James Burtness was an author and long-time professor of theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Jim passed away in 2006.
David A. Bella is a professor emeritus in engineering at Oregon State University. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1961. After a stint in the US Public Health Service, serving on Native American reservations, he completed his Masters and Ph.D at NYU. Beginning in the mid-1960’s, his research involved computer simulation of aquatic ecosystems. His research expanded over the years to involve him in some of the most contentious controversies of the last four decades. These include environmental pollution, space-based weaponry (“star wars”), nuclear waste disposal, destruction of chemical weapons, global climate change, the tobacco industry claims, and the NW salmon crisis.
Dave found that the most serious problems involved human systems. Drawing upon experience and the new field of complexity theory, he developed and taught an interdisciplinary method to uncover “emergent” patterns in human systems. He has published widely and was the author of a recent paper, “Emergence and Evil.”