas State U. in Manhattan. In time, so might be Ian Douglas Miller, born Friday, July 26, 1996 at 8:55 p.m. Ian weighed 8 lb. 2 oz. with a length of 20.5 inches. E~ Carol Regehr

Come and Get It!

"Put your money where your voice is." AT&T, Sprint, and MCI donate money to pro-abortion and pro-homosexual causes. But there is an alternative longdistance provider that can help the ASA. Get long-distance telephone service through LifeLine AmeriVision, save on phone charges, and ASA will get 10% of the revenue.

LifeLine is a Christian long-distance telephone service which helps ministries raise additional, perpetual revenue by giving their supporters the opportunity to switch their long-distance service to AmeriVision. The company is now endorsed by over 35,000 organizations. It uses fiber-optic lines, 6-second billing increments, has calling cards, and the rates are 13.9 cents/min. (day) and 12.9 cents/ min. (eve and nights) when billed by LifeLine. To switch, call (800) 800-7824 and designate ASA. E Ken Dormer

The Pew Evangelical Scholars Program research fellowships for 1997-98 are announced. Sixteen scholars will be awarded grants of $35,000 to pursue research in the humanities, social sciences, and theological disciplines. Application proposals are due by Nov. 30, 1996. For more information, contact: Michael Hamilton, Notre Dame, IN at tel: (219) 631-8347; fax: (219) 6318721; e-mail: ND.pesp.l@nd.edu

Get in on the "Naturalism, Theism and the Scientific Enterprise" Conference at the U. of Texas, Austin, Feb. 20-23, 1997. The call for papers has gone out. Invited speakers include Michael Ruse, Alvin Plantinga, Frederick Grinnell, and Phillip E. Johnson. The conference organizers intend to enhance dialog between naturalists and theists on the impact of social and philosophical predispositions on the development, interpretation and presentation of scientific knowledge. Abstracts are to be submitted by Nov. I in RTF, ASCII, PostScript or LaTeX formats, to Prof. Robert C. Koons (koons@phil.utexas. edu) of the local arrangements committee and philosophy dept. at the U. of Texas in Austin. Conference information will be posted on Web site: http://www.dla.utexas.edu/depts/ philosophy/koons/ntse/main.html For those who want more about the future of the city, The Institute for Interdisciplinary Research's Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies for 1996 is now available on the theme, "ne City in the 21st Century." It includes a continuing section on "Science-Religion Dialogue" and has articles by Lewis Mumford, Zygmunt Stankiewicz, Oskar Gruenwald and others. It is available at the individual rate of $15 (students: $10), payable to IIR. Write or call: IIR, 2828 3rd St. #11, Santa Monica, CA 90405-4150; (310) 3960517.

ASA List Serve

After eloquently discussing such science/faith issues as homosexuality and the church, ASA list server participants are now into issues of mind-brain, free will and quantum phenomena, and whatever participants introduce. Join the discussion by sending a message with 

first line:     subscribe asa-digest

to:      majordomo@calvin.edu

Terry Gray is our willing "list servant" who keeps the list server going and its discussion on track. He has also added some Web resources. The Web can be a quicker way to scan list-server entries, or to review past discussion. Terry has added some new links recently, all prefaced by:

http://www.calvin.edu/chemistry/ASA/    Append to this any one of the following: related-sites.html      papers.html   PSCF.html   index.html

The last site is the ASA home page. Thanks, Terry, for sustaining ASA in cyberspace!

Personable News

John Osepchuk, a physicist at Full Spectrum Consulting in Massachusetts, is now chairman of ASA's Industrial Commission. John can be contacted by telephone at: (508) 369-6480.

Jack Swearengen has moved north to Vancouver, WA to establish a new program in manufacturing engineering at Washington State U.

William W. Cobern is moving from west to west -from Arizona State U. West to Western Michigan U., College of Education, in Kalamazoo. His field is science education.


With the Lord

Hendrik J. Oorthuys died on July 22, 1996 at age 86 of an acute heart attack. He had been a member of the ASA since the mid-1940s and served as Secretary for four years. He was also active in the Oregon Local Section. Hendrik received his degrees in electrical engineering at Oregon State U. where he and F. Alton Everest were fellow students. Alton taught at OSU but when he was called to work in the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego at the outset of WWII, Hendrik took over his teaching. Alton subsequently recruited Hendrik to work with him at the Lab from 1944-46. Hendrik was an EE prof. at Purdue U. from 1946-57, then returned to OSU until his retirement in 1975. He married Ruth Denney in 1950 and had three sons and a daughter. Hendrik and Ruth were involved in a ministry to inmates at the Oregon State Prison.

Hendrik attended First Baptist Church of Corvallis, where former ASA president and biologist David L. Willis taught Bible class. One of David's students at First Baptist was also an EE student at OSU, the Editor, who would record his articulate and inspiring lectures. I took no courses from Hendrik, however, but recall him to often be in the motor lab, the EE dept's "fishbowl." I readily concur with Dave when he wrote: "Hendrik was a most enthusiastic person. ... He was always cheerful and hopeful. He is remembered locally as "the Flying Dutchman," because to the end of his life he could be seen daily on the city streets furiously pedaling his bicycle here and there." David also added, "He was a dear Christian friend and a strong supporter of ASA. He will be missed by many." E Dave Willis

F. Alton Everest's wife, Elva Marie, went quickly, due to a dead small intestine, on Aug. 18. Alton and Elva were able to spend her last few hours recalling incidents of their past 62 years together. She was aglow to be with the Lord. Elva was remembered as "a wonderful woman" by another long-time ASAer' Walt Hearn, and his wife Ginny. Alton says he is "doing very well in adjusting to being alone," but if you want to send him a note, he lives at: 2661 Tallant Rd. #619, Santa Barbara, CA 93105.  Walt Hearn, Alton Everest


Call for Papers

"Creation's Testimony in Natural History"

ASA Annual Meeting. Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA

August 1-4, 1997

Abstracts deadline: FEB. 3, 1997

Canadians Sweep 1996 Caring Research Awards

The 1996 Caring for Creation award was won by Harry H. Spaling, professor of environmental studies and geography at King's U. College in Edmonton, Alberta. He took the prize for his research reported in the paper, "Greed, Need or Creed: Land Ethics in the RuralUrban Fringe of Edmonton, Alberta." The awards are intended to encourage empirical research.

Spaling investigated the massive annexation of prime farmland by the city of Edmonton in 1981. He presented three ethical approaches to land use with their distinctive emphases:

Theocentric: divine ownership, earthkeeping, fruitfulness, Sabbath

Biocentric: intrinsic worth, moral standing, ontological unity

Econocentric: commodity, property, utilitarian

He described two Christian-based groups in Edmonton, Topsoil and Earthkeeping, who are working on theocentric principles to preserve prime farm land.

The Caring for People award was shared by Donald C. Posterski, vice president of National Programs for World Vision Canada, and Andrew S. Grenville of the Angus Reid Group of Toronto, for studying the effect of urbanization on social capital, as measured by participation in volunteer organizations. Their prize-winning paper, "Can Committed Christians be IN the City but Not OF the City?" reported their survey of 1,500 adult Canadians and found that those who live in a metropolis of a million people or more are less likely to participate in volunteer organizations than those in cities of 100,000 or in rural communities.

Seventy-six percent of those who attend church weekly volunteer versus once-a-year attendees (29%) or non-attendees (35%). The study showed that metropolitan living tends to discourage even committed Christians from social participation, though many urban Christians were found to be willing to help others. Therefore, World Vision Canada started NeighborLink to mobilize coalitions of churches to respond to immediate needs in their communities. Some 450 churches cross Canada have over 15,000 volunteers.

An Ecologist's Addition to Walter Hearn's Rendition of a "Scientists's Psalm"

 

 Quaking aspen, pyric sere,
'Ecologic pioneer.
Niche to
fill and elk to please,
Trembling in Creator's breeze.

Then the seeds of cypress find 
Swampy sites among the pine; 
Tolerant of modest shade, 
Thanks to God, the bogs invade.

Then Creator plants the oaks, 
Climax forest, plowman's yokes,
Cotyledons that ascend
To the heavens, sing Amen!

by Larry Walker