Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Historical Lutherans You Should Know”
Paul Henkel and his sons founded the first Lutheran publishing house in the United States of America, Henkel Press. Paul Henkel was born in the North Carolina frontier in 1754. Then, as fighting in the French and Indian War to the area, his family moved to Virginia in 1760. While there, he married Elizabeth Negeley and learned the cooper trade. …
Johann Martin Boltzius was born in 1703 in Forst, Germany. His parents worked as weavers and accordingly earned a modest living. As the recipient of a scholarship to the University of Halle, Boltzius studied Lutheran Pietism. Following his graduation, Botlzius worked at the Latin School of the Franke, which educated orphans, with an emphasis on Protestantism. In 1733 the school’s …
Born in approximately 1500 to a Polish noble family, Elisabeth Cruciger (nee von Meseritz) entered religious life as a nun at Marienbusch Abbeyin Treptow, Pomerania at a young age. The abbey belonged to the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré. Significantly, this particular order saw the spiritual life of women as equal to that of men. Elisabeth learned Latin and …
“There is a time to pray, and a time to fight!” –Peter Muhlenberg, 1776 Born in Trappe, Pennsylvania Peter Muhlenberg attended the Philadelphia Academy, the predecessor of The University of Pennsylvania. His father, Henry Muhlenberg, the “Father of American Lutheranism,” determined that Peter should study theology and join the family business as a Lutheran pastor. Henry sent Peter, age …
Born in Decorah, IA in 1947, Ruth Frost followed her father around Lutheran College where he worked as a Professor of Religion. In her third grade year, Professor Frost took a position at Lutheran Seminary. So, the family moved to St. Paul, MN. She recalls, “So, my interest in ministry was right out the gate, you know, before I knew …
Born in Canby, Minnesota in September of 1957, Rev. Phyllis Zillhart recalls belonging to a thriving Lutheran church whose members came both from the town of approximately 2,000 inhabitants and the surrounding farming community. Young Phyllis’s paternal family attended church on holidays and special occasions. In contrast, her maternal family helped found the Lutheran church their nearby community and incorporated …
A third generation pastor from Texas might not sound like the beginnings of a significant LGBTQ+ ally, but James Siefkes defied expectations. Actually born in a Lutheran parsonage in Iowa in 1929, Siefkes went to high school in San Antonio, Texas,. Then, he matriculated to Trinity University on a football scholarship. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity …
On May 29, the ELCA commemorates Jiří Třanovský on its Calendar of Saints. Třanovský was born in Těšín, Silesia, an area that is now along the border of Poland and Czechia. At about the same time, the Moravian Church published the first Czech translation of the Bible, the Bible of Kralice, in six volumes from 1579 to 1593. The son …
Ephorus Justin Sihombing, the longest serving leader of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, or HKPB in Indonesian), ministered to Indonesians during the colonial era, the Japanese occupation, and post independence. Though the Dutch colonized Indonesia, German missionaries from the Rhenish Missionary Society (sometimes abbreviates RMG or RMS) first translated the Bible into the local Batak language …
Though he probably remained a Catholic throughout his life, Frederick III of Saxony (aka “Frederick the Wise”) played an important role in the birth of Lutheranism though his protection of Martin Luther. Born January 17, 1463, Frederick succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony in 1486. As an Elector, he held one of seven voted to determine the Holy Roman …