The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA)
is a Christian religious organization of scientists
and people in science-related disciplines.
The stated purpose is "to investigate any
area relating Christian faith and science."
The organization publishes a journal, Perspectives
on Science and Christian Faith which covers
topics related to Christian faith and science
from a Christian viewpoint.
Members of the organization are from various
movements, such as evangelicalism, and represent
several Christian denominations including
the Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians,
Baptists, and the Orthodox.
The organization frequently runs seminars
at universities in the world, such as Baylor
University, the University of Cambridge, and
The Catholic University of America.
== History ==
Scientist-Christians who had concerns about
the quality of Christian evangelism on the
subject of religion and science formed the
ASA in 1941.
Irwin A. Moon originated the idea of a group;
he talked Moody Bible Institute president
William H. Houghton into inviting a number
of scientists with orthodox Christian views
to Chicago to discuss its formation.
F. Alton Everest, Peter W. Stoner, Russell
D. Sturgis, John P. VanHaitsma, and Irving
A. Cowperthwaite attended, and the ASA formed
from this meeting.
Everest, a conservative Baptist electrical
engineer at Oregon State College in Corvallis,
served as president of the Affiliation for
its first decade.
Under his leadership the ASA grew from 5 to
220 members.
By 1961 its membership had grown to 860.During
the 1940s and 1950s the group provided an
evangelical forum for discussing the alleged
merits and drawbacks of the theory of evolution,
and for evaluating the works of prominent
creationists such as George McCready Price
(1870–1963) and Harry Rimmer (1890–1952).
The influence of an inner circle affiliated
with Wheaton College led it to reject "strict"
creationism in favor first of progressive
creationism and then of theistic evolution,
encouraging acceptance of evolution among
evangelicals.
This group was led by Russell L. Mixter (later
editor of the Journal of the American Scientific
Affiliation from 1965 to 1968) and J. Frank
Cassel.
In the words of Ronald L. Numbers, the sub-group
"did for biology what Kulp was doing for Geology".
=== Executive directors ===
H. Harold Hartzler
Robert Herrmann (1981–1994)
Donald W. Munro (1994–2005)
Randall D. Isaac (2005–2016)
Leslie Wickman (2016–)
=== Presidents ===
Ruth D. Miller
Walter L. Bradley (2008)
Edward B. Davis (2009)
Jennifer Wiseman (2010)
== Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
==
The journal of the ASA is called Perspectives
on Science and Christian Faith, subtitled
Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation.
== Related organizations ==
The following organizations are related to
the ASA:
Sister organizationsCanadian Scientific and
Christian Affiliation (CSCA)
Christians in Science (CiS)AffiliationsAffiliation
of Christian Geologists
Affiliation of Christian Biologists
Christian Engineers and Scientists in Technology
== Notes
