ABSTRACT
On June 19, 1934, the American Methodist mission celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in Seoul. Although the semi-centennial event heralded the partnership between American and Korean Methodists, the two groups were looking in different directions. Missionaries gazed backward into the past. They cherished the early years, when they had first introduced the gospel to a timid but teachable people who knew little about Christianity, modern technology, or the West. Koreans, in contrast, looked forward to the promising future of an autonomous Church. Bishop J. S. Ryang, the first Korean general superintendent, began the commemoration by stating that Korean Methodism was no longer a foreign mission field but a fully independent indigenous church. 1 Four years earlier, Korean Methodists formed their own denomination, separate from American Methodists. Of the one hundred delegates at their first General Conference in 1930, eighty-four were Koreans and sixteen were missionaries. 2 Another Korean speaker, Helen Kim, a widely recognized college professor, proclaimed that Christ had inspired her countrywomen to rise up as “leaders of movements and carriers of public burdens” in and outside the church. 3 The inclination of the missionaries, however, was to reminisce about the early years. The physician Annie Ellers Bunker recalled her first adventures in the primitive nation when she and her fellow pioneers overcame hostility from Koreans, who saw them as “foreign devils,” in order to heal sick patients in the new modern hospital. 4
A keen observer would have noticed that this difference between American and Korean perspectives at the semi-centennial event-Americans glorifying the past, Koreans anticipating the future-represented not simply a coincidental difference but a hint of wider conflict between two groups over the direction of the Korean Church. Missionaries distrusted at least some Korean initiatives and longed for the days of uncontested authority. Koreans spoke glowingly of the missionaries but welcomed a change in leadership. The disagreements mostly simmered, but they occasionally reached the boiling point, and no conflict was hotter than the debate over Christian womanhood. As Korean Protestant women chose their own paths in the
thing, from education, political activism, and religious beliefs to vocational choices and dress.
