한국 장로교 초기 미국 선교사들의 신학적 성격

The Theological Nature of American Presbyterian Missionaries in the Early Korean Presbyterian Church: Two Kinds of Calvinism(the Comparison of Old School and New School)

In order to understand the theological nature of the early American Presbyterian missionaries in Korea, we should above all search the history and theology of the Old and New School of the American Presbyterian church(APC), because they are the root of the missionaries' theology. Also, the Old and New School of the APC should be viewed as two kinds of Calvinim - orthodox Calvinism and low Calvinism. The latter compromised traditional doctrines for evangelistic fervor to get more converts adjusting to the democratic ethos of the times. However, it can be said that respectively the positive feature of Old School is doctrinal orthodoxy and that of New School is evangelistic fervor. The theological nature of the early American Presbyterian missionaries who came to Korea should be considered as "Old School theology with a New School tendency." Until at least the mid-1920s, the missionaries who had graduated from McCormick Seminary dominated the Korean Presbyterian mission. After then, the missionaries who had graduated from Princeton Seminary dominated the church. Thus in the early period the American Presbyterian missionaries were primarily those who graduated from McCormick Seminary. The theology of the missionaries of the early Korean Presbyterian church(KPC) was of a conservative evangelical nature. Also, in this thesis the theology of the missionaries who graduated from McCormick Seminary has been examined primarily in two aspects, namely the doctrine of Scripture, and the view of revival. In terms of the doctrine of Scripture, it may be surely said that they were thoroughly of Old School. Yet in the view of revival, Charles Allen Clark mentioned several times in his book entitled The Work of the Pastor the name Charles Finney with his methodology for revivalism. Clark showed in this book and his another book entitled Lectures on Homiletics the evidence of having been influenced by Finney. This means that in terms of revival, he had Finney's view rather than Edwards' view, in other words a New School tendency. Therefore, it cannot be totally denied that the early American Presbyterian missionaries who graduated from McCormick Seminary can be considered as having "Old School theology with a New School tendency." Also, we should be careful not to view New School too negatively, because not only liberalism but also fundamentalism came out of it. In the 20th century fundamentalism received its heritage from both Old School and New School. In the fundamentalistic segment of the New School, it comprised the elements of evangelistic fervor, zeal for moral reform, piety, etc. while holding to traditional doctrines. Today we should make every effort to conform the theology of the KPC to true Calvinism which comprises doctrinal orthodoxy and piety grounded on the Scripture. Because "reformed churches should always be reformed."