The role of single women missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Korea, 1897--1940

This study examines the work of missionaries affiliated with the Woman's Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Korea from 1897 to 1940, focusing on their mission philosophy and strategies. Its central thesis is that the missionaries' contributions to the Korean Church and society can be ascribed to their mission philosophy, which was based on the Methodist ethos and the gender-based missiology of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Movement in North America. These two elements were holistic in nature and emphasized women's leadership roles. The dissertation provides a new perspective on the origins of Korean Christianity by challenging the dominant historiographical view that attributes the growth of Korean Christianity to male fundamentalist Presbyterian missionaries. It broadens the conversation to include the voices of female missionaries who practiced a gender-based missiology.; Women missionaries were a pivotal part of the pioneer Protestant missions that contributed to both the evangelization and the shaping of modern Korea. Women missionaries initiated the 1907 P'yoˇngyang Revival, which stimulated the expansion of Christianity throughout the country. They began Bible classes and prayer meetings that became one of the most significant spiritual practices among Korean Christians. They introduced social work in Korea by establishing social-evangelistic centers. Southern Methodist women missionaries also educated the first Korean female Church historian and attained women's ordination for the first time in the history of Korean Christianity.; Although the dissertation focuses primarily on the work of the missionaries, it also addresses cross-cultural encounters, interactions, and developments between the missionaries and Korean women. The study contends that the missionaries' endeavors for Korean women who had been oppressed by conservative Confucian patriarchal norms resulted in the advancement of Korean women. Influenced by the missionaries, Southern Methodist Korean women reshaped their own identities through education, social work, and conversion to Christianity. They established Christian homes, organized the first women's missionary society, and sent the first Korean woman missionary abroad. Most significantly for Korean history, they played leadership roles in the 1919 Independence Movement against the Japanese colonial government.