+ Missionary Ed Strohschein +

This morning, President Matthew C. Harrison and the Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, director of Regional Operations for the Office of International Mission, sent the following letter to all LCMS missionaries. We offer it here in the hope that you will keep the Strohschein family as well as all of the missionaries and Office of International Mission staff who worked alongside Ed in your prayers. More details will follow in an upcoming Reporter Online story.

Dear ones,

In times like these, we, the Church, feel the miles between us profoundly. We wish we could be with you now, in the same room or at the same table, to share with you the news that the Lord has, in His infinite wisdom, seen fit to draw Ed Strohschein, business manager for the LCMS Asia Pacific region, to Himself following a marked battle with cancer.

We grieve with Ed’s wife, Shauna, and his son, John. We pray for both of them and for all his family. And we hurt with you, feeling the loss of our brother in Christ whose love of church and of God’s people was always evident.

Ed has finished his course in the faith, and a robust course it was! Ed was the son of missionaries who was born in the Philippines, went to school in the United States and returned to Asia in 1999 to serve his Lord and his church, anxious to share with those around him the good news of Christ’s grace and forgiveness. Using his keen business sense, Ed kept tabs on all things administrative and financial in that region, even assisting in the expansion of LCMS mission presence throughout the region.

And so we mourn, knowing that Ed now rests from his labors (and they were many!) and especially from a difficult past few months, even as we take joy in the promises of Christ: that we will receive Ed back on the final day and that we will spend eternity with him.

Know that each of you missionaries and your families are in our daily prayers too. The loss of a friend, a coworker, a fellow brother in Christ is trying and thorny. We will continue to check in with you, to pray for you, to ask our Lord to give you courage and faith to meet the days ahead. But we also encourage you to be in touch with us—if you would find it helpful—so that we can pray for your specific needs and can care for you as you seek to live in the joyful expectation of eternal life with Ed and with all who have departed the faith. Please remember that Ellie Corrow, missionary care coordinator, is eager to assist you in any way she can as well.

In times like these, we, the Church, feel the miles between us profoundly. We wish we could be with you now, in the same room or at the same table, to remember Ed, to comfort one another in our grief, to share in the consolation of Christ’s love and His promises. But we also know that in Christ and regardless of miles, we are already knit together into His family, His church, and that because He lives, Ed lives too.

Yours,

Pastor Matt Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, director of Regional Operation, Office of International Mission


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Dr. Quill Recovery Update

Dr. Quill Recovery Update

For Immediate Release

April 23, 2014

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (CTS)—In this season as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, it is with thanksgiving to the God of all mercy and comfort that we are able to announce that the Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill has been discharged from the hospital. His road to recovery will continue in Adelaide, Australia. While a date has yet to be set for Dr. Quill’s return to the United States, we pray for his continued recovery and look forward to his homecoming.

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and The Office of International Mission of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod continue to give thanks for the marvelous care, both physical and spiritual, that the Quill family is receiving. We further encourage all to keep the Quill’s and those providing care for them in your prayers.


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Location:N Seminary Ter,Clayton,United States

Timothy Quill Update Week 2

Adelaide, Australia, April 11, 2014


The Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTS) and Director of Theological Education for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s (LCMS) Office of International Mission (OIM), remains in the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, where he underwent surgery for a brain aneurism on April 3.

Quill’s condition has improved over the past several days. He has been released from the Intensive Care Unit and is now being cared for in the Neurology Ward. While he remains in serious condition, his condition is slowly improving.

Although the physicians have yet to provide a prognosis regarding Quill’s ultimate recovery, they have indicated that he is in the category of a more positive outcome for people who have suffered such an aneurysm. While physical therapy has begun, it is likely that Dr. Quill will remain in Australia for some time in preparation for his return to the United States.

Annette and Kati, Quill's wife and daughter, are in Adelaide, lending invaluable emotional support. OIM staff and pastors from the Lutheran Church of Australia will remain with the Quill’s throughout the recovery period to provide spiritual and logistical support. The CTS community is also actively engaged in supporting and caring for the Quill family during this challenging time.

Updates on Dr. Quill’s recovery will be provided as information becomes available. Please keep Tim, his family, and his medical and pastoral care teams in your prayers.


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Location:Barton Terrace E,North Adelaide,Australia

Update on Dr. Quill in Australia

Dr. Quill at Ghana Seminary Dedication (Collver and Roethemeyer in background) courtesy of Erik Lunsford, LCMS 

5 April 2014 — For Immediate Release

The Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, Dean of International Studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne (www.ctsfw.edu) and Director of Theological Education for the LCMS Office of International Mission (www.lcms.org), fell ill on Wednesday, April 2, in Adelaide, Australia. Quill was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm (subarachnoid hemorrhage). An immediate procedure (craniotomy) to relieve the pressure was followed within twenty-four hours by surgery to repair the aneurysm (surgical clipping). The first week after the surgery is critical and he is being carefully monitored by the medical team. Quill remains in the Intensive Care Unit.

Dr. Quill was traveling with  Mr. Darin Storkson, LCMS South Asia and Oceania Regional Director, to visit Australian Lutheran College (www.alc.edu.au) in Adelaide. After Australia, Quill along with CTS Professor Robert Roethemeyer, Director of Library and Information Services and Director of Institutional Planning and Assessment, were to travel to Papua New Guinea to visit Timothy Lutheran Seminary in Birip and Martin Luther Seminary in Lae for the Chemnitz Library Initiative.

Mr. Storkson, along with Rev. Neville Otto, Secretary and Mission Director for the Lutheran Church of Australia, found Dr. Quill unresponsive on Wednesday before Lenten Vespers and called the ambulance. Professor Robert Roethemeyer, who was enroute to Australia, joined them on Thursday morning before the surgery. Rev. Dr. John Kleinig, professor emeritus of Australian Lutheran College (ALC), prayed with Quill before his surgery. Rev. Dr. Gregory Lockwood, professor emeritus at ALC, and Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeiffer, Director of Pastoral Education at ALC, also visited Quill in the ICU. Pastors of the Lutheran Church in Australia (LCA) have been wonderfully supportive and helpful during this trying time. Quill’s wife, Annette, and daughter, Katie, arrived in Adelaide on Friday morning after the surgery, followed by Dr. Albert Collver, LCMS Director of Church Relations/Regional Operations, and Missionary Jeffrey Horn, Papua New Guinea.

Quill remains at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Doctors are currently establishing a timeline for his convalescence and his return to the United States. Dr. Quill, his family, Concordia Theological Seminary, and the LCMS Office of International Mission are grateful for the care provided by the Royal Adelaide Hospital, by the Lutheran Church of Australia, and the many people around the world who have expressed concern and offered prayers on his behalf.

Edmonton seminary to honour German bishop

(From the Canadian Lutheran)




APRIL 3, 2014 NO COMMENT
The Rev. Hans-Jörg Voigt, Bishop of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany
EDMONTON—The Rev. Hans-Jörg Voigt, Bishop of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (SELK), will receive the honourary Doctor of Divinity degree at Concordia Lutheran Seminary’s Sacred Convocation in late May. News of the seminary faculty’s action in granting this honour was recently announced by Dr. James Gimbel, CLS president.

Bishop Voigt, a native of the former communist East Germany, served as a parish pastor for 13 years before his election as SELK leader in 2006. In 2010 he became chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), an association of confessional churches around the world. Despite the modest size of his church body, he has become prominent – especially in the past year – for his very courageous witness in support of historic Christian teaching on marriage, and in opposition to abortion on demand. His 2013 Pastoral Letter “Discovering Marriage and Family as Gifts of God” and other public actions won him recognition as “2013 Bishop of the Year” by an interdenominational Christian news service in his country, and more recently a “Declaration of Respect” by the Association of Christian Publicists.

”Concordia Lutheran Seminary is grateful for the opportunity to publicly acknowledge the courageous leadership and ministry of Bishop Voigt,” noted President Gimbel, in announcing this recognition. “In our global age, partnerships are critically important for a faithful adherence to and proclamation of God’s Word for our world. The presence of the Missionary Study Centre at our seminary, and the extensive work done by our faculty in delivering theological education to Ukraine, southeast Asia, and elsewhere testifies to our love of Christ’s mission, not only in Canada, but throughout the world. We hope to form a new generation of pastors as courageous servants of Christ in season and out of season, wherever God has placed us. We thank God for partners and models like Bishop Voigt, and appreciate this chance to highlight his leadership and witness.”

The Sacred Convocation, at which Bishop Voigt is to be honoured, begins at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, May 30 at the Tegler Centre of Concordia University College of Alberta, directly next door to the seminary. This annual event marks the close of the academic year, and is highlighted by the conferral of academic degrees, as well as the distribution of vicarages and candidate calls. It is a public event, to which pastors, deacons and lay people from LCC congregations are invited.

Concordia Lutheran Seminary, one of the two theological schools maintained by Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC), was founded in 1984 and has taken a leading role in the academic and spiritual preparation of pastors, especially in the two western districts of LCC.


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Location:Barton Terrace E,North Adelaide,Australia

Is there really a uniquely LCMS approach to mission? -- Lutheran Journal of Mission

Is there really a uniquely LCMS approach to mission?

That question is at the heart of the Journal of Lutheran Mission, a new e-publication available for your use from the Synod’s Offices of National and International Mission.

The scholarly journal, published digitally, exists to encourage discussion between you and those you serve, pastors, colleagues and social media friends on the interwoven nature of mission and Church.

Why take the time to read this journal? “The journal matters because mission matters,” said Rev. Bart Day, executive director of the Office of National Mission. “Christ has given all things to the Church, and the Church shares those gifts with the world.”

In addition, “The desire of the Journal of Lutheran Mission is to move beyond words (a missiology of rhetoric) to reflect the work of Christ through His Church globally,” explains the Rev. Randy Golter, executive director of the Office of National Mission. “His words are performative, and so the mission exists, is ongoing and is accomplishing His purpose. In this lies the confidence of Lutheran mission and every Lutheran missionary.”

The journal’s list of contributing editors is extensive, including faculty from both seminaries; clergy from Germany to Madagascar, Ethiopia to Siberia; Synod staff as well as two district presidents. Day and Golter serve as executive editors.

The debut issue of the journal features papers from the Synod’s Summit on Lutheran Mission, held in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2013. A first-of-its-kind event, the conference served as a venue to discuss the question, “What is our Lutheran identity when it comes to mission?”

Published three times a year, the journal can be downloaded in a variety of formats atwww.lcms.org/journaloflutheranmission. Individual articles from the journal are also available so that you can share them – and continue the conversation – through social media.

“It is our desire to follow the tradition of mission that led to the founding of the Missouri Synod, to highlight and expound good examples of Lutheran missiology and to raise the height and breadth of discussion on mission so that every member of the Missouri Synod prays for the mission of the church, engages in it him/herself and supports it each according to their vocation,” explained LCMS President Matthew C. Harrison.

We hope you’ll join in the discussion. Download the journal, share it with your friends and email your thoughts to the editors at journaloflutheranmission@lcms.org.

Journal of Lutheran Mission_No1_March2014 by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

A Review and Comment on Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey With Reference to Lutheranism

A Review and Comment on Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey With Reference to Lutheranism by Albert B. Collver, Ph.D.

In the early 1980s, around the time the Voyager space craft were making discoveries, Carl Sagan's Cosmos premiered. Growing up in the 1980s, I remember watching Cosmos and traveling on the "Ship of the Imagination," soaring through the solar system out through the galaxy and beyond. Cosmos taught about how vast is the universe, about the Voyager program, atoms, the Big Bang, evolution and natural selection, and the future of mankind in the universe. Even as a child, I recognized that much of what Cosmos taught was not in accord with the faith I had been taught. The show had value in showing the wonders of creation, how vast creation is, and to make one familiar contemporary scientific theory on the origins of the world. From the perspective of contemporary cosmology, contemporary theory on multiverses, and contemporary physics many of the ideas in Carl Sagan's Cosmos is outdated, passé, or even incorrect. For instance, Carl Sagan did not have a conception of "dark matter" or "multi-verse." This is why a new, updated and improved series was needed. Although creators of the new show acknowledge that there is new science, the stated purpose is not to teach but "The goal is to show why this new understanding of the world continues to affect us deeply as an individual, as a nations, as a species."

The new show is called Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium, and created by Seth MacFarlane, the creator of “Family Guy” and other comedies. President Barack Obama even introduced Cosmos calling for us to open our eyes and imaginations to what could be the next new discoveries. Perhaps, President Obama's endorsement of the show is part of what he meant when he he vowed in his first Inaugural Address to “restore science to its rightful place.” Neil Tyson believes that religious dogma hinders science, and in an interview said, "If you don’t know science in the 21st century, just move back to the cave, because that’s where we’re going to leave you as we move forward." The new Cosmos is updated with the latest in computer generated special effects and with the latest cosmological theories, many of which were not conceived of or were incipient when Carl Sagan hosted the show in the early 1980s. Rather than hosting the show on PBS, the show was hosted on the Fox Network with the intention of reaching millions more viewers than might otherwise be possible. In many ways, the new Cosmos is a significant effort utilizing the President of the Unites States, a famous astrophysicist,  the creator and executive producer of a major sit-com, and a large television network to proselytize many people into a secular-humanist view of the origins of the universe that seeks to demonstrate that there is really no benevolent force organizing the universe and that human beings are insignificant specs among the vast cosmos.

The first episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is "Standing Up in the Milky Way." Tyson on the "Ship of the Imagination," takes us on a tour of the Solar System, across the Milky Way identifying the location of the sun in the galaxy, and beyond into the local cluster of galaxies. A tenet of astronomy is that the further away from the earth one goes, the further back in time one goes, all the way to the very beginning of the universe. Eventually, Tyson reaches the beginning of the universe at the moment of the Big Bang. He also discusses how our universe might be one universe among many, a bubble among many other bubbles. The conclusion of all of this is that the earth is one planet among an almost uncountable number of other planets within the Milky Way galaxy, orbiting a nearly uncountable number of stars among a nearly uncountable number of galaxies that make up the universe, and as suggested by the episode, our universe might be only one among an unknowable number of other universes. Such thoughts might recall the words of the Psalmist, "What is man that you are mindful of him." (Psalm 8:4) Indeed, the vastness of creation can make human beings feel rather insignificant. Yet the Christian faith holds that human beings are not insignificant, but the very special creation of God. Such believe lives in the realm of faith. However, much of what is presented as science, particularly regarding the origin of the universe, is not science as science is usually defined as a "testable explanations and predictions." Much of what is presented in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is not testable, reproducible, or predictive, especially in regards to the origins of the universe. What is presented as science really enters the realm of metaphysics, which is the same realm occupied by faith and religion.

Bronze statue of Giordano Bruno by Ettore Ferrari from Wikipedia

The first episode delved deeply into religion when it featured Giordano Bruno (1548 – February 17, 1600), who was one of the last people executed by the Roman Inquisition. Giordano Bruno is presented as a 16th century visionary who wanted to help people understand the infinite creation made by the infinite God he believed in (Watch the short clip below or visit this link). The message of Cosmos is that religious dogma hurts science, and leads to the persecution and execution of people like Giordano Bruno. However, according to this episode of Cosmos, the Roman Catholic church was not alone in persecuting 16th century "astronomers" and "scientists" but also guilty were the Calvinists and Lutherans. In fact, Tyson explicitly mentions Martin Luther as rejecting the views of Copernicus. As for poor Giordano Bruno, Tyson states that both the Calvinists and the Lutherans excommunicated him. Apparently, historical facts are not of great concern to scientists, in particular regarding Giordano Bruno, about what he taught, or how the Lutherans regarded him.

Giordano Bruno was a Dominican Friar and a philosopher, who traveled from Italy, to Geneva, to France, to Germany, and back to Italy where he died at the hands of the Inquisition in 1600. He went from place to place seeking patrons to support him and to find universities where he might teach. In 1584, Giordano Bruno wrote a work (cited by Cosmos) called, "On the Infinite Universe and Worlds."  In this work, Bruno argues that there is no source of certainty and that truth may be inferred from many sources (one might argue that he is proposing a relativism that would be attractive to Western people in the 21st century). He also argues that the universe is infinite. Following Lucretius and his work On the Nature of Things (a book well known in the 16th century contrary to what Cosmos reported), Bruno reasoned just as matter was made up up an infinite number of "atoms" (Lucretius), so the universe is made up of an infinite number of stars, of which the sun was one of them. Bruno also held, "Innumerable suns exist; innumerable earths revolve around these suns in a manner similar
 to the way the seven planets revolve around our sun. Living beings inhabit these worlds." Contrary to common thought, the notion of "atomism" (that all we see is made up of tiny composite parts) is not a modern theory but dates back before the ancient Greeks, and was represented by Epicurean philosophy. Lucretius argued that everything that happens is caused by chance and not by divine intervention (another idea favored by many in the contemporary world). Both Lucretius and Bruno's works are more philosophical and theological than "scientific" or "astronomical." In fact, Bruno is considered by many to have a rather poor understanding of astronomy even by 16th century standards; for instance, Tycho Brahe (14 December 1546 – 24 October 1601), a Danish Lutheran astronomy, born the year of Martin Luther's death and died a year after Bruno, rejected Giordano Bruno's theories.

In 1585, Giordano Bruno matriculated to German lands. First he went to Mainz where he remained for twelve days, but was unable to find any means of sustenance. Then he went on to Wittenberg, Germany, where he taught at Wittenberg University. (Boulting, William. GIORDANO BRUNO HIS LIFE, THOUGHT, AND MARTYRDOM. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd, 1914, 195.) Bruno called the University of Wittenberg, the "German Athens." Contrary to how Tyson portrayed the Lutherans, Bruno found life at the University of Wittenberg to be rather free. Boulting writes, "Bruno never before breathed so free an atmosphere as Wittenberg had generally enjoyed since Luther s days up to those when he first came there: there was no small measure of such religious toleration and philosophic liberty as the sixteenth century understood." (198) While in Wittenberg, Bruno published three books. The books were neo-platonic in nature and corrected certain errors in the philosophy of the medievel scholastic theologians. In Wittenberg, anything that attacked the "schoolman" would be received with some favor.

One of the books published in Wittenberg, The Lamp Of Thirty Statues, provides a glimpse into some of the thoughts that would later play a role in his heresy trial. In this work, he cloaked his philosophical ideas, a theory of the atomic constitution of the material world, with the "vestments of orthodox Christianity." (203) Everything material in the world is an accident of one substance. This view could be understood in an atheist materialistic way (such as some of the Greek Epicureans might desire) or in a panentheistic way (one of the heresies the Roman Inquisition charged him). His anti-Trinitarian views, another heresy the Roman Inquisition charged him, also took shape. "The Trinity becomes a philosophic concept; the Father is Substance; the Son, Universal Intellect; the Spirit, the Soul of the World; or the Father may be said to be Immediate Universal Intuition; the Son, Intellect; the Spirit, Love with Power; but these are merely distinguishable aspects of the One Absolute, to whom past is not past, nor is the future to come, but to whom eternity is entirely present, all things together and complete." (203) He also writes that the individual is a spark of the Universal Spirit. He believes that the Son of God came "to raise us up from brutality and barbarism to the practice of love." (204) For Bruno, the essence of Christianity is found in love, not dogmas.

Giordano Bruno departed Wittenberg in the spring of 1588 over a dispute between the gnesio-Lutherans (the genuine or authentic Lutherans who signed the Formula of Concord — those who founded the Missouri Synod would be in agreement with the gnesio-Lutherans) and the Philippist Lutherans (Crypto-Calvinists). Ironically, it was the gnesio-Lutherans who generally favored Bruno, while the Philippists (Crypto-Calvinists) did not. At his trial before the Inquisition, Bruno told his Roman Catholic judges, "At Wittenberg, in Saxony, I found two factions the philosophic faculty were Calvinists and the theologic were Lutherans. The old Duke was a Lutheran, but the son, who succeeded him at that time, was a Calvinist and favoured the opposite party to the one which favoured me ; wherefore I left." (207) Bruno delivered his final lecture and farewell address at the University of Wittenberg on 8 March 1588. In his address he praised wisdom and wise Germans in particularly such as Albert Magnus, Landegrave William of Hesse, the patron of Copernicus, and of course, Martin Luther. Of Luther, Bruno said, "From Germany, from the banks of the Elbe. . . .
Out of the darkness of Orcus your Hercules dragged forth the monster with the triple crown, bursting open the steely gates of Hell, triumphing over the city guarded by triple walls and the nine-fold stream of Styx. Thou hast seen the light, O Luther ; thou hast regarded it ; thou hast heard the awakening spirit of the Lord and hast obeyed it; thou hast confronted and overcome the adversary girt about with power, and thou hast despoiled him." (208) Despite this praise of Luther and his praise for opposing ecclesiastical tyranny, Bruno was no fan of Luther or Lutheranism. Bruno considered the Lutheran Reformers to be more ignorant than himself. (209)

Despite some of Giordano Bruno's teaching which departed from orthodox Christianity, Bruno found Wittenberg to a place of academic and intellectual freedom. His stay at Wittenberg might have been the freest of his academic career. From Wittenberg, Bruno traveled to Prague and Helmstedt (1588-1590).  In Helmstedt, Bruno encountered Lutherans once again. Like in the past, Bruno found favor with princes while encountering problems with the theologians. The Lutheran superintendent of Helmstedt excommunicated Giordano Bruno. In a letter to the rector of the university, Bruno complains of his excommunication and states that he was given no ability to publicly respond to the charges. With no other means of support, Bruno left Helmstedt and in the middle of 1590. It should be noted that the Luther pastor did not excommunicate Bruno due to his views on cosmology, or for holding to Copernican views as Tyson suggested in Cosmos, but for doctrinal reasons.

Giorando Bruno Trial Before the Inquisition

In 1591, Bruno returned to Venice, eventually this led to his arrest and trial by the Roman Inquisition.  His trial lasted for 8 years. He was charged with holding opinions contrary to the Catholic faith, holding opinions against the Trinity, the divinity of Christ and the incarnation, the virginity of Mary, and the existence of a plurality of worlds and holding to their eternity (in other words Panentheism). He was not tried and executed for holding to the Copernican view of the solar system, but primarily for being anti-Trinitian and rejecting the divinity of Christ. On 17 February 1600, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as one of the last people tried by the Inquisition.

Although we should not condone the execution of a person by the Roman Inquisition, we must recognize that Giordano Bruno was not "persecuted" for holding advanced scientific theories only finally accepted in the 20th century, but Bruno fell out of favor with Reformed, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic theologians for holding views against Orthodox Christianity. Bruno was not a martyr for science. Also despite being excommunicated in Helmstedt by the Lutheran superintendent, he found academic freedom at the University of Wittenberg among the Lutherans until he attempted to ingratiate himself to a crypto-Calvinist prince. The Lutherans themselves held a variety of views regarding cosmology. Tycho Brahe and Kelper studied the solar system and developed mathematical solutions to calculating the orbits of planets. The Lutheran faith was not challenged by such theories, even if some or most theologians did not agree with them.

While an astrophysicist like Neil deGrasse Tyson may not be able to distinguish between the teachings of orthodox Christianity and that the teachings of those who deny the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, he (or the researchers) should be able to check the historic record. The goal of Cosmos was not to accurately reflect how Calvinists, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics regarded Giordano Bruno, but to show that the Christian religion is against science, not just Roman Catholics, but also Lutherans and other Protestants. Whatever education and entertainment value of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey must be tempered against its desire to discredit religion and to promote secular humanism. Indeed in the end, both those who accept the Christian's confession of the Creation of the world in 6 days and those who accept the Big Bang and perhaps a multiverses live by faith not science. The question is where is that faith placed, in the Word of God, or in various scientific theories. One also would hope that scientists dedicated to "knowledge" and "testable theories" might get history right, particularly when it comes to Lutherans.