M. Victor Paul (7 April 1935 – 14 October 2013) was a

biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...

who served as President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1993 to 1997.

Early years and education

Victor Paul was born on 7 April 1935 into a

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

familyVictor Paul, ''The Messianic King in Gospel of Saint Matthew'', Published by the Telugu Theological Literature Board, Hyderabad, 2002. From the back cover of the book. in Rajahmundry, East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh as the eldest of nine children to Smt. Sundaramma and Pastor Mortha Sudarshanam. After undergoing schooling at the Lutheran Boarding in

Peddapuram Peddapuram is a town in the Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh in South India. The town also forms a part of Godavari Urban Development Authority. Peddapuram is known for its milk based sweet called PalaKova. The town is also popular in manu ...

, his parents sent him to the Andhra-Christian College,

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Ba ...

. Paul studied arts (''B.A.'') in the college when Rao Sahab T. S. Paulus was at the helm of affairs. After completing graduate studies in

, Victor Paul returned to Rajahmundry where he underwent studies in education at the local Government Training College leading to BEd.

Spiritual studies

Graduate spiritual studies

Continuing the priestly family tradition, Victor Paul chose to pursue divinity and his Church Society, then under G. Devasahayam, AELC, sent him to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

during the academic year 1959–1960 for ministerial formation at the

Gurukul Lutheran Theological College Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute is an ecumenical seminary situated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India. It is affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University).Indiaedunews.neNepal Christians to renew t ...

(GLTC),

' where Victor Paul pursued a graduate course in theology ('' B.D.''), which was then headed by Dr. P. David, AELC and was awarded a graduate degree after completion of studies by C. Devasahayam,

CBCNC The Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars (CBCNC) is a Baptist Christian denomination in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The churches are part of the Telugu Christian community of Southern India. Its language is Telugu. It is affiliat ...

, then Registrar of the Senate of Serampore College (University).

Post-graduate spiritual studies

After serving as a Pastor, Victor Paul's Church Society under G. Devasahayam, AELC (second term of presidency) sent him again to

where Paul was to pursue a post-graduate degree in New Testament (''

M.Th. Master of Theology ( la, Theologiae Magister, abbreviated MTh, ThM, or MTheol) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a PhD program or as a sta ...

'') beginning from the academic year 1963–1964. Initially Victor Paul spent a year working on Greek with Jim Bergquist as well as on the revision of portions from the Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Revised Edition) edited by Henry Snyder Gehman and John D. Davis. From 1964 to 1965 onwards, Victor Paul registered as an

student with the

and worked out a thesis''Thesis Titles – M.Th., M.R.S., D.D., D.Th.'', Published by the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College, Bengaluru, 1991. p.6 entitled ''A theological exposition of 'to know' in the Johannine literature with some points of contact and contrast between John and Gita'' under the guidance of his Professor, Jim Bergquist and later at the end of the academic year 1965–1966, the Senate of Serampore College (University) awarded the post-graduate degree of

in New Testament, again during the Registrarship of C. Devasahayam,

. In 1966, Victor Paul went to the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

De Nobili College,

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

along with Gali Bali to attend the biennial conference of the scholarly Society for Biblical Studies in India held on the theme ''The significance of the historical in the New Testament

Kerygma Kerygma (from the ancient Greek word ''kérugma'') is a Greek word used in the New Testament for "proclamation" (see Luke 4:18-19, Romans 10:14, Gospel of Matthew 3:1). It is related to the Greek verb (''kērússō''), literally meaning "to cry ...

''.

Spiritual studies abroad

When

W. D. Coleman William D. Coleman (November 26, 1915 - October 22, 2001) was the first Principal of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad. Coleman was born in India in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. When four theological colleges came together ...

, AELC was principal of the

Andhra Christian Theological College Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) is a seminary in Telangana which was founded in 1964. It is affiliated with India's first university, the Senate of Serampore College (University) (a university under section 2(f) of the Universi ...

, Rajahmundry, the Board of Governors of the college accorded study leave to Victor Paul who proceeded to Saint Paul, Minnesota and pursued an

S.T.M. The Master of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Magister; abbreviated STM) is a graduate-level, North American, academic degree in theology equivalent to ThM. The Roman Catholic equivalent is the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). An ...

in Pastoral theology and Ministry and for academic years 1971–1973 and worked out a thesis titled ''Toward a Counseling Oriented Ministry to the People of Andhra Pradesh''M. Victor Paul, ''Toward a Counseling Oriented Ministry to the People of Andhra Pradesh'', Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 197

/ref> in the Luther Seminary (''a degree granting authority accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada duly recognised by the United States Government as an accrediting agency''). James A. Bergquist then Professor at the Luther Seminary was the guide of Paul and one of his companions hailing from Indian included the Religions Scholar, P. Kambar Manickam, TELC. In 1976, A. A. Sitompul on behalf of the Lutheran World Federation invited Victor Paul to pursue doctoral studies ''(

D.Min. The Doctor of Ministry (abbreviated DMin or D.Min.) is a professional doctorate, often including a research component, that may be earned by a minister of religion while concurrently engaged in some form of ministry. It is categorized as an advanced ...

)'' in Practical Ministry at the Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Victor Premasagar Victor Premasagar (1927–2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar who made major contributions to research on the Old Testament and to the field of theology. Prem ...

, CSI, then principal of the college put up the matter before the Board of Governors of the college which decided to accord study leave to Victor Paul. While at the Luther Seminary, Victor Paul's doctoral thesis was entitled ''Socio-cultural dimensions of the Renewal of Ministry in Andhra Pradesh''M. Victor Paul, ''Socio-cultural dimensions of the Renewal of Ministry in Andhra Pradesh'', Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary, 1979. Cited in James Elisha Taneti, ''History of the Telugu Christians: A Bibliography'', Scarecrow, Lanham, 2011, p.10

/ref> done under the supervision of James A. Nestingen, currently Professor Emeritus of Church History. By 1979, Victor Paul was awarded the doctoral degree

by the Luther Seminary and he returned to take up his teaching responsibilities back in India.

Ecclesiastical ministry

Ordination & priesthood

At the end of the academic year 1961–1962, Victor Paul was awarded a B.D. and ordained in April 1962 as a Priest of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church headquartered in

. He was assigned a pastoral role in Samalkot and

parishes. Victor Paul also replaced

S. W. Schmitthenner Samuel William Schmitthenner (February23, 1928May17, 2015) was a Lutheran who served as the President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India from 1969 to 1981. S. W. Schmitthe ...

, AELC, as honorary Youth Director of the Church Society. When Victor Paul returned from

after his post-graduate studies, he was reassigned his former

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor ** Gospel of John ** First Epistle of John ** Second Epistle of John **

Third Epistle of John The Third Epistle of John is the third-to-last book of the New Testament and the Christian Bible as a whole, and attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of John and the other two epistles of John. ...

** Book of Revelation *

Pauline Epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...

Epistle to the Romans The Epistle to the Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament, and the longest of the thirteen Pauline epistles. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of J ...

Epistle to the Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in sou ...

Epistle to the Ephesians The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to Paul the Apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as Deutero-Pauline, that is, pseudepigrapha written in Pau ...

** Epistle to the Philippians ** Epistle to the Colossians ** Epistle to the Hebrews *

General Epistles The catholic epistles (also called the general epistlesEncarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "katholieke brieven". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.) are seven epistles of the New Testament. Listed in order of their appearance in ...

** Epistle of James **

Epistle of Jude The Epistle of Jude is the penultimate book of the New Testament as well as the Christian Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Jude, brother of James the Just, and thus possibly brother of Jesus as well. Jude is a short epistle written in ...

Under the aegis of the Andhra Pradesh Council of Churches in 1974, a discussion was initiated on the theme ''Renewal of the ministry in Andhra Pradesh'' in which Victor Paul also participated. The findings of the consultation were later tabled before the Churches of Andhra Pradesh. A. A. Sitompul and others of the Lutheran World Federation took cognizance of Victor Paul's paper on Parish Renewal as early as September 1975 at an international consultation held at the

Ecumenical Institute of Bossey Bossey Ecumenical Institute is the ecumenical institute of the World Council of Churches. It was founded in 1946. The director of the Institute is Ioan Sauca. Degrees and other academic awards are accredited by the University of Geneva. It is situ ...

in September 1975.

Scholarship

Martin Senftleben who researched at the

Sri Venkateswara University Sri Venkateswara University (commonly referred as S. V. University or SVU) is a public state university located in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. The university is named after Lord Venkateswara, whose shrine is located in the city. The univ ...

in Tirupati acknowledged Victor Paul to be a Scholar. Michael Bergunder, Professor of Missions at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Germany believes that Victor Paul attempted to recognise

Charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...

Christianity which was fast enveloping traditional Christianity. Being a person who puts theory into practice, Victor Paul as principal of ACTC once went ahead and invited the pioneer charismatic Pastor, Apostle P. L. Paramjyoti,

IPC IPC may refer to: Computing * Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center * Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance * Inter-process communication, the sharin ...

to deliver the graduation address of the college in a particular year. Excerpt from Victor Paul's article quoted by

Prof. Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Michael Bergunder:

Academic

* Member of the Senate of Serampore College (University) * Member of the Research Committee of the

Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College The Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC) is the arm of theological education under the Senate of Serampore College (University). BTESSC was formed in 1975. The Senate of Serampore College (University), under ...

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. *

(ACTC) Victor Paul first began teaching New Testament in ACTC from 1969. Past-timers acknowledge Victor Paul as having an influence in students lives in unique ways. After the four-year cycle of principalship of the Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches ended in the academic year 1989–1990, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church's cycle of principalship began. Besides Victor Paul, there were four other faculty from this Church Society teaching in the college at that time, namely, B. W. David Raju, AELC, B. C. Paul, AELC, G. Sampurna Rao, AELC, and C. Yesupadam, AELC. Since the participating Church agency decides the name of the principal, the Board of Governors of the college left the decision to the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, then under the presidency of K. Nathaniel, AELC, which chose to nominate Victor Paul to the principalship of the ecumenical seminary for a term of four years.'' Cf.

'' Then Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the college, S. E. Krupa Rao of the

Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars The Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars (CBCNC) is a Baptist Christian denomination in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The churches are part of the Telugu Christian community of Southern India. Its language is Telugu. It is affilia ...

appointed Victor Paul as principal of the college for a term of four years. As principal, Victor Paul was able to prove himself as an able Administrator following the footsteps of his predecessors and advocated the

Ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

. One of the early women graduates of the United Theological College, Bangalore, Johanna Rose Ratnavathi, AELC, and a founding member of the

Association of Theologically Trained Women in India The Association of Theologically Trained Women of India (ATTWI) is an association of Indian women theologians which was constituted in 1979 in Chennai. It is an ecumenical organisation with more than 500 members. History In 1977, Shanti Solomon ...

was a three-time Dean of Women during the tenure of Victor Paul. In the final phase of Victor Paul's tenure as principal, he contested the bishopric of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church and proceeded on leave from the college. To fill the vacancy, the AELC then nominated Victor Paul's companion G. Sampurna Rao, AELC, as principal of the college.

Church leadership

When the term of K. Nathaniel, AELC, as President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church ended, Victor Paul contested and was elected in 1993 as the ninth president of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church headquartered in Guntur.'' Cf.'' Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church In 1997, before Victor Paul's term ended, he returned to Secunderabad to teach at the

then headed by R. Yesurathnam, CSI. Victor Paul retired in 2000.