Maximilian Mörlin ( 14 October 1516, Wittenberg, Electorate of Saxony — 20 April 1584, Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach ) was a Lutheran theologian, court preacher, Superintendent in Coburg, and Reformer.
Maximilian grew up with his older brother, Joachim Mörlin, as the sons of Jodok Mörlin ( Jodocus Morlinus, ca. 1490 – 1550 ), the Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wittenberg. After a harsh upbringing, when he learned the trade of a tailor, he switched to the profession of a scholar. Like his brother, he studied at Wittenberg in 1533 and came under the influence of Martin Luther and especially Philipp Melanchthon. From 1539, he was the pastor in Pegau and Zeitz and, after 1543, in Schalkau. On the recommendation of his teacher, he came to Coburg in 1544 as a court preacher ( Hofprediger ) and visited the city’s churches and schools on the behalf of the Duke of Saxony.
After Maximilian graduated in 1546 under Caspar Cruciger the Elder at Wittenberg to the rank of Doctor, he was appointed as a Superintendent. In the theological debates of the times, he was at first on the side of Matthias Flacius. He pursued the condemnation of Justus Menius, participated in the Colloquy of Worms in 1557 and wrote with and Johann Stössel the Weimarer Konfutationsbuch [ the Weimarer Book of Refutations ], which was mandatory for the Lutheran churches throughout Thuringia. The Duke of Saxony, John Frederick the Middle, also took him to Heidelberg to prevent his father-in-law, Frederick III the Pious, the Elector Palatinate of the Rhine, from going over to the Reformed side. The Heidelberger Abendmahlsgespräch [ Heidelberger Discussion of the Lord’s Supper ], with which Mörlin was involved on 3 and 4 July 1560, remained unsuccessful.