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 and the nephew of the emigrant author
Ole Rynning. 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. ==Personal life==