# Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg

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 :
Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (17 November 1753 – 23 May 1815) was an American clergyman and botanist.

## Biography

The son of Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, he was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle starting in 1763 and in 1769 at the University of Halle. He returned to Pennsylvania in September 1770 and was ordained as a Lutheran minister. He served first in Pennsylvania and then as a pastor in New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Princeton University.
He married Mary Catherine Hall in 1774, with whom he would go on to have eight children. Despite his family beginning to take root in Philadelphia, Muhlenberg found he had no choice but to flee Philadelphia upon the outbreak of Revolutionary War hostilities in the region. Returning to his hometown of Trappe, he took up the study of botany.
He served as the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1780 through 1815. In 1785, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. In 1787, he was also made the first president of Franklin College. In 1779 he retired and devoted himself to the study of botany. He is best known as a botanist. Muhlenbergia, a well-known genus of grasses, was named in his honor. His chief works are Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis (1813) and Descriptio Uberior Graminum et Plantarum Calamariarum Americae Septentrionalis Indiginarum et Cicurum (1817).
Muhlenberg discovered and identified the bog turtle while conducting a survey of plants in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In 1801 the turtle was named Clemmys muhlenbergii in his honor, (with a common name of Muhlenberg's tortoise). However, the species' common name was changed to bog turtle in 1956, as the practice of naming an organism's common name after individuals became less popular.
In 1815, he suffered a paralytic stroke which hindered his activities. Helped by his daughter, however, Muhlenberg continued his correspondences until the sudden recess of his paralysis. Despite his condition seemingly reversing itself, a final series of strokes took his life not long after.
Muhlenberg is buried in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

## Family

Muhlenberg was the brother of Frederick and Peter Muhlenberg, father of Henry A. P. Muhlenberg and Frederick Augustus Hall Muhlenberg, a physician, who was the father of Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, the first president of Muhlenberg College.