# Karl Graul

Karl Graul (6 February 1814 – 10 November 1864) was a leader of Leipzig Lutheran mission and a Tamil scholar. He was born in a poor weaver family in Germany. He moved to India as the director of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission in 1849 and there he mastered Tamil.
Graul was one of the foremost figures in missiology. His approach towards caste system was considered to be too lenient by his critics since he considered that caste system would fade on its own accord and Christian organizations need not interfere with local traditions. He also advocated the supremacy of Lutheranism over other Christian denominations and found it hard to cooperate with Anglicans in India.

## Early life

Karl Graul was born in Wörlitz, in the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, into a poor weaver's family. In spite of his poor background he received good education in classical and modern languages as well as in theology. However, as for as mission and missiology is concerned he was entirely self-taught.

## Tamil scholar

Karl Graul was appointed the director of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission in 1844. The Lutheran mission had succeeded the Danish-Hale mission in South India. During his stay in India, Graul mastered the Tamil language. After returning to Leipzig in 1853 he taught Tamil language and literature at the mission house. Later Graul wrote Bibilotheca Tamulica seu Opera Praecipua Tamuliensium (1854–1865). A work in 4 volumes, it contains in its third and fourth volumes the first complete translation of the Tirukkural in Latin, German, and the standard spoken Tamil with notes and glossaries. It was published by his student Wilhelm Germann the year after Graul's death in Erlangen. Graul also wrote a Tamil Grammar in German (1855).

## Missiology

Graul being one of the foremost figures in missiology, insisted that other missionaries should go through academic training both in mission as well in theology. He insisted that the knowledge of locals with contextual approach towards indigenous churches.

## Views on caste system

Graul's views on caste system was considered by his critics as "too lenient". This was in light that Madras Missionary Conference resolved that no one should be admitted to baptism until he had shed off the caste identity and breaks the caste by eating food prepared by a person from the lower caste. According to Stephen Neill all Protestant missionary societies agreed to these terms except for Graul's Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission. This was since Graul, who took a “middle” standpoint and regarded the caste as “a natural kingdom lying between the divine and the demonic”, believed that caste system can be removed only as a slow process and making it mandatory is not needed. It was his view that missionaries should not interfere with indigenous social orders unless they are wholly incompatible with the Gospel.

## Supremacy of Lutheranism

Graul believed in supremacy of Lutheranism over other Christian denominations. Thus he found it hard on mutual cooperation with Anglicans in India especially on communion.

## Death

Part of a series on :
Lutheranism :
Background
Christianity
Start of the Reformation
Reformation
Protestantism :
Doctrine and theology
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Creeds
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
Book of Concord
Augsburg Confession
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
Luther's Small / Large Catechism
Smalcald Articles
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
Formula of Concord
Distinctive theological concepts
Theology of Martin Luther
Justification
Law and Gospel
Sola gratia
Sola scriptura
Christology
Sanctification
Two kingdoms
catholicity
Two states of the Church
Priesthood of all believers
Divine Providence
Marian theology
Theology of the Cross
Sacramental Union
Other relevant topics
Homosexuality :
Sacraments and worship
Baptism
Eucharist
Confession
Confirmation
Matrimony
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Divine Service
Matins
Vespers
Liturgical calendar
Calendar of saints
Lutheran hymn
Lutheran hymnwriters
Normative principle
Lutheran art :
Organization
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum
International Lutheran Council
Lutheran World Federation
Denominations
Lutheranism by region :
Movements
History of Lutheranism
Crypto-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
Lutheran orthodoxy
Pietists
Radical Pietism
Haugeans
Laestadians
Finnish Awakening
Old Lutherans
Neo-Lutherans
High church Lutherans
Confessional Lutheranism :
Key figuresMissionaries
John Campanius
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Hans Egede
Johann Heinrich Callenberg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
Paul Henkel
John Christian Frederick Heyer
Karl Graul
Martti Rautanen
Wilhelm Sihler
F. C. D. Wyneken
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Onesimos Nesib
Paul Olaf Bodding
Johann Flierl
Christian Keyser
Jens Christensen
Bible Translators
Martin Luther
Casiodoro de Reina
Kjell Magne Yri
Onesimos Nesib
Aster Ganno
Kristian Osvald Viderø
Jákup Dahl
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
William Tyndale
John Rogers
George Constantine
Jozef Roháček
Johannes Avetaranian
Guðbrandur Þorláksson
Ludvig Olsen Fossum
Hans Egede / Paul Egede
Otto Fabricius
Nils Vibe Stockfleth
Olaus Petri / Laurentius Petri
Martti Rautanen
Primož Trubar
Jurij Dalmatin
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Sebastian Krelj
Mikael Agricola
Norwegian Bible Society
Swedish Bible Society
Samuel Ludwik Zasadius
Stanislovas Rapolionis
Laurentius Andreae
Hans Tausen
Olaf M. Norlie
Jonas Bretkūnas
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Antonio Brucioli
Mikołaj Jakubica
Matthias Bel
Johann Ernst Glück
William F. Beck
Theologians
Martin Luther / Katharina von Bora
Philip Melanchthon
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Brenz
Justus Jonas
Hans Tausen
Laurentius Petri
Olaus Petri
Mikael Agricola
Matthias Flacius
Martin Chemnitz
Johann Gerhard
Abraham Calovius
Johannes Andreas Quenstedt
Johann Wilhelm Baier
Philipp Spener
David Hollaz
August Hermann Francke
Henry Muhlenberg
Lars Levi Laestadius
Charles Porterfield Krauth
C. F. W. Walther
Søren Kierkegaard
Albrecht Ritschl
Wilhelm Herrmann
F. W. Stellhorn
Rudolf Otto
Ernst Troeltsch
Rudolf Bultmann
Paul Tillich
Hermann Sasse
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Robert Jenson :
vte :
Graul in 1864 qualified himself as a university lecturer in missiology at Erlangen. However, he died the same year even before taking up the position.

## Works

* Übersetzung von Dante Allghieri's Göttlicher Komödie; 1843. (Elektronischer Text auf www.dantealighieri.dk)
* Unterscheidungslehren der verschiedenen christlichen Bekenntnisse; 1845
* Die Ev.-Luth. Mission an die ev-luth. Kirche aller Lande; 1845
* Explanations concerning the principles of the Leipzig Society with regard to the Caste-Question; Madras 1851
* Reise nach Ostindien, 5 volumes; 1854–56
* Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium, 4 volumes
** Volume 1: Tamulische Schriften zur Erläuterung des Vedanta-Systems oder der rechtgläubigen Philosophie der Hindus. Übersetzung und Erklärung von Karl Graul. Leipzig 1854. (Digitalisat)
** Volume 2: Kaivaljanavanīta. A Vedanta Poem. The Tamil Text with a Translation and Glossary and Grammatical Notes. Leipzig/London 1855. (Digitalisat)
** Volume 3: Der Kural des Tiruvalluver. Ein gnomisches Gedicht über die drei Strebeziele des Menschen. Übersetzung und Erklärung von Karl Graul. Leipzig 1856. (Digitalisat)
** Volume 4: Kural of Tiruvalluver. High-Tamil Text with Translation into Common Tamil and Latin, Notes and Glossary. Leipzig 1865. (Digitalisat)
* Outline of Tamil Grammar; 1855
* Die christliche Kirche an der Schwelle des irenäischen Zeitalters; 1860
* Die Stellung der evangelisch-lutherischen Mission in Leipzig zur ostindischen Kastenfrage; 1861
* Über Stellung und Bedeutung der christlichen Missionen im Ganzen der Universitätswissentschaften; 1864
* Indische Sinnpflanzen und Blumen zur Kennzeichnung des indischen, vornehmlich tamulischen Geistes; 1864