The American Scientific Affiliation: A Personal Note

Alice C. Linsley


I encourage my fellow Christian Anthropologists to join the American Scientific Affiliation, a network of Christians in the sciences. Members united on these principles:

— adherence to orthodox Christianity, as defined by the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds, which can be read in full here.

— a commitment to mainstream science, that is, any subject on which there is a clear scientific consensus.

The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) was founded in 1941 as an international network of Christians in the sciences. As scientists, ASA members take part in humanity’s exploration of nature, its laws, and how it works. As Christians, we want to know all that it is possible to know about how the universe operates, how it came into being, and why it exists.

ASA's sister organizations are the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation and Christians in Science in the UK. These frequently partner with the ASA to sponsor events and scholarly work.

A Personal Note

Over the years ASA members have influenced me in significant ways. I would like to mention two in particular: Ralph D. Winter (December 8, 1924 – May 20, 2009) and Dr. Eugene A. Nida (November 11, 1914 – August 25, 2011).

In 2005, Ralph Winter was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America. He was an outstanding advocate for pioneer outreach among unreached people groups.His 1974 presentation at the Congress for World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland - an event organized by American evangelist Billy Graham - was a watershed moment for global mission.

Dr. Winter held degrees from the California Institute of Technology, Cornell, Princeton and Columbia.

Ralph D. Winter

Founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission 

I was blessed to have been able to work with him on two occasions as an advance person for his speaking engagements in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Dr. Eugene A. Nida

Eugene A. Nida directed American Bible Society translations from 1946-1984 and is recognized as one of the foremost linguists and translation theorists of the 20th century.

Nida earned a Bachelor’s degree in 1936 from the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1941 he began a PhD in Linguistics at the University of Michigan and completed it in two years. His dissertation, A Synopsis of English Syntax, was the first full-scale analysis of a major language according to the "immediate-constituent" theory. His most notable contribution to translation theory is Dynamic Equivalence, also known as Functional Equivalence. For more information, see "Dynamic and formal equivalence." Nida also developed the "componential-analysis" technique, which split words into their components to help determine equivalence in translation.

I have applied Nida's technique very successfully in my own research as a Biblical anthropologist.

Another member of ASA who influenced my life is Dr. Vernon Gross. He led my parents to faith in Christ while I was a child. That dramatically changed the course of their lives and mine.

Consider Joining ASA

The cooperation of scientists of Christian faith is more important than ever. Our understanding of the creation and of human existence is attacked daily by atheists who claim the full authority of science. We must speak convincingly of the truth of God, the Creator, and the complexity of the Divine plan for the world; a plan about which the sciences usually whisper and sometimes shout.

Please consider joining the American Scientific Affiliation or one of our sister affiliates. Membership information is here.

Related reading:  The Problem with Gould's NOMA; Kansas Bill Calling for Objectivity in Science Education Fails; Today's Savage Mind; Scientists Against Scientism; When is the Evidence Sufficient?; Who Laid the Foundations of Science?

Dean E. Arnold on Christian Anthropologists

Dean E. Arnold



In 1994, historian Mark Noll published a provocative book called the Scandal of the Evangelical Mind [1] lamenting the lack of intellectual impact of evangelical scholars upon the academy. Some of these themes were revisited and enlarged by Michael Hamilton in “The Elusive Idea of Christian Scholarship” [2] and by the responses of Joel Carpenter, [3] Dorothy Chappell, [4] and Don King. [5] These scholars argue that evangelical history, combined with American pragmatism and utility, have degraded the value of exercising the mind for its own sake. Further, the American values of achievement, individualism, and humanitarianism have focused attention on evangelism and helping others. While these tasks are important, evangelicals have often failed to love God with their minds. They have failed to grasp the importance of contributing to the secular academy, to recognize the latent significance of that contribution to the future of the church, and to cultivate the mind for its own sake as good stewardship of God’s image.


Evangelicals have failed to “tend the garden” of the knowledge of God’s creation and to work toward redeeming it through that cultivation. Further, evangelicals have failed to recognize the importance of bringing
glory to God by learning about him through the study of his created world. [6]


While all of these reasons are compelling, challenging, and relate to all disciplines, the problems between the Christian mind and anthropology go much deeper. In this paper, I want to explore some reasons why there are so few Christian anthropologists and why those that do exist have had little impact on the academy. [7]


In anthropology, the “Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” exists because there has been relatively little scholarship by Christian anthropologists directed to the academy. We have not “paid our dues” enough to establish credibility. Related to this problem is the hostility between anthropologists and missionaries, in particular, and between anthropologists and Christians in general. This hostility is not only borne out by my own personal experience and that of other Christian anthropologists and Christian students of anthropology, but is also reflected in a Carnegie survey of the religious and political views of departments in American colleges and universities. [8] In that survey, 65% of respondents in anthropology departments answered “none” to the question: “What is your religion?” This percentage was the highest among all the disciplines, and was ten percent higher than the next highest department (philosophy). It was more than twice the average frequency (30%) of the “none” response among faculty in all disciplines.




Read the full article here.