# Bernt Julius Muus

Part of a series on :
Lutheranism :
Background
Christianity
Start of the Reformation
Reformation
Protestantism :
Doctrine and theology
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Creeds
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
Book of Concord
Augsburg Confession
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
Luther's Small / Large Catechism
Smalcald Articles
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
Formula of Concord
Distinctive theological concepts
Theology of Martin Luther
Justification
Law and Gospel
Sola gratia
Sola scriptura
Christology
Sanctification
Two kingdoms
catholicity
Two states of the Church
Priesthood of all believers
Divine Providence
Marian theology
Theology of the Cross
Sacramental Union
Other relevant topics
Homosexuality :
Sacraments and worship
Baptism
Eucharist
Confession
Confirmation
Matrimony
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Divine Service
Matins
Vespers
Liturgical calendar
Calendar of saints
Lutheran hymn
Lutheran hymnwriters
Normative principle
Lutheran art :
Organization
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum
International Lutheran Council
Lutheran World Federation
Denominations
Lutheranism by region :
Movements
History of Lutheranism
Crypto-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
Lutheran orthodoxy
Pietists
Radical Pietism
Haugeans
Laestadians
Finnish Awakening
Old Lutherans
Neo-Lutherans
High church Lutherans
Confessional Lutheranism :
Key figuresMissionaries
John Campanius
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Hans Egede
Johann Heinrich Callenberg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
Paul Henkel
John Christian Frederick Heyer
Karl Graul
Martti Rautanen
Wilhelm Sihler
F. C. D. Wyneken
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Onesimos Nesib
Paul Olaf Bodding
Johann Flierl
Christian Keyser
Jens Christensen
Bible Translators
Martin Luther
Casiodoro de Reina
Kjell Magne Yri
Onesimos Nesib
Aster Ganno
Kristian Osvald Viderø
Jákup Dahl
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
William Tyndale
John Rogers
George Constantine
Jozef Roháček
Johannes Avetaranian
Guðbrandur Þorláksson
Ludvig Olsen Fossum
Hans Egede / Paul Egede
Otto Fabricius
Nils Vibe Stockfleth
Olaus Petri / Laurentius Petri
Martti Rautanen
Primož Trubar
Jurij Dalmatin
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Sebastian Krelj
Mikael Agricola
Norwegian Bible Society
Swedish Bible Society
Samuel Ludwik Zasadius
Stanislovas Rapolionis
Laurentius Andreae
Hans Tausen
Olaf M. Norlie
Jonas Bretkūnas
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Antonio Brucioli
Mikołaj Jakubica
Matthias Bel
Johann Ernst Glück
William F. Beck
Theologians
Martin Luther / Katharina von Bora
Philip Melanchthon
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Brenz
Justus Jonas
Hans Tausen
Laurentius Petri
Olaus Petri
Mikael Agricola
Matthias Flacius
Martin Chemnitz
Johann Gerhard
Abraham Calovius
Johannes Andreas Quenstedt
Johann Wilhelm Baier
Philipp Spener
David Hollaz
August Hermann Francke
Henry Muhlenberg
Lars Levi Laestadius
Charles Porterfield Krauth
C. F. W. Walther
Søren Kierkegaard
Albrecht Ritschl
Wilhelm Herrmann
F. W. Stellhorn
Rudolf Otto
Ernst Troeltsch
Rudolf Bultmann
Paul Tillich
Hermann Sasse
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Robert Jenson :
vte :
Bernt Julius Muus (March 15, 1832 – May 25, 1900) was a Norwegian-American Lutheran minister and church leader. He helped found St. Olaf College, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota.

## Biography
### Early life and education

Muus was born in the parish of Snaasen in Throndhjems Stift in what is now Snåsa Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. He was the grandson of the priest Jens Rynning (1778–1857) and the nephew of the emigrant author Ole Rynning (1809–1838). 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.

### 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.
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.
Despite his substantial achievements, Muus was considered a "fascinating, capable, but flawed leader." During the Predestination Controversy (naadevalgsstriden), where The Norwegian Synod experienced internal division over questions concerning predestination and conversion, Muus sided with Anti-Missourian Brotherhood. Muus' uncompromising nature and stubbornness eventually resulted in his expulsion from his church in 1898 for failure to conform to doctrine.

### Illness, return to Norway and death

In 1899, Muus resigned as a pastor after having suffered a stroke and was stricken with partial paralysis. He returned to Norway in 1899, where he died on May 25, 1900. He is buried in Trondheim, Norway at the Nidaros Cathedral cemetery.

## Personal life

Muus married Oline Pind from Fet Municipality in 1859. The two had three children, Nils (1863–1932), Jens Ingebrigt Rynning (1866–1878), and Paul Johan Elster (1872–1890). Jens died of typhus at the age of twelve.

### Divorce

After a lengthy and highly publicised legal battle, Pind was granted a limited divorce on January 20, 1883. She received $150 per year for ten years as alimony. Bernt was given custody of the children, who were still minors. Divorce in Minnesota's nineteenth century Norwegian-Lutheran community was a rarity. Legal separation between a leading pastor and his wife was unheard of. The 1879 court case in Holden Township led to both those outcomes, and triggered a public debate about married women's legal rights.