Russell L. Mixter (August 7, 1906 – January 16, 2007) was an American scientist, noted for leading the

American Scientific Affiliation The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a Christian 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 publi ...

(ASA) away from anti-evolutionism, and for his advocacy of

progressive creationism Progressive creationism (see for comparison intelligent design) 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 geologi ...

Academic career

Mixter graduated from

Wheaton College, Illinois Wheaton College is a private Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad and graduated one of Illinois' first bl ...

, in 1928 with a major in literature and a minor in biology. He thereafter gained an M.S. in zoology from

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

and a Ph.D. in anatomy from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

School of Medicine in Chicago, shortly after returning to Wheaton to teach.Numbers(2006) p195 He has been professor of zoology there since 1945, and was chairman of the Science Division from 1950 to 1961. Wheaton College awards the Mixter Award for junior or senior biology majors in his honor, in recognition of his "significant role in the development of biology at Wheaton College".

American Scientific Affiliation and creationism

Mixter joined the ASA in 1943, served as its president from 1951–1954,Russell Lowell Mixter, in ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2009. Reproduced i
Biography Resource Center
Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. and the editor of its journal from 1965–1968.
''PSCF'' 50 (December 1998): 241-249 After a brief flirtation with

flood geology Flood geology (also creation geology or diluvial geology) is a pseudoscientific attempt to interpret and reconcile geological features of the Earth in accordance with a literal belief in the global flood described in Genesis 6–8. In the ea ...

, Mixter advocated the viewpoint that he called

for the rest of his life. Along with Wheaton compatriot J. Frank Cassel, he led the ASA away from antievolutionism, bringing evangelicals into harmony with modern biology, whilst stopping short of an outright endorsement of

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution) is a theological view that God creates through laws of nature. Its religious teachings are fully compatible with the findings of modern science, including biological ...

.Numbers(2006) p200

Personal information

His parents were Floyd B. Mixter, a salesman, and Florence (Barlow) Mixter. He married Emilie Claus (died August 2, 1998) on June 27, 1931, and they had four children: Wilbur, Joan (Mrs. Jerry Sweers), Ruth, Priscilla (Mrs. Gordon Gault).

Bibliography

*''Creation and Evolution'' (monograph), American Scientific Affiliation, 1951. *''Evolution and Christian Thought Today'' (ed.), Eerdmans, 1959.

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External links

Obituary
ASA {{DEFAULTSORT:Mixter, Russell L. 1906 births 2007 deaths American biologists Christian Old Earth creationists American Christian creationists American centenarians Men centenarians Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty People from Williamston, Michigan 20th-century biologists