• Source: Presbyterian Church of Korea

The Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) (Korean: 대한예산로회), also abbreviated as Yejang (Korean: 예장), is a Protestant denomination based in South Korea that follows Calvinist theology and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Since the 1950s, the denomination has separated into various branches of the same name due to theological and political disputes. As of 2019, 286 branches in South Korea, many of which have separated from the PCK, use the title 'Presbyterian Church of Korea'.
Some biblical historians consider the Sorae Church, which was established in the early 1880s by Seo Sang-ryun, as the origin of Korean Presbyterianism. Others consider the Saemoonan Church, established by American missionary Horace Underwood in 1887, as the true birthplace of the PCK. However, the PCK was first organized as an independent Korean church in 1907.




History






= Early Missionaries

=

Calvinism is believed to have first arrived in Korea in 1865 when pastor Robert Jermain Thomas was captured and martyred during the General Sherman incident. The first Korean Presbyterian church was founded by Seo Sang-ryun, who was converted into Christianity by Scottish pastor John McIntyre in Manchuria, in Hwanghae province in 1884.
Full-scale missions were able to take place twenty years later when Horace Newton Allen of the Northern Presbyterian Church was admitted into the royal court of Joseon as a physician. In 1885, Horace Grant Underwood and John W. Heron arrived and established the Korean mission church for the Northern Presbyterian Church. The Korean edition of the Bible was first translated by John Ross during the 1870s. The edition was first printed and published by the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Scottish Bible Society in 1886.
Subsequently, more Western missionaries set foot in Korea with Canadian missionary James Scarth Gale and Australian Joseph Henry Davies arriving in 1889, and American missionary Samuel Austin Moffett in 1890. In 1891, female teachers such as Isabella Menzies, Jean Perry and Mary Fawcett arrived from Australia. Dr. James MacKenzie arrived in 1893, and in 1898, Dr. Robert Grierson, pastor W. R. Foote, and Duncan MacRae of the Presbyterian Church in Canada arrived to serve as missionaries.
McKenzie died after a year and a half while working in evangelism and medical care in Sorae Church, Hwanghae Province. His efforts led to the organization of the Korean mission church for the Presbyterian Church in Canada (캐나다장로회조선선교회) in Wonsan. In the Southern Presbyterian Church, pastors William D. Reynolds and Lewis B. Tate arrived in 1892 and organized the Korean mission church for the Southern Presbyterian Church (남장로회조선선교회) in Jeolla Province.
In 1889, the Northern Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church of Victoria created The United Council of Presbyterian Missions (장로교선교연합공의회; 長老敎宣敎聯合公議會), with John W. Heron as chairman, to settle issues over the unification of churches. In 1893, the United Council of Presbyterian Missions became the Council of Missions Holding the Presbyterian Form of Government (Korean: 장로교선교공의회, also succinctly known as the Council of Missions). The two councils consisted only of foreign missionaries.




= Birth of the PCK

=
Elections for the first Korean presbyters for the council began in 1900. Sŏ Kyŏng-cho (Hwanghae), Kim Chong-sŏp, and I Yŏng-ŭn
(both South Pyongan) were elected as elders in 1900. The following year, Kil Sŏn-chu and Pang Kich'ang were elected as elders. On September 20 of the same year, three Korean presbyters and six ministers organized the Council of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Chosun) (조선예수교장로회공의회; 朝鮮예수敎長老會公議會) with 25 missionaries in a missionary council held at the Saemoonan Church in Seoul, with missionary William L. Swallen inaugurated as the first chairman. However, as the Council of Missions had jurisdiction over church affairs, the Presbyterian Church of Korea was then only a fraternal organization. In 1902, Yang Chŏn-paek was appointed as an elder, and more people were elected as elders in 1903.

In 1901, Samuel Moffett established the Pyongyang Theological Seminary and became its first principal. The spread of Presbyterianism was further intensified by the Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907. On June 20, 1907, Kil Sŏn-chu, Yang Chŏn-paek, Han Sŏk-chin, I Kip'ung, Sŏ Kyŏng-cho, Song In-sŏ, and Pang Kich'ang became the first graduates of the Pyongyang Theological Seminary. The same year, the United Council decided to select a party committee member to handle church affairs for the five local councils of Pyeongan, Gyeongseong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang, and Hamgyeong.

On September 17, 1907, under the approval of four presbyters from the Mission Council, 33 missionaries and 38 presbyters organized the Presbyterian Church of Korea into an independent church. The five local councils were re-organized into the seven sub-presbyteries (Korean: 대리회; Hanja: 代理會) of Pyongbuk, Pyongnam, Hwanghae, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Hamgyong, and Gyeongsang. The PCK was also known during this era as the "Independent Council" (Korean: 독노회; Hanja: 獨老會; RR: Dongnohoe). On September 17, 1911, during an assembly at Nammoon Church, Daegu, the Independent Council agreed on creating a General Assembly, and converting the seven sub-presbyteries into official presbyteries. On September 1, 1912, the first General Assembly of the PCK took place in Pyongyang. In 1916, the Presbytery of Gyeongsang was divided into the presbyteries of Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk, and the presbytery of Pyongseo(west Pyongan) was separated from the presbytery of Pyongbuk.




= Involvement in the March First Movement

=
Korean Presbyterians were advised to stay uninvolved with any political cause even after the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910. Thus, initial relationships between the colonial government and the Presbyterians were peaceful. Missionaries accepted Japanese rule as "the powers that be," and asserted a position of "loyal recognition" of the Japanese occupation. Nevertheless, many Korean Presbyterians were suspected of being political agents by the colonial government and were arrested, often without proper explanation or trial. In one incident, a group of Presbyterians was accused of plotting an assassination of then-Governor-General of Korea Terauchi Masatake in Sonchon. Missionaries were also accused of distributing firearms for the alleged assassination plot.
Like other Christian groups, Korean Presbyterians such as Kil Sŏn-chu were closely involved in the March First Movement of 1919. Of the thirty-three representatives of the movement, sixteen were Christians, and seven were Presbyterians. As a result of the movement, the persecutions of Christians were exacerbated. Likewise, many Presbyterian missionaries were put under scrutiny, and their properties were often destroyed by police. 1,461 Presbyterians were arrested by Japanese police by the end of June 1919; in less than four months, the total number of Presbyterian arrests increased to 3,804. 41 Presbyterian leaders were killed, and 12 churches were destroyed. Horace Underwood made detailed accounts of the Jeam-ni Massacre during a trip to Suwon with his colleagues.
By 1937, the Presbyterian churches were largely independent of financial support from the United States. Presbyterianism in Korea was reconstructed after World War II in 1947. The church adopted the name the Reformed Church in Korea.




= Schisms in the 1950s

=
In the 1950s, the church suffered tensions because of issues of theology, ecumenism, and worship. The first of these occurred in 1951, over issues related to shinto shrine worship, resulting in the formation of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin). The second occurred in 1953 when progressives separated, forming the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea (KiJang). In the third schism, the Presbyterian Church of Korea broke into two equal sections in 1959: the Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap) and the Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong).




General assembly






See also


Christianity in Korea
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism in South Korea




Footnotes






References






Bibliography






Further reading


Clark, Donald N. Christianity in Modern Korea (University Press of America, 1986)
Grayson, James H. Korea—A Religious History (Routledge Curzon, 2002)
Kang, Wi Jo. Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea: A History of Christianity and Politics ( State University of New York Press, 1997)
Latourette, Kenneth Scott. Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: Vol. 5: The Twentieth century outside Europe (1962) pp 412–23
Lee, Timothy S. "A Political Factor in the Rise of Protestantism in Korea: Protestantism and the 1919 March First Movement," Church History 2000. 69#1 pp 116–42. in JSTOR
Mullins, Mark, and Richard Fox Young, eds. Perspectives on Christianity in Korea and Japan: The Gospel and Culture in East Asia (Edwin Mellen, 1995)
Park, Chung-shin. Protestantism and Politics in Korea (U. of Washington Press, 2003)
Harry Andrew Rhodes (1934). History of the Korea mission: Presbyterian church U. S. A., 1884-1934. Chosen mission Presbyterian church U. S. A.
Koon Sik Shim (2008). Rev. Sang-Dong Han, The Founder of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Koshin): A Biography. The Hermit Kingdom Press. ISBN 978-1-59689-073-2.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Gereja Presbiterian
• Gereja Presbiterian (AS)
• Gereja Masehi Injili di Minahasa
• Sekolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing Satya Wacana
• Teolog Princeton
• Daftar denominasi Kristen
• Agama di Korea Selatan
• Aliansi Gereja-Gereja Reformasi Dunia
• Kang Ryang-uk
• Standar Westminster
• Presbyterian Church of Korea
• Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap)
• Presbyterianism
• Presbyterian Church in America
• Christianity in Korea
• Presbyterian Church (USA)
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church
• Kosin Presbyterian Church in Korea
• Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea
• Presbyterianism in South Korea