Founded by Pennsylvania German Lutherans to prepare students for seminary and the professions, Muhlenberg College has evolved in the last fifty years into a highly selective, academically rigorous, modern American liberal arts college.
Throughout this evolution, both the curriculum and the culture on our campus have been deeply influenced by Lutheran theology, starting from the Reformation and Luther and extending on to the progressive Lutheranism of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)*, with whom we are affiliated.
These Lutheran values cover three broad domains:
- open-mindedness, critical inquiry and rigor, individual freedom of conscience, and educating and empowering all people (human flourishing);
- a focus on the rights and dignity of every person, inclusiveness and belonging, and social and economic justice (social responsibility);
- the discernment of a pathway to work and service in the world in response to the gifts and talents we are given and develop in our lifetimes (personal vocation).
Rooted in these values, it is our current mission at Muhlenberg College to “develop independent critical thinkers…committed to understanding the diversity of the human experience…[who are] equipped with ethical and civic values and prepared for lives of leadership and service.”
Our founding grew out of the parochial Pennsylvania German Lutheranism of the mid 19th century, originally a blend of classical and explicitly Christian education built on a foundation of German heritage. But both the expression of the progressive form of ELCA Lutheranism and the College itself have evolved over the years, more-or-less in parallel within the co-evolving milieu of American culture. And along the way, the linkages between these deep, underlying Lutheran values and the mission and vision of the College have become obscured, leaving most of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees with a poor understanding of this connection. This can be seen in the vague narrative recounted by students, faculty and staff about the prevalence of red doors on Muhlenberg’s campus, sometimes reported as the “last vestige” of our Lutheran affiliation.
With this grant, we seek to reframe our institutional saga, recuperating, clarifying and reclaiming how Muhlenberg’s deep Lutheran genetic code that promotes human flourishing, social responsibility and personal vocation has given rise to the college we are today and aspire to become in the future. We want to educate our community and invite them to (re)build a narrative around our signature red doors by drawing new connections between our Lutheran values and our calling to prepare graduates for lives of leadership and service in our pluralistic society.
*The ELCA was formed in 1988 in a merger between the more progressive Lutheran church bodies, including the Lutheran Church in America (headquartered in Philadelphia), the American Lutheran Church (Minneapolis) and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.
