Paul Graff

August Ludwig Friedrich Paul Graff (born December 8, 1878 in Fallersleben , † March 18, 1955 in Hanover ) was a German Lutheran theologian .

Life

Graff was the son of pastor Konrad Rudolf August Graff (1851–1921) and Frieda Graff, b. Althaus (1845-1906). After graduating from high school in 1897, he began studying theology in Tübingen , then moved to Greifswald and finally ended up in Göttingen . Following the 1901 passed the first exam Graff was a year tutor in Hannover and then came as Hospes into the monastery Loccum . In 1904 he passed the second exam and then stayed for another two years as a librarian in Loccum. After his ordination in Aurich , Graff came to Wittingen through several jobs in Emden , Rethem and Osnabrück , where he met Helene Clasen (1887–1958). When he took up his first pastor's position in Kleinfreden in 1908 , he married Helene Clasen, with whom he has three daughters and two sons.

During the time in Kleinfreden, Graff turned down an offer in 1911 to become a clergyman of the Evangelical Association in Hanover and editor of the Hanover Sunday papers ; he also joined the German National People's Party after the end of the First World War .

In 1928 Graff became pastor at the Zionskirche in Hanover-Linden and four years later pastor at the Michaeliskirche in Hanover-Ricklingen . In 1933 Graff joined the confessional community around Bishop August Marahrens . He retired on April 1, 1951, and died of a second heart attack on March 18, 1955.

plant

The journalistic and scientific work of Paul Graff is diverse and ranges from religious studies and local history to liturgical studies, which makes up the largest part. Graff's merit lies in having written the history of Lutheran liturgy in the age of rationalism , the first volume of which he completed in 1916 and published in 1921 under the title History of the Dissolution of Old Forms of Worship in the Evangelical Church in Germany up to the Enlightenment and the Published rationalism . The second volume did not follow until 1939.

After Friedrich Spitta's death , Graff was co-editor of the " monthly for worship and church art " (MGkK), in which he published since 1912. He has also been a member of the " Liturgical Conference of Lower Saxony " (LKN) since it was founded in 1925, becoming its chairman in 1937 and managing director in 1943. He was a member of the newly founded after the Second World War in 1947 "also Lutheran Liturgical Conference " and was therefore in the development of the agendas work of VELKD involved.

Fonts (selection)

• History of the dissolution of the old forms of worship in the Protestant Church in Germany up to the advent of the Enlightenment and rationalism. 2 vol., Göttingen 1921/1939

As editor:

• Georg Rietschel : Textbook of the liturgy . 2 vols., 2. revised. Edition 1951/52

literature

• Jochen Cornelius-Bundschuh: Liturgy between tradition and renewal. Problems of Protestant liturgical science in the first half of the 20th century illustrated by the work of Paul Graff. Göttingen 1991

Web links

• Literature by and about Paul Graff in the catalog of the German National Library