在日長老派宣教師書簡に見る日本ミッションと朝鮮ミッションの関係 : 韓国併合、一〇五人事件前後を中心に

Using letters written by American Presbyterian missionaries in Japan approximately from 1905 to 1915, the present article attempts to analyze how the missionaries responded to the annexation of Korea and the Conspiracy Case. It also discusses how these missionaries related to their colleagues in Korea. The missionaries in Japan tended to identify themselves with the Japanese imperialistic advancement, believing in the justice of the Japanese and trying to defend the Japanese cause. On one hand, they had a sense of superiority over their colleagues in Korea who were dealing with the people to be governed by the Japanese, to whom the missionaries in Japan were close. On the other hand, they could not but admit the success of the Chosen Mission in contrast to their own poor performance in promoting Christianity in Japan. The missionaries in Japan felt their inferiority in comparison to their colleagues in Korea in terms of what was most important for them as missionaries: the number of conversions. In terms of theology and mission methods, the Japan Mission tended to be liberal and the Chosen Mission conservative. Contrary to the common sweeping image of missionaries as cultural imperialists, they were not aloof from the influence of the environment in which they had been placed. Actually, such influence seems to have extended not only to their attitudes toward the international relations in which they were involved, but also to their theological position. Although the missionaries examined here identified themselves primarily with America they had a secondary and yet very strong identity with the place where they worked. American missionaries took a variety of positions in the international scene, rather than presenting a united front. In the beginning of the 20th century, the East Asia for the United States was increasingly becoming a political arena as American economic and political interests in the region proliferated. Missionaries were inevitably placed in a precarious position where they could no longer assume simple Christian innocence