Muhlenberg, H: Notebook of a Colonial Clergyman

This Commemorative Edition of The Notebook of a Colonial Clergyman marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and celebrates the pioneer missionary spirit and work of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg arrived in the American colonies as 31-year-old Lutheran pastorin 1742, to take up missionary work among the German immigrants who were coming to the New World in search of a new life. His ministry spanned 45 tumultuous years – years of political revolution, years that saw both the birth of a new nation and the establishment of the Lutheran Church on American soil. With the inception of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania in 1748, the Lutheran tradition took on an organizational structure that positioned the fledgling church to grow in the American context. The birth of the new nation and the growth of the new church are uniquely captured in this collection of Muhlenberg’s journal entries. These excerpts from Muhlenberg’s notebooks take you back to the colonial period with fascinating anecdotes and penetrating insights into the political, religious, and cultural realities of the time. Muhlenberg the man and Muhlenberg the missionary of the gospel of Christ come alive for later generations in these revealing journal entries. Translated and edited by the late Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein.