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News:
November 30, 2003
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Religion in the News
Forty
Years Later, C.S. Lewis's Influence Tops JFK
Compiled by Rob Moll.
Fuller
Theological Seminary wins LA Times approval
The Los Angles Times Sunday magazine reported on Fuller Seminary's "post-evangelical"
attempt to reach beyond conservative/liberal labels and develop Bible-believing
Christian leaders with social justice concerns, evolutionary science, pop
psychology counseling, and Hollywood influence. The piece marks a new chapter
of the Seminary's history as an institution founded by radio preacher Charles
Fuller and minister Harold Ockenga in three stages. First, Edward Carnell,
the school's second president, called for tolerance among theological viewpoints,
then the acceptance of Karl Barth-style theology in the late 1960s, and
finally "Post-Conservatism."
Blockbuster
Evangelism
Millions have been converted after seeing films about Jesus, and Hindu radicals
are responding with violence. Joshua Newton in Karnataka, India.
Colleges rarely delve into spiritual issues, students say in poll (The New York Times).
Operation
Christmas Child: Every gift is meant to be given to a certain child
Area churches are the drop-off points for the world's largest Christmas
project, which gives a gift found in a shoebox, to suffering children worldwide.
(Daily Courier, PA).
He'll
walk out of prison into the pulpit
The charismatic Baptist minister who served time for grand theft and racketeering
is set to preach.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A Baptist minister whose fall from grace began with
a fire his wife set at a home he had secretly bought with his mistress will
walk out of prison today and head directly to the pulpit. (By Vickie Chachere,
Associated Press, 11/30/2003 03:01 AM EST)
Christian
group fights the law with the law. By Steven G. Vegh / Knight Ridder
News Service
Having lost past battles over school prayer and abortion, evangelicals are
seething over recent rulings that plucked God from the Pledge of
Allegiance, spurned the Ten Commandments, and decriminalized sodomy.
And that was before Massachusetts' high court struck down a ban on same-sex
marriage earlier this month. Thursday, November 27, 2003 (Philadelphia Inquirer).
A
higher authority on energy By Alan J. Heavens / Inquirer Real
Estate Writer
An interfaith group ferrets out waste where lone houses of worship cannot.The
buildings that make up St. Timothy's Parish at Levick and Hawthorne Street
s in Northeast Philadelphia are vastly larger and more complex than the
red-brick rowhouses that surround them. ... the parish or synagogue figure
out how to lower costs. Sunday, November 23, 2003 (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Christian
History Corner: Thanksgiving in the Midst of Fear
Seriously ill in the days of the Black Plague, poet John Donne still celebrated
God's goodness. Updated by Philip Yancey and introduced by Christian History
editor Chris Armstrong.
Science in the News
Advice
to young scientists
Accept that you don't need to know everything, swim for the choppy waters,
forgive yourself for wasting time and know your history are four golden
rules for scientists at the beginning of their careers.
Creation/Evolution
Darwin's
Atolls Theory Challenged. Nov. 21, 2003
Though his theory of evolution may be holding up, Charles Darwin's well-regarded
theory of how ring-shaped islands called atolls formed in tropical oceans
is getting some serious revising, a University of Arizona geologist said.
Oxford Scientist
Launches Sharp Critique of Religion
Despite the massive costs religion has imposed on human society, it persists
because children do not question their parents' beliefs, renowned Oxford
scientist Richard Dawkins argued in a fiery lecture last night at Lowell
Lecture Hall. (The Harvard Crimson, MA).
Archaeology/Anthropology
Scholars
say Jesus box may be genuine
A purported first-century inscription naming Jesus may or may not be the
real thing, but Israel's labeling of the find as a fake is premature, scientists
and scholars said at a panel discussion. (Associated Press)
James
ossuary opens a Pandora's box of suspected fakes.
Since "the James ossuary shows that Jesus sells," archaeologists
and other experts are on the lookout for other possible forgeries of Bible-era
artifacts.
Dig unearths
Bronze Age sun disc.
An ancient gold disc which was used as an item of adornment at a burial
4,000 years ago has been discovered in Ceredigion. Experts say the
priceless sun disc is the first one of its kind to be found in Wales and
only the third known piece of gold from the Bronze Age uncovered here.
Should Cheeseburgers
Be Kosher?
Jack M. Sasson - Jewish dietary law says no milk with meat, and since ancient
times observant Jews have refrained from mixing the two at meals. But has
the biblical passage that serves as basis for the law, “Thou shalt
not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk,” been misinterpreted?
How the Bible
Became the Kynge’s Owne English
Leonard J. Greenspoon - Exactly four hundred years ago, King James I of
England commissioned a new translation of the Complete Bible. The beautifully
poetic result wasn’t the first English Bible, but it’s still the
favorite.
Roots
of English, Latin could go back 9,000 years
The family of Indo-European languages that gave rise to English, Latin and
Sanskrit first emerged 8,000 to 9,000 years ago and spread into Europe from
the Anatolian region of Turkey, according to a controversial new analysis.
(By Usha Lee McFarling, Los Angeles Times, 11/30/2003 03:01 AM EST)
Astronomy
As Universe Comes
Apart, Electrons Cling Tightly To Protons Boston - Nov 25, 2003
In this topsy-turvy world of changing trends and stormy alliances, two Northeastern
University scientists propose an answer to why even the fundamental constants
of nature don't seem constant anymore. The bond between electrons and protons,
called the fine structure constant, or alpha, may not be constant and may
have been 200,000 times weaker about ten billion years ago.
Solar storms trip
magnetic flip
Sun sloughs magnetic field, leaving a reversed one in its place. 24 November
2003.
Does Vacuum
Energy Really Dominate The Cosmos? Toulouse - Nov 25, 2003
New results from a study of distant galaxy clusters, observed as they were
when the universe was only half as old as it is today, lead to some surprising
conclusions.
Lonely
planet formed just like a star
Planets can be spawned by the same process that makes stars, say astronomers
who have discovered a developing planet floating alone in a stellar nursery.
Europa:
Frozen Ocean in Motion. Moffett Field - Nov 27, 2003
The Jovian moon, Europa, is the smallest of the four satellites first discovered
by Galileo in 1610. Slightly smaller than the Earth's moon, Europa's two-thousand
mile diameter however reflects about five times as much light as our Moon.
Biology
Study
finds the gene for heart attack
The first gene linked directly to heart attacks has been isolated from an
extended Iowa family plagued for generations with rampant coronary-artery
disease. ( By Paul Recer, Associated Press, 11/28/2003 07:00 AM EST).
Scientists
Take DNA's Temperature
The temperature most often associated with human life is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit,
that of a healthy person. Scientists recently succeeded in taking
a different measurement, one they've dubbed the heat of life: the energies
involved in DNA replication and synthesis.
Bear
bones hint at osteoporosis treatment
Black bears have a unique ability to stop their bones from degenerating
during hibernation, a news study finds.
Brain's
'Daydream' Network Offers Detection For Alzheimer's Diagnosis.
Researchers tracking the ebb and flow of cognitive function in the human
brain have discovered surprising differences in the ability of younger and
older adults to shut down a brain network normally active during periods
of passive daydreaming. The differences, which are especially pronounced
in people with dementia, may provide a clear and powerful new method for
diagnosing individuals in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Earth Science
What Makes Volcanoes
Explode. San Francisco - Nov 27, 2003
Two University of California, Berkeley, geophysicists have proposed an explanation
for the unpredictable nature of volcanic eruptions, why volcanoes sometimes
ooze lava, but at other times explode in showers of ash and pumice.
Book
Offers Overview Of Cave Paleontology.
Many important fossil finds are made by recreational cavers, who bring the
remains to the attention of scientists. With a new book aimed at both scholars
and spelunkers, Blaine Schubert hopes to get the word out about the importance
of such findings to the Ice Age record.
Physics
The
Science of Time Travel
A motion picture adaptation of Michael Crichton's time travel adventure
story Timeline opens November 26. Crichton cites theoretical physicist Michio
Kaku of the City University of New York as one inspiration for the science
behind the story. Kaku, a string theorist, is the author of several physics
books for a popular audience, and host of a weekly science radio show. He
recently spoke with Scientific American.com about the possibility of time
travel and his thoughts on science and popular culture.
Tired
of waiting for our fuel of the future to come of age?
Grab a cup of water and a 9-volt, and read on.
Psychology
Molecule gives
clue to schizophrenia
Drug-induced discovery sheds light on mental illness. 21 November 2003.
Study:
Opposites Should Attract Nov. 21, 2003
Genetic and field studies on the personality of birds, which researchers
suggest could reflect on the behavior of humans and other animals, reveal
that mates with opposing personalities produce offspring with higher survival
rates.
Anger,
Pain, and Depression.
Anger, pain and depression are three negative experiences so closely bound
together it can sometimes be hard to know where one ends and the other begins.
Technology
The best of what's new in technology in 2003.