Henry Melchior Muhlenberg

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Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (ca.1780)
Mühlenberg Memorial in front of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (born September 6, 1711 in Einbeck , †  October 7, 1787 in Providence, Pennsylvania , today: Trappe , Montgomery County ); actually: Heinrich (Melchior) Mühlenberg was a German Lutheran pastor who was sent to British North America . He is considered the founder of the German-speaking Lutheran church system in the colonies and is therefore referred to as the "Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in North America".

life and work

resume

After studying theology in Göttingen and Halle and ordination in Leipzig in 1741, Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg was appointed director of the Francke Foundations in Halle by Gotthilf August Francke , the son of August Hermann Francke , after their request and Mühlenberg's consent, initially for three years Lutheran pastors of three German-speaking congregations in Pennsylvania ( Philadelphia , Providence and New Hanover) who had been disorganized and had hardly any spiritual support until then. After his arrival in Philadelphia in 1742, after its rapid recognition by the congregations, he quickly began to build an institutionalized Lutheran church. Due to the extremely long correspondence (letters could only be sent by ship, the answer was therefore a long time coming) Mühlenberg, who had meanwhile Anglicized his name in Muhlenberg , had to find his own way.

Shortly after his arrival in 1742, Mühlenberg got into a conflict with Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf , who in turn had traveled to Pennsylvania in 1741 to look after the German Protestants, whom he wanted to unite in a council of churches, while maintaining their denominational practices they worked together instead of competing. This corresponded to his missionary mandate.

Mühlenberg, on the other hand, whose mission as pastor did not correspond to that of missionary work, implemented a path that had been found after a long search: On the one hand, this included essential elements of self-administration of the communities by lay representatives on the one hand (which corresponded to the reality of life at the time), but on the other hand also the exclusive spiritual guidance by the pastors (chosen by the communities themselves) on the other hand. He personally succeeded in this implementation through an impeccable way of life and his reputation as a living preacher on the one hand, and on the other hand through his will to unconditionally fulfill the pastoral expectations that emanated from the widely divergent communities and that he fulfilled, although these repeatedly to the limit of the physical exhaustion of Mühlenberg.

Hymnal suggested by Mühlenberg (4th edition 1803)

In addition to building churches and schools, the German community association of the Evangelical Lutheran Ministry of Pennsylvania and neighboring states was founded under his decisive leadership , initially in the province of Pennsylvania (1748), and later separately for the province of New York (1786). At his instigation, a separate church ordinance was issued for the city of Philadelphia in 1762, which served as a model for other Lutheran congregations. He also wrote a draft for his own hymn book, the so-called Mühlenberg hymn book , which was first published in 1786. Mühlenberg died on October 7, 1787 in Providence, Pennsylvania.

Descendants

Henry Melchior Mühlenberg married Anna Maria Weiser (1727-1802) in 1745, a daughter of Conrad Weiser (1696-1760). Numerous American politicians later emerged from the descendants of the Mühlenberg / Muhlenberg family. Members of the so-called "Muhlenberg Dynasty" in the United States:

  • Mühlenbergs

  • Frederick Muhlenberg (1750–1801)

  • Peter Muhlenberg (1746–1807)

  • William Augustus Mühlenberg (1796–1877)

Muhlenberg College

The Muhlenberg College , a university with a focus on the humanities, which was founded in 1848 and is still affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , is named after the “father of American Lutheranism” .

Remembrance day

Mühlenberg's Memorial Day on October 7th applies to the following churches:

reception

Traveling exhibition

  • 2011: 300 years of Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg (1711–1787). Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in North America . Funded by the German Embassy in Washington, in cooperation with the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and other agencies, the exhibition was shown in German and English at various locations in the USA and Germany.

novel

Play

Works

Diaries

  • Theodore G. Tappert, John W. Doberstein (Ed.): The Journals of Henry Melchior Mühlenberg . 3 volumes, Philadelphia 1942-1958. Reprint Philadelphia / Evansville 1982.
  • Thomas Müller-Bahlke (Ed. And Introduction): Diaries . In: Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg - autobiography from 1711–1743. Halle, Francke'sche Foundations, 2011. ISBN 978-3-939922-32-2 .

Correspondence

  • Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg's correspondence from the early days of German Lutheranism in North America . Edited by Kurt Aland and Hermann Wellenreuther in collaboration with the main archive of the Francke Foundations in Halle. 5 volumes, Berlin / New York: de Gruyter 1986–2002 (Texts on the history of Pietism; Section 3: handwritten estate of August Hermann Francke)

literature

Web links

Commons : Henry Melchior Muhlenberg  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William K. Frick: Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America . Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia 1902.
  2. ^ Henry Melchior Muhlenberg in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
personal data
SURNAME Muhlenberg, Henry Melchior
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Muhlenberg, Henry; Mühlenberg, Heinrich Melchior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founder of the Lutheran Church in the USA
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1711
PLACE OF BIRTH Einbeck
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1787
Place of death Providence , Pennsylvania