This collection of contributions by fifteen Lutheran authors is headed by the renowned, retired New Testament scholar and valued member in the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue in North America (he died in 2008). Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–87) was a German missionary in the ‘Pietist’ tradition and is known as the ‘father of American Lutheranism’. The contributing authors are scholars, church leaders and others involved in the anniversary celebration. The book offers historical insights with critical responses; reflections on the impact of Muhlenberg on mission and ecumenism; a play depicting Muhlenberg's realistic spirituality; a hymn in his honour; an anniversary sermon; and the keynote address made at the dedication of the Muhlenberg House in Trappe, Pennsylvania, in 1998. Muhlenberg tried to realise his vision of a ‘planted church’ (‘ecclesia plantanda’) in formal and informal settings, ranging from institutional ground-work to tireless pastoral work, often riding a horse day and night to reach Lutheran and other immigrants. The editor's concluding reflections offer a rare comparison of Muhlenberg and Benjamin Franklin as contemporaries in a time of radical change. He calls them ‘reluctant revolutionaries’, trained to think before they acted, a rare, but a much desired trait in their turbulent ‘new world’.