CEC 0392 - Life and Death: A Confessional Framework for Pastoral Bioethics

Course Description:

This continuing education offering has been created in partnership with CUW and the St. Louis Seminary. It features two presenters who have studied and taught bioethics for decades at LCMS institutions. They will provide understandable information about various biological technologies and apply biblical/confessional frameworks in comparison to how the world views life issues. Attendees will be equipped to help people address serious topics such as transgender identity, abortion, assisted suicide, forgoing treatments at life’s end, and assisted reproductive and genetics technologies as they relate to infertility and other genetic disorders.

Offering Units:

1. Gender dysphoria: “Human Sexual Identity: Mask Uncovered-Adam and Eve Are AWOL” — Dr. Weise will unmask the current issues of neo-gnostic Transgenderism and their impact on families and pastoral guidance as the current trends denying the Biblical and Biological Human Sexuality.
2.  Abortion: “Abortion: Ripping Off the Bandage!”— Dr. Voss will briefly explain various abortion techniques so attendees will understand what really goes on during early, midterm, and late abortion procedures. Then biblical and confessional principles will be applied to this very contentious and fraudulent topic!
3.  Genetics: “Part I: Where God’s Word Meets Assisted Reproductive (ART): Children—begotten or made? — Setting Limits.” Dr. Weise will review current trends in Assisted Reproductive such as in vitro fertilization (30 ways to make a child), Surrogacy, Embryo Freezing and male and female barrenness as these relate to the Creation Story ad especially the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed.
4. End-of-Life Problems: “Caring for Loved Ones at Life’s End” — When to properly forgo treatments is one of most troubling issues families can face. Guidelines from Richard Eyer, Gilbert Meilaender, and the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church relations can help clarity emotional situations at the end of life. Dr. Voss will include case studies to facilitate group participation.
5.  Physician-Assisted Suicide: “Physician-Assisted Suicide: If Not Legal in Your State, It Likely Will Be! — So far, eleven jurisdictions in the United States have legalized physician-assisted suicide (PAS, also known as medical assistance in dying, or MAiD). Dr. Voss, who as a veterinarian humanely euthanized animals, will explain how PAS is done and features of various assisted-suicide laws. He will discuss biblical responses to autonomy and mercy, the two strongest arguments for PAS.
6. Part II: “Where God’s Word Meets Genetic ART: Children by Design — Setting Limits?” Dr. Weise will lead a discussion in the current trends in genetic ART such as Sex selection, Genetic Treatment verses Enhancement of Children along with the parental role in Procreation: Are parents ‘guardians or gardeners? This will include a brief note on current trends in gene therapy and if time permits, he will address pastoral concerns regarding ‘Birth Control.’ (RW)

Schedule:

April 29 to June 3, 2025, from 4:00 to 5:15 (Q & A: 5:30 PM) CST. Sessions are for six weeks, 75 minutes in length (90 at most), including 45 minutes presenting time for the primary speaker, 15 minutes of response time by the secondary speaker, and 15 minutes open discussion, monitored by a member of the CE staff. 

Instructor BIOS:

Rev. Kevin E. Voss, DVM, PhD, FCA

Kevin E. Voss is an Emeritus Professor at Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW). He was Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Concordia Center for Bioethics for 21 years until his retirement on June 30, 2024. He had been at CUW since 2003 and taught philosophy, bioethics, theology, and ethics courses. Dr. Voss was in private practice in northeast Wisconsin as a dairy veterinarian for 14 years. Because of allergies and a willingness to serve the Lord in the pastoral ministry, he left practice to earn a Master of Divinity Degree from Concordia Seminary St. Louis in 1999. He served as Vicar at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Seymour, Indiana, from July 1997 to June 1998. After graduation from the Seminary, he completed a Ph.D. in Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University. His dissertation is entitled, “An Ethics Survey of Religious Beliefs and Reproductive Counseling Practices of Catholic, Jewish, and Lutheran Clergy.” In July 2024, Voss defended a thesis at the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism, and Human Rights. He is a Fellow of the Academy.

Voss has published articles in the Lutheran Witness, Logia, the Encyclopedia of Christian Education, the Concordia Theological Journal of Concordia University, and Christian Bioethics. He has given numerous presentations about bioethics issues at national and international conferences. Dr. Voss was a member of the Sanctity of Human Life Committee of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the 2016 Resolution 3-04 Life Issues Task Force. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He is past Chair of the CUW Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Committee for Scholarship Integrity. Dr. Voss is currently working on a book tentatively entitled Biblical Bioethics.

Kevin’s wife Kaye retired from working at Kohl’s. Their daughter Rachel is a sarcoma surgeon at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. She and her husband Steven have two children. Ryan, our youngest, is a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit and is currently stationed in Kileen, Texas. He has been deployed to Iraq (twice).

Dr. Rober W. Weise


Senior Emeritus Professor Pastoral Ministry & the Life Sciences
Dept. of Practical Theology
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO
Contact: weiser@csl.edu

Bob is married to Janice, 56 years. Their marriage is blessed with 5 daughters and their spouses, 12 grandchildren. They live in Edwardsville, IL. He is an avid cyclist (occasional race), plays guitar and loves spending time with his family. They attend St. Paul Ev Lutheran Church, Wood River, IL.

He has earned degrees: B.S. Ed, M.S. and Ph.D. in Zoology (parasitology/hematology); M.Div., Concordia Seminary, 1982. Professor of Clinical Hematology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, 1973-1978. Has served the Lord and His church as a parish pastor from 1982-1985 in rural Bunker Hill, Illinois, and Springfield, Illinois,1985-1992.

Bob was Professor of St. Louis Charities Foundation Chair of Pastoral Ministry and the Life Sciences, 1992-2014, Concordia Seminary, thereafter as Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology until 2021. During his tenure at CSL, he gave many seminars and workshops in Central Europe, Russia, Latvia, and Brazil, in addition to the few dozen presentations in the USA. Also, during this time at CSL, Weise served 6 pastoral vacancies. Currently, he is writing and attending to future church and pastoral seminars and workshops.

He has published numerous articles in the field of zoology, clinical pathology (hematology), and bioethics. Dr. Weise’s publication Playing God – Redesigning Life, is a Bible Study on Christian witness and BioTechnology is available Faith and Science in a Skeptical Age, CPH, 2014. R. C. Baker and R. W. Weise Embryonic Stem Cell Research, changing currents, brief downloadable Bible studies, CPH, 2005, 5 pages. Chapter entitled: Transgender Identity in Light of Biblical Identity, Robert W. Weise, in From Taboo to Delight, Ethics of Sex, ed. Gifford Grobien, CPH, 2017. Dr. Weise is currently working on two books titled: “Adam and Even ARE AWOL: Human Sexuality in this Topsy Turvy World” as well as, Aging Well In Christ: Gray Hair, Sore Joints and Wrinkles, (He and his brother, Roger A. Weise, MD will co-author this (book). 

Bob has testified before the National Human Embryo Research Board, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission regarding human embryo research and cloning in Washington, DC, and the Missouri State Senate Committee on Stem Cell Research, Jefferson City, Missouri.