Jonathan Anton Alexander Paul (1853–1931) was a German Pentecostal minister, writer, theologian, and Bible scholar and translator. Paul graduated from the Studium der Theologie in the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

and pastored in

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. He was member of the Gnadauer Verband, an evangelical movement within the

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United (e.g. Prussian Union) Protestant regional churches and denominations in German ...

and supported youth activities, social ministry among workers, and pietistic conversion. In 1906, Jonathan Paul visited Thomas Ball Barratt in

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and became Pentecostal. The German evangelical leadership condemned Pentecostalism in the Berlin Declaration in 1909 and as a consequence Paul helped to organize the Mülheim Association of Free Churches and Evangelical Communities, the first Pentecostal body in Germany in 1914, a fellowship gathering Pentecostals within the state and free churches. He was a very active writer, editor of many periodicals, and compiler of the hymnal ''Pfingstjubel''. Paul and five other Pentecostals published in 1914 the ''Das Neue Testament in der Sprache der Gegenwart'', a then-contemporary German language version of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

. Jonathan Paul and the German Pentecostalism held doctrines different from their American counterparts. Paul did not believe in tongues as initial evidence, nor in the doctrine of two or three stages of salvation – rebirth, sanctification, baptism in the Holy Spirit. Regarding the Bible Paul, an accomplished Bible-scholar, rejected the fundamentalist views such as the idea verbal inspiration.

References

* Paul Fleisch: ''Die Geschichte der Pfingstbewegung in Deutschland.'' Francke, Marburg/Lahn 1983, . * Paul Fleisch: ''Die Heiligungsbewegung''. Brunnen-Verlag, Gießen 2003, . * Ernst Giese: ''Jonathan Paul, ein Knecht Jesu Christi. Leben und Werk.'' Missionsbuchhandlung, Altdorf 1965. * Christian Krust: ''50 Jahre Deutsche Pfingstbewegung Mülheimer Richtung.'' Missionsbuchhandlung, Altdorf 1958. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Jonathan German Pentecostals German Lutherans German Protestant clergy Translators of the Bible into German German non-fiction writers 1931 deaths 1853 births German male non-fiction writers Lutheran biblical scholars