Bernt Julius Muus

Bernt Julius Muus (March 15, 1832 - May 25, 1900) was a Norwegian-American Lutheran minister and church leader. He helped found St. Olaf College.

Background

Muus was born in the parish Snaasen in Throndhjems Stift in Snåsa, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. Having graduated from the Latin school of Trondheim in 1849, he entered the University of Christiania where he studied theology and completed his theological training in 1854. He immigrated to the United States in 1859.[1]

Career

Muus was the first resident pastor of Holden Lutheran Church in Kenyon, Minnesota. During a forty-year ministry, Muus traveled indefatigably to establish and minister to congregations in southern Minnesota. Muus also founded St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield, Minnesota, Fox Lake Lutheran Church in Rice County, Minnesota and many other churches in southern Minnesota.[2]

Muus filled the office of bishop of the Minnesota District of the Norwegian Synod, took an active part in theological disputes, and ceaselessly urged the church to do more in the field of education. In 1874, Muus led a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers to found St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. St. Olaf College is a residential, four-year private liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[3]

Although his achievements were great, the career of Bernt Julius Muus was that of a fascinating, capable, but flawed leader. He was expelled from his church for failure to conform to doctrine in 1898. Pastor Muus was stricken with partial paralysis in 1899. He returned to Norway and was buried in Trondheim, Norway at the Nidaros Cathedral cemetery.[4]

References

  1. ↑ History of the Norwegian Settlements (Hjalmar Holand. Decorah, Iowa: Amundsen Publishing Company. 2006)
  2. ↑ The Promise of America
  3. ↑ The Beginnings of St. Olaf College Ingebrikt Grose. Norwegian-American Historical Association, Volume V: Page 110
  4. ↑ Holden Lutheran Church

Additional reading

External links