Re: [asa] The term Darwinism

There is Keith Miller's edited volume, "Perspectives on an Evolving
Creation". Of course, it is not in any sense an official publication
of the ASA, but I think nearly all of the contributors are or were ASA
members. Also, it's not necessarily an easy read, but it's comparable
in spirit, I think, to "Modern Science and the Christian Faith".

TG

On Jul 7, 2009, at 8:17 AM, Randy Isaac wrote:

> And there was the monograph by Russell Mixter, "Creation and
> Evolution", published by ASA. In the soon-to-be-published history of
> ASA by Alton Everest, this is described as the third monograph but
> it is printed as "Monograph Two." The ASA office has two editions of
> the monograph. The first is dated 1950, with several printings and
> the second is 1967 according to one copy but earlier according to
> another. The second edition includes a chapter on "The Origin of
> Man" which was not in the first.
> In the chapter "Fossils Suggest Creation" of the first edition,
> Mixter concludes:
>
> "Shall we believe that the gaps will be filled? If the trend of the
> time continues, new fossils will be found. However, until a major
> group of organisms such as an order, is connected to another order
> by a closely graded series of forms, one need not hold the
> interpretation which derives the members of one order from some
> other order.
>
> "Summary:
>
> "The earliest representatives of the major groups of animals and
> plants are complex organisms. They are separated by structural gaps
> from the members of other groups. As long as the gaps remain
> unbridged by a series of fossils grading between one group and
> another, one may conclude that the ancestors of the groups are
> created and not descended from other orders. Within the orders and
> families there appears to have been descent with modification as in
> the series of horses."
>
> Though many have tried to describe Mixter as one of the first
> theistic evolutionists in ASA, note this paragraph in his chapter
> "The Origin of Man" in the second edition. It was reprinted from
> Covenant Youth Today, Oct. 13, 1963:
>
> "It seems to me the order in Genesis does not suggest that God took
> living flesh of animals and added to it a spirit to form man. God
> first formed the flesh, then He made it alive. This interpretation
> of Scripture rules out for me the theistic evolution of man which
> derives him from a common ancestor with other creatures."
>
> Later in that chapter he writes:
>
> "I conclude there were pre-Adamic creatures but not man as Scripture
> portrays him."
>
> In the subsequent 50 years or so, considerable progress has been
> made in fossil discoveries, filling lots of those gaps, and in
> genetic analysis. It does seem timely to update our perspectives.
>
> Randy
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: George Murphy
> To: Keith Miller ; asa@calvin.edu
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 8:00 AM
> Subject: Re: [asa] The term Darwinism
>
> I agree that TSCC was too hesitant about evolution even in 1986, let
> alone today. To keep things in perspective, however, we could
> compare it with a collection of essays by 11 ASA members published
> under the title Modern Science and Christian Faith in 1948 by Van
> Kampen Press. This also doesn't state an official position of ASA
> but with authorship given on the title page as "Members of the
> American Scientific Affiliation" I'm sure a lot of people thought it
> did. The chapter on 'Biology and Creation" by William J. Tinkle and
> Walter E. Lammerts (the latter eventually became one of the founders
> of the Creation Reasearch Society) comes down flatly against
> macroevolution. It ends with the sentence "We conclude that the
> Biblical account of the creation is corroborated, and that God
> finished His creation, just as Genesis states" (p.107).
>
> TSCC represents a good deal of progress - after 38 years. Maybe
> after another 23 it's time for the next step.
>
> Also worth noting: ASA is described on the title page as "A group
> of Christian scientific men devoting themselves to the task of
> reviewing, preparing, and distributing information on the
> authenticity, historicity, and scientific aspects of the Holy
> Scriptures in order that the faith of many in the Lord Jesus Christ
> may be firmly established." I think a lot of us would agree that
> that's too narrow a description of the purposes of ASA today. (That
> may have been official ASA language in 1948 - Ted D might be able to
> comment on this.)
>
> Shalom
> George
> http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Keith Miller
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 8:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [asa] The term Darwinism
>
> For what it is worth, I agree with Allan that it is time to
> discontinue the ASA publication "Teaching Science in a Climate of
> Controversy". I was not in favor of its approach and language when
> it was first published, and I don't think that it is particularly
> helpful given the current public debates over K-12 science education.
>
> I am not honestly sure what a good replacement for that publication
> would be. To be worthwhile it would have to either provide some
> content not available elsewhere, or be able to reach an audience
> more effectively than existing resources. As always, the diversity
> of the ASA puts limitations on what can be done.
>
> Keith

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Received on Tue Jul 7 17:05:05 2009