# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2026_S207
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
APPENDIX
2012 In Final Exit Network, Inc., vs. State of Georgia (S11A1960), the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously strikes down the state’s assisted-suicide
law, finding it violates the free speech clauses of the Georgia and U.S. Constitutions. The court’s ruling means that four members of the Final Exit
Network do not have to stand trial on felony charges in Forsyth County. They were charged in connection with the 2008 suicide of 58-year-old John
Celmer, who killed himself two years after he had been diagnosed with cancer.
2012 The world’s first mobile euthanasia unit begins to operate in the Netherlands.
2012 In Search of Gentle Death: The Fight for Your Right to Die with Dignity by Richard N. Côté (with a foreword by Derek Humphry) is published by
Corinthian Books, South Carolina.
2012 The Georgia Senate passes a bill making assisting in a suicide a crime. The Senate bill was a reaction to the Supreme Court of Georgia’s
decision, on Feb. 6, declaring the existing law unconstitutional in violation of First Amendment free speech principles. The Georgia Supreme Court
ruling terminated the prosecution of the “Georgia Four,” Final Exit Network volunteers who had been arrested and charged in February 2009 under
the old law. The Georgia House passed a similar bill on March 7.
2012 The International Congress of World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies is hosted in Zürich, Switzerland.
2013 Vermont becomes the first legislature in the U.S. to pass a physician-assisted suicide law. (Oregon and Washington passed their laws via citizen
initiative vote; Montana’s came about through a court case.)
2015 The Final Exit Network (FEN), Inc., is convicted in Minnesota on a charge of assisting in a suicide because FEN volunteers instructed a Minnesota
resident on the process of “self-deliverance.” The Supreme Court of Minnesota redefined the word “assist” to prohibit speech that enables a suicide.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.
2015 Vermont’s legislature passes a bill removing “sunset” measures from the original Act 39, Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act.
2015 A death with dignity bill narrowly fails, by a single vote in the Senate, in Maine.
2015 The California legislature passes ABX-15, End of Life Option Act, a death with dignity law.
2016 The Washington D.C. Council passes the Death with Dignity Act.

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APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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“Always to Care, Never to Kill: A Declaration on Euthanasia.” The Ramsey Colloquium of the Institute on Religion and Public Life. First
Things (February 1992): 45–47.
Anderson, Kirby. Euthanasia: A Christian Perspective. Plano, Texas: Probe Ministries, 1998.
Arand, Charles. “Personal Autonomy versus Creaturely Contingency: The First Article and the Right to Die.” Concordia Journal (October
1994): 385–401.
“Ars Moriendi.” The Lutheran Witness (September 2020): full issue.
Bartlett, Linda D., and Karen Rehder. “Ventilators, Feeding Tubes, and Other End-of-Life Questions.” Lutherans for Life (Feb. 28, 2020).
lutheransforlife.org/article/ventilators-feeding-tubes-and-other-end-of-life-questions.
Barry, A.L. “What About … Death and Dying.” St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1998. https://files.lcms.org/file/
preview/4C9b1IpSFPRy18M2tCdDXhzJXAEw1Azd?.
Bayer, Oswald. “Toward a Theology of Lament.” In Caritas et Reformatio: Essays on Church and Society in Honor of Carter Lindberg, edited
by David Whitford, 211–20. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002.
-----. “Self-Creation? On the Dignity of Human Beings.” Modern Theology 20 (April 2004): 275–90.

2016 Colorado voters pass the End of Life Options Act on the November ballot.

-----. “Martin Luther’s Conception of Human Dignity.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Human Dignity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, eds.
Marcus Düwell, Jens Braarvig, Roger Brownsword and Dietmar Mieth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

2017 In February, the Washington D.C. Death with Dignity Act goes into effect; implementation begins in June.

-----. Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

2018 In April, Hawaii becomes the seventh U.S. jurisdiction to enact an assisted dying law similar to Oregon’s original law.
2018 In May, the California End of Life Option Act is suspended for three weeks following a district court ruling. On June 15, an appellate court reinstates the law.
2019 The Our Care, Our Choice Act in Hawaii takes effect on Jan. 1.

Beauchamp, Tom L., and James F. Childress. Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
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Stjerna and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.
Biermann, Joel. A Case for Character: Toward a Lutheran Virtue Ethics. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014.

Since Humphry’s Chronology
2021 In April, New Mexico becomes the 10th jurisdiction to enact an assisted dying law. On April 9, New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham signs AB47,
the Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act, which goes into effect on June 18.

Billings, J. Todd. Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015.
Bluerock, Grace. “The 9 Most Common Regrets at the End of Life.” Mindfulness (Feb. 24, 2020). mindbodygreen.com/0-23024/the-9-mostcommon-regrets-people-have-at-the-end-of-life.html.
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Brock, Peter. “A New Kind of Foundling: The Church’s Life of Mercy in an Aging Nation.” In Toward a Theology of Mercy: Student Essays for
2007. St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2007.
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1988.
“Commendation of the Dying.” Lutheran Service Book: Pastoral Prayer Companion. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2007.
Commission on Theology and Church Relations. Christian Care at Life’s End. St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1993.
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-----. Euthanasia With Guiding Principles. St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1979.

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Cranford, Ronald E. “Patients with Permanent Loss of Consciousness.” In By No Extraordinary Means, edited by J. Lynn. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1986.
Davis, John Jefferson. Evangelical Ethics, 3rd ed. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Publishing, 2004.
Dunlop, John. “A Physician’s Advice to Spiritual Counselors of the Dying.” Trinity Journal 14:2 (Fall 1993): 202–14.
Dowbiggin, Ian. A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine. Oxford: Rowan & Littlefield, 2005.
-----. A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Dyck, Arthur J. Life’s Worth: The Case Against Assisted Suicide. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
Eyer, Richard C. “A Christian Guide to End of Life Decisions.” Lutherans for Life. https://lutheransforlife.org/
article/a-christian-guide-to-end-of-life-decisions/.

-----. Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying. New York: Dell Publishing, 2002.
Humphry, Derek with Ann Wickett. Jean’s Way. New York: Quartet Books, 1978.
Johnson, Anna Marie. Introduction to “A Sermon on Preparing to Die.” The Annotated Luther, Vol. 4: Pastoral Writings, edited by Timothy
J. Wengert et al. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016.
Jones, Ken Sundet. “Death and Dying.” In Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Tradition, edited by Timothy J. Wengert. Grand Rapids:
Baker Academic, 2017.
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Kamisar, Yale. “Some Non-Religious Views Against Proposed ‘Mercy Killing’ Legislation.” Minnesota Law Review 42 (1958): 969–1042.
Kass, Leon R. Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003.

-----. “Ethical Decision-Making at the End of Life.” Presentation to End-of-Life Think Tank. St. Louis: Nov. 13, 1991.

Kaufman, Matthew. “Euthanasia and the Christian.” Lutherans for Life. https://lutheransforlife.org/article/euthanasia-and-the-christian/.

-----. Holy People, Holy Lives: Law and Gospel in Bioethics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2000.

Kennedy, Thomas D. “Eating, Drinking, and Dying Well.” Christian Scholar’s Review 20 (March 1991): 339–49.

-----. Medical Directive and Some Misunderstandings. https://files.lcms.org/file/preview/7F0B3AF8-7ED1-4267-B0A0-C029C58C8A78.

Klotz, John. Life Choices: Who Decides? Following God’s Word in Life and Death Decisions. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1991.

Foley, Kathleen. The Case against Assisted Suicide: For the Right to End-of-Life Care, ed. Kathleen Foley, M.D., and Herbert Hendin.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Kolb, Robert and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church. Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Foster, Daniel W. “Religion & Medicine: The Physician’s Perspective.” In Health/Medicine and the Faith Traditions, edited by Martin Marty
and Kenneth Vaux. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982.

Kolb, Robert, ed. A Booklet of Comfort for the Sick, & On the Christian Knight by Johann Spangenberg, trans. Robert Kolb. Milwaukee:
Marquette University Press, 2007. Introduction.

Fowler, Marsha D. “Christian Teaching and the Church’s Authority.” In BioEngagement: Making a Christian Difference Through Bioethics
Today, edited by Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Scott E. Daniels and Barbara J. White, 235–48. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

-----. “The Reformation of Dying and Burial: Preaching, Pastoral Care, and Ritual at Committal in Luther’s Reform.” Concordia Theological
Quarterly 81 (2017): 77–93.

Frame, John M. Medical Ethics: Principles, Persons, and Problems. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1988.

Küng, Hans. “A Dignified Dying.” In On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics, 3rd ed., edited by M. Therese Lysaught
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Gabriel, Trip. “A Fight to the Death.” New York Times Magazine, Dec. 8, 1991.
Gerhard, Johann. Handbook of Consolations: For the Fears and Trials That Oppress Us in the Struggle with Death, trans. Carl L. Beckwith.
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Gorsuch, Neil M. The Future of Assisted Suicide. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.
“Gov. Lamm Asserts Elderly, If Very Ill, Have ‘Duty to Die.’” New York Times. March 29, 1984.
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Hamel, Ronald P. Choosing Death: Active Euthanasia, Religion, and the Public Debate. Norcross, Ga.: Trinity Press International, 1991.
Hauerwas, Stanley. Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church. South Bend:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1986.
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“How Hospice Works.” Medicare.gov. https://www.medicare.gov/what-medicare-covers/what-part-a-covers/how-hospice-works.
Humphry, Derek. “Chronology of Right-to-Die Events During the 20th Century and into the Millenium [sic], 1900–2019.” https://www.
finalexit.org/chronology_right-to-die_events.html.

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-----. “Questions and Answers Concerning the End of Life.” Lutherans for Life. https://lutheransforlife.org/article/
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-----. “The Other End of Life.” Sermon. Lutherans for Life. https://lutheransforlife.org/sermon/the-other-end-of-life/.
Leroux, Neil. Martin Luther as Comforter: Writings on Death. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
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Luther, Martin. A Manual on the Book of Psalms. London: Seeley and Burnside, 1837.
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Fortress Press, 2016.
-----. “Disputation Against Scholastic Theology.” Luther’s Works 31: Career of the Reformer I, edited by Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C.
Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999.
-----. “Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany.” Luther’s Works 76: Church Postil II, edited by Benjamin T.G. Mayes, James L.
Langebartels and Christopher Boyd Brown. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2013.
-----. Letters of Spiritual Counsel (Library of Christian Classics), trans. Theodore G. Tappert. Reprint, Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College
Publishing, 2003.

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2026 Convention Workbook