1981 Vol. 108 No. 3 Faith and Thought Journal of the Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society of Great Britain Published by THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE 29 QUEEN STREET, LONDON, EC4R IBH Tel: 01-248-3643 July 1982 ABOUT THIS JOURNAL FAITH AND THOUGHT, the continuation of the JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE OR PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN, has been published regularly since the formation of the Society in 1865. The title was changed in 1958 (Vol. 90). FAITH AND THOUGHT is now published three times a year, price per issue £5.00 (post free) and is available from the Society's Address, 29 Queen Street, London, EC4R 1BH. Back issues are often available. For details of prices apply to the Secretary. FAITH AND THOUGHT is issued free to FELLOWS, MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES of the Victoria Institute. Applications for membership should be accompanied by a remittance which will be returned in the event of non-election. (Subscriptions are: FELLOWS £10.00; MEMBERS £8.00; AS SOCIATES, full-time students, below the age of 25 years, full-time or retired clergy or other Christian workers on small incomes £5.00; LIBRARY SUBSCRIBERS £10.00. FELLOWS must be Christians and must be nominated by a FELLOW.) Subscriptions which may be paid by covenant are accepted by Inland Revenue Authorities as an allowable expense against income tax for ministers of religion, teachers of RI, etc. For further details, covenant forms, etc, apply to the Society. EDITORIAL ADDRESS 29 Almond Grove, Bar Hill, Cambridge, CB3 8DU. © Copyright by the Victoria Institute and Contributors, 1981 UK ISSN 0014-7028 FAITH 1981 AND Vol. 108 THOUGHT No. 3 A Journal devoted to the study of the inter-relation of the · Christian Revelation and modern research A record of the Annual General Meeting for 1981 was inadvertently omitted in our last issue. It is printed below. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 1981 The Annual General Meeting of the Institute for 1981 was held in the Chemistry Lecture Theatre, Chelsea College, Manresa Road, London, S.W.3, on Saturday, 16th. May 1981 at 10 a.m. In the absence of the President the Chairman of Council presided. Apologies for absence were received from the President, Dr. R.E.D. Clark, the Rev. J. Stafford Wright, Messrs. Geoffrey Robson and Richard Bell. The Minutes, previously published in this JOURNAL ( 107 No 2), of the Annual General Meeting held on the 17th. May 1980, were taken as read and adopted. On the nomination of Council, the President and Vice-Presidents were re-elected for further terms of office. The appointment of Mr. Terence C. Mitchell, M.A., co-opted since the last Annual General Meeting to fill a vacancy on the Council, was formally ratified. Mr. G.E. Barnes, M.A., Prof. R.L.F. Boyd, C.B.E., and Mr. P.E. Cousins, M.A., B.D., who formally retire from the Council, were re-elected for a further period of service. 95 96 Faith and Thought,1981,vol.108(3) A summary of the Annual Accounts for the year ended 30th. September, 1980 was presented by the Assistant Secretary, who reported that it had been impossible this year to have them audited in time for the Meeting but that copies of them would be available to members on application to the office after completion of the audit. The Accounts were adopted nem. con. Messrs. Benson, Catt and Co. were re-appointed to act as Auditors. The Chairman gave an informal report, summarized below. THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT The Chairman reported that the Council had invited Prof. Malcolm A. Jeeves, of the University of St. Andrew's to become a Vice-President, and Prof. Derek C. Burke, of the University of Warwick, to become a member of Council. Both had accepted, but their replies had been received too late for their appointments to be included in the Agenda for this year's A.G.M. They are therefore co-opted by Council until formal ratification in 1982. It had not been possible to appoint a new Hon. Treasurer, and Council would welcome any suggestion of a suitable person for this appointment. The Council was indebted to the Assistant Secretary who was acting as Treasurer in addition to carrying out his secre­ tarial duties. The Chairman referred to Mr. Weller's success in collecting arrears of subscriptions, which partly explained last year's excess - approximately £1100 - of income over expenditure. This surplus would offset some of the increasing costs of journal production this year, when it was hoped to break even.. Estimates of next year's expenditure, however, indicate that, with present subscription rates and a 10% inflation rate, the Institute would incur a deficit of approximately £2000. The only alternative to an increase in sub­ scription rates, which would be counter-productive, is a large increase in membership. So once more, the Chairman repeated his appeal to members to do all they can to recruit new members. It was gratifying to note that there had been a steady increase in the Institute's numbers; but this growth was not matching inflation. The Council proposes to meet in November to consider a more aggres­ sive publicity policy. The Chairman expressed the Institute's gratitude to Dr. Robert Clark for his untiring efforts to maintain the Journal during a long period of very difficult domestic circumstances culminating in the AGM 97 recent death of his wife. He expressed the Society's condolences and the hope that the Editor's own health would soon improve. He reported that the policy of refereeing papers had now been implemented; but regretted that, with the present financial con­ straints, it had not been possible to put into effect the sugges­ tion of a separate publication containing the News and Views and Short Notes sections at present carried by the Journal. This, however, remained the ultimate policy. The date of the A.G.M. and Public Meeting for next year was announced as Saturday, 22nd. May; for which it was pla~ed to invite papers on a number of different topics, as a change from a whole-day symposium on one subject, as in recent years. Finally, the Chairman reiterated that the Council was always pleased to receive from members constructive criticisms of, and comments upon, the Institute's activities; and, in particular, suggestions of topics and speakers for meetings: and that the Editor would welcome unsolicited papers and other contributions for consideration for the Journal. PUBLIC MEETING SATURDAY 22nd MAY, 1982 Room 3019 at Chelsea College, Untversity of London, 552 Kings Road, subject to advance bookings. CHAIRMAN and SPEAKERS Chairman: Gordon Barnes, M.A., Chairman of Council Speakers: Kenneth Brownell, B.A. Pastor, Cholmeley Evangelical Church, Highgate THE WILLING SORTE: VOLUNTARYISM & THE HERITAGE OF 19th CENTURY PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY Michael J. Collis, B.A., B.Sc., Ph.D., Membe;, of Council THE THEOLOGY OF CHARLES EARLE RAVEN: A 'SCIENTIFICALLY INTELLIGIBLE THEOLOGY'? Prof. Sir Norman Anderson, O.B.E., Q.C., LL.D., D.D., F.B.A. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE INCARNATION Prof. Robert L.F. Boyd, F.R.S. Vice President CREATION OF THE COSMOS 98 Faith and Thought,1981,vol.108(3) EDITORIAL Congratulations to Dr C.A. Russell who has been appointed Professor of History of Science and Technology at the Open University. The Society has learned with regret of the death of the Rt. Rev. G.R. Delbridge of Sale, Victoria, Australia, in a car accident in June 1980; also of the death of Pastor G.H. Ramsay, of Norwich. Both were long standing members of the Society. The Paternoster Press (3 Mount Radford Crescent, EX2 4JW) inform us that they have launched a Book Grant Scheme which enables bona fide students to order theological books published by the firm at a reduction of 25%. The minimum order is £10. Details are available from the Paternoster Press. Major C.W. Hume, a convinced Christian and founder of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare died recently (22 Sept.- 1981) at the advanced age of 95. He was responsible for the pro­ duction of the first edition of the much used UFAW Handhook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals and the author of The Status of Animals in the Christian Tradition (1957) and Man and Beast (1962). He once commenced a Christian journal to be devoted to animals but found it too difficult to obtain enough suitable "copy" on the subject - difficult because animals cannot talk to us! Hisearliestpublication, which he gave to his student friends, was a scholarly Christian apologetic. (A Contribution to the Ethics of Religious Doubt, with Introduction by Bishop Taylor Smith, 1913.) Though I do not think he jointed the VI he came to meetings occasionally where some of us used to meet him. He will be long remembered for his stimulating and helpful advice and writings - for example "In Praise of Anthropomorphism" in UFAW Courier No.16 (1959). His letter to the Times concerning Charles Darwin (24 Dec 1963) is well worth quoting especially as it is little known. Darwin's Ill-health. Sir. - If Darwin's ill-health was of psychological origin it may have been due to mental conflict arising as follows. Darwin's chosen profession was originally the Church. He greatly admired Bishop Butler and put a quota­ tion from the Analogy at the beginning of the Origin of Species. He ended that book with a devout observation. He subscribed all his life, I believe, to the South American Missionary Society. He once devised and sent to Romanes an argument for theism whose validity he neither asserted nor denied.