The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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 Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

, such as

evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

, and represent several

Christian traditions Christian tradition is a collection of traditions consisting of practices or beliefs associated with Christianity. Many churches have traditional practices, such as particular patterns of worship or rites, that developed over time. Deviations fro ...

including the Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Anabaptists, and the Orthodox. The organization frequently runs

seminars A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some part ...

such as at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

, the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge, England, and

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily ...

History

Scientists who were Christians and had concerns about the quality of Christian evangelism on the subject of

religion and science The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern ...

formed the ASA in 1941. Irwin A. Moon originated the idea of a group; he talked

Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have identified it as ...

president William H. Houghton into inviting a number of scientists with similar 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 Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at Oregon State College in Corvallis, served as president of the Affiliation for its first decade. Under his

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

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 Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

, 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 Progressive creationism is the religious belief that God created new forms of life gradually over a period of hundreds of millions of years. As a form of old Earth creationism, it accepts mainstream geological and cosmological estimates for the ...

and then of

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...

, encouraging acceptance of evolution among evangelicals.Numbers(2006) pp180-181 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".

President (since 2022) / Executive Director (before 2022)

* H. Harold Hartzler * Robert L. Herrmann (1981–1994) * Donald W. Munro (1994–2005)American Scientific Affiliation appointed Randall D. Isaac

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "eva ...

, August 01, 2005 * Randall D. Isaac (2005–2016) * Leslie Wickman (2016–2020) * John R. Wood (2020–2022) * Janel Curry (2022–)

Executive Vice President (since 2022) / Director of Operations and Development (before 2022)

* Vicki L. Best (2018–)

Board Chair (since 2022) / Executive Council President (before 2022)

* Recent Council Presidents: Terry M. Gray, John R. Wood, Stephen O. Moshier, Lynn Billman, Johnny W. Lin, Keith B. Miller, Harry L. Poe, Robert Kaita, Susan A. Daniels, Jennifer Wiseman, Edward B. Davis, Walter L. Bradley, Ruth D. MillerPCSF
2008 * William Jordan (2022) * Michael Everest (2023–)

Related organizations

The following organizations are related to the ASA:
/ref> ;Sister organizations * Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation (CSCA) * Christians in Science (CiS) ;Affiliations
Christian Women in Science
(CWiS) * Affiliation of Christian Geologists * Affiliation of Christian Biologists * Christian Engineers and Scientists in Technology

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{Authority control Evangelical parachurch organizations Christianity and science Christian organizations established in 1941