American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation Newsletter - Volume 48, Number 1 - Jan/Feb 2006

Sep 24, 2026

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Newsletter issue for the American Scientific Affiliation and the Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation (ASA/CSCA), Volume 48, Number 1, covering January–February 2006. The newsletter reports on the upcoming 2006 ASA Annual Meeting at Calvin College, outlining the theme “Embedding Christian Values in Science and Technology,” planned plenary sessions, and symposia. It also highlights CEST’s technology-focused symposium, discusses a plenary address on ethics of technology, and features an overview of ASA’s website development and journal-linked “crown jewels” content.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

2006 ASA Annual Meeting at Calvin College

Plenary Speakers

Technology: The Solution, or the Problem?

Plenary sessions

Struggle in the Ethics of Technology

“Crown Jewels” at the Click of a Mouse

A Decade in Development

WWW = ‘Wisdom Within the Web’

The Executive Director’s Corner

NEWSLETTER of the American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation | Volume 48, Number 1 | JAN/FEB 2006 | | --- | --- | 2006 ASA Annual Meeting at Calvin College The 2006 ASA Annual Meeting will be held July 28–31, 2006, at Calvin C., Grand Rapids, MI. Different aspects of the conference theme, “Embedding Christian Values in Science and Technology,” will be addressed by four plenary speakers and will be the focus of seven symposia. For full details on conference plans with updates as they develop, [see www.asa3.org](see www.asa3.org). Plenary Speakers Celia Deane-Drummond is professor of theology and religious studies at University College Chester, UK. She has a degree in natural science from Cambridge U. and doctorates in plant physiology from Oxford U. and theology from Manchester U. Her major research interests—environmental ethics, science and theology, and creation theology—epitomize the theme of our conference. Among her authored and co-authored books are: God, Humanity and the Cosmos: A Textbook in Science and Religion (T&T Clark, 1999); Creation Through Wisdom: Theology and the New Biology (T&T Clark, 2000); and The Ethics of Nature (Blackwells, 2004) . Genetics and Christian Ethics and Wonder and Wisdom: Conversations in Spirituality, Science and Theology are in press. Continued on p. 4, 2006 Annual Meeting Technology: The Solution, or the Problem? Christian Engineers in Science and Technology (CEST) sponsored a special symposium at last summer’s Annual Meeting. Evaluating the positive and negative impacts of technology, it was entitled “Technology: The Solution, or the Problem?” Plenary sessions The Saturday morning plenary session was to have featured Egbert Schuurman, professor in Reformational Philosophy at the Technological Universities of Delft and Eindhoven and at the Agricultural U. of Wageningen, Netherlands, and a member of the Senate of the Dutch Parliament. He was scheduled to address the subject, “Struggle in the Ethics of Technology.” Unfortunately, Schuurman was taken ill and was notable to deliver his paper. Struggle in the Ethics of Technology The plenary that Schuurman was unable to deliver verbally is well worth the time to read. One of the many highlights is an analogy attributed to Werner Heisenberg: With the seeming limitless expansion of material power, man has arrived in a situation of a captain whose ship was so well constructed from steel and iron that the needle of the compass reacted only on the iron mass of the ship and no longer pointed to the North. With such a ship, the correct direction can no longer be established; it simply circles around or is at the mercy of wind and currents. Continued on p. 5, Technology “Crown Jewels” atthe Click of a Mouse Sixty years of the best thinking from ASA members—plus current happenings at the science-faith interface—are readily accessible in your home or office. The ASA website provides access to volumes of material, without tying up shelf space. A Decade in Development In 1994 Jack Haas called an informal lunchtime meeting at the Bethel C. Annual Meeting to discuss what kind of Internet presence ASA ought to have. Several dozen attended, all wholeheartedly agreeing ASA ought to do something. Among the attendees was Terry Gray, who had become Internet savvy during a sabbatical from Calvin C. at Texas A&M. Within days of his return home, ASA had a 4-page website. WWW = ‘Wisdom Within the Web’ Within a few months, ASA journal content became the dominant purpose of the ASA website. Its present server is at Colorado State U. and answers to [www.asa3.org](www.asa3.org). The “crown jewels” of ASA are the content published in the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and its successor, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. Jack Haas started by putting articles he thought would interest those participating in the newlyformed ASA e-mail discussion list. First was “S

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How did ASA develop its internet presence and website content?

In 1994, Jack Haas helped initiate discussions at the Bethel College Annual Meeting about an ASA internet presence, leading to a 4-page website within days. Later, ASA journal content became a primary purpose of the site, with the server at Colorado State University and access via www.asa3.org.

Sep 24, 2026

Upload by hdkawk