McCormick missionaries and the shaping of Korean Evangelical Presbyterianism, 1888-1939
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Date
2010Author
Lee, Jaekeun
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Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to show that Korean Presbyterianism, which was
transplanted to and shaped in Korea at the turn of the twentieth century, was an
indigenized and intensified form of evangelical Christianity. The main argument is
that McCormick missionaries were key figures in the process of the shaping of
Korean Protestantism, being one of the typical groups in Korea who represented the
American evangelical missionary movement.
McCormick missionaries combined the evangelical piety of the revival
movements of the New School Presbyterians – Finney and Pierson - with the
confessional Reformed doctrines of the Old School Presbyterians. They also
transplanted Premillennialism as a dominant feature of American religious culture
into Korea at the turn of the twentieth century.
Although McCormick Theological Seminary was not the most significant
theological institution within the American Presbyterian Church, it was this school
which has made the most important contribution to the formation of theology, piety,
and practice. McCormick theology was an evangelical theology with a strongly
pietist tendency and a moderate Calvinist doctrine. As evangelical Presbyterians,
McCormick workers established the core features and direction of the Korean
Presbyterian Church from 1888 until 1939 when the Pyongyang Seminary was
closed down and the missionaries were asked to leave Korea by the Japanese
imperial government.