science

John Clover Monsma

John Clover Monsma is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Clover Monsma rather than just read about it. In short: Rev. John Clover Monsma (December 15, 1890 – April 24, 1970) was a Dutch-American Protestant (Presbyterian) minister turned writer, editor and journalist on religious issues, best known as the author of the book "The Evidence of God in an Expanding Universe." He was also a radio commentator, and served as pastor at the Presbyterian Church.

Key takeaways

John Clover Monsma belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John Clover Monsma to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John Clover Monsma from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rev. John Clover Monsma (December 15, 1890 – April 24, 1970) was a Dutch-American Protestant (Presbyterian) minister turned writer, editor and journalist on religious issues, best known as the author of the book "The Evidence of God in an Expanding Universe." He was also a radio commentator, and served as pastor at the Presbyterian Church. He worked as a priest for a period of time, and then he turned his attention to studying political and social issues, and paid special attention to studying the relationship between religion and science throughout history.

Biography He was born in the Netherlands on 14 December 1890. In 1902, he immigrated to the United States and stayed in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He attended Calvin Seminary graduating in 1917. In the same year, he became a minister at Summit, Illinois. In 1919, he embroiled the congregation in his dream of launching a Kuyperian daily newspaper in Chicago. The body, with the concurrence of Classis Illinois, granted him an indefinite leave of absence, but when the enterprise failed in 1921, the consistory revoked the leave. Monsma thereupon resigned from the ministry, which action went directly against the church order. The next year, he sought to withdraw his hasty resignation letter, but the consistory would not hear of it, having received many sharp letters from their former cleric.

Works He has authored several books, including:

What Calvinism Has Done for America (1919) The Story of the Church (1931) The Shepherd King: a Romance of Abraham and the Ancient Near East (1935) The Evidence of God in an Expanding Universe: Forty American Scientists Declare their Affirmative Views on Religion (1958) Science and Religion: Twenty-Three Prominent Churchmen Express their Opinions (1962) Religion and Birth Control: Twenty-One Medical Specialists Write in Plain Language about Control of Conception, Therapeutic Abortion, Sterilization, Natural Childbirth, Artificial Insemination (1963) Behind the Dim Unknown: 26 Notable Scientists Face a Host of Unsolved Problems (1966)

Death He died on 24 April 1970, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the age of 79.

Notes

References

External links John Clover Monsma's Grave — Find a Grave Profile page on Goodreads.com — Goodreads

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Clover Monsma

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Clover Monsma claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Clover Monsma before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Clover Monsma ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Clover Monsma

In research: John Clover Monsma appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John Clover Monsma in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John Clover Monsma is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1890 births, 1970 deaths, 20th-century American male writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Clover Monsma outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John Clover Monsma in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Clover Monsma means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John Clover Monsma out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Clover Monsma in simple terms?

Why does John Clover Monsma matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Clover Monsma?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Clover Monsma.