Austin Rock

The Saddlebag Preacher and the Fighting Parson of the American Revolution: The Face of a Changing Lutheranism in North America

Abstract:

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and his son Peter Muhlenberg represent a difference between first and second generation North American Lutheran Pietists that emerged as a consequence of the American Revolution. Pietism’s belief in personal spiritual liberty was evolving to apply to freedom from a meddlesome government. However, this marked the beginning of the end of Lutheran Pietism in North America, since Pietists were supposed to remain aloof from the actions of the government and support whoever was in directly in power over them. British incursions into the liberty that was second nature to second-generation Lutherans led many to abandon their focus on faith and embrace the secular cause of independence. Using Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and Peter Muhlenberg as a case study, it will be shown how the Pietism of first-generation Lutheran immigrants began to in the face of secular matters which concerned second-generation Lutheran immigrants.