Christian Cyclopedia

In the 19th c. and 1st part of the 20th c. this term played an important role in Lutheranism in America. Attempts at definition affected relations bet. the Iowa Syn. and the Missouri Synod. In an 1867 colloquy bet. the 2 syns. it was agreed to regard the term as equivalent to “theol. problems” in this sense, that the Bible does not solve them; e.g., on which creation day were the angels created? See also “Brief Statement”; Fundamental Doctrines, 4; Toledo Theses (Ohio and Iowa), IV.