Glimmerings

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March 7, 2004

Evolution debate in the church in the 1950s

Some became worried that the ASA had taken an official position on the evolution issue or, at least, that certain members were trying to give the impression that it had. That it had not was a matter of practice and policy. Various ASA Journal articles reprinted here do not endorse an evolutionary position. Rather they demonstrate what one member later called the "fuzziness" of a group of people with an "exploring attitude." Whether everyone possessed an attitude of openness is easily disputed, but the ASA Journal editor, Delbert Eggenberger, did his best to keep the ASA periodical an open forum. Circumstances compelled him to clarify this policy on a few occasions: "It is emphasized that there is not a uniform or official ASA interpretation.... To publish only articles of a particular theological system would defeat the very purpose for which the A.S.A. was founded." Later he wrote, "It would be easy to establish a 'party line' ... [but] the ASA has a purpose ... of open-minded study that precludes such restrictions." (p. 28

Kalthoff, Mark, ed. Creation and Evolution in the early American Scientific Affiliation. Creationism in Twentieth-Century America, Vol 10. Garland Pub, 1995.

Posted by thdyck on March 7, 2004

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