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 and pastored in
Pomerania. He was member of the
Gnadauer Verband, an evangelical movement within the
Evangelical Church in Germany and supported youth activities, social ministry among workers, and pietistic conversion.
In 1906, Jonathan Paul visited
Thomas Ball Barratt
Thomas Ball Barratt, also known as T. B. Barratt, (22 July 1862 – 29 January 1940) was a British-born Norwegian pastor and one of the founding figures of the Pentecostal movement in Europe, bringing the movement, or baptism in the Holy Spirit, ...
in
Oslo and became Pentecostal. The German evangelical leadership condemned Pentecostalism in the
Berlin Declaration in 1909 and as a consequence Paul helped to organize the
, 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.
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