The impact of Canadian missionaries in Korea, a historical survey of early Canadian mission work, 1888-1898

grantor: University of TorontoThis dissertation examines how early Canadian missionaries influenced Korean society. The Introduction critiques previous studies, provides a review of the primary sources used, and presents a synopsis of the dissertation's thesis. Chapter One through Three focus specifically on Korea. While Chapter One examines the socio-political climate of late nineteenth-century Korea, Chapter Two describes the impact of Roman Catholicism on Korean society and how this affected the later reception of Protestantism. Chapter Three details how Protestant missionaries learned from Roman Catholic travails and came to incorporate Korea's indigenous belief system in their evangelizing efforts. Chapters Four through Nine examine the lives and works of the earliest Canadian missionaries, especially: James Gale, first Canadian missionary to Korea (Chapter Four); Robert Harkness and Malcolm Fenwick, Corea Union Mission leaders (Chapter Five); physician-evangelists William and Sherwood Hall (Chapter Seven); Dr. Oliver Avison, founder of Korea's first medical college (Chapter Eight); and William McKenzie, the most assimilated of all Canadian missionaries (Chapter Nine). The Conclusion details and summarizes Canada's extensive contributions to Korea's modernization process. Such involvement included providing religious and modern secular education, new medical technologies and training, and efforts to instill the Korean people with a spirit of independence and self-reliance through social movements. The Conclusion also asserts that Canadian missionary efforts in general have received but cursory treatment from scholars because of overwhelming American-centrocism's prevalence throughout the academic world.Ph.D