Horace N. Allen, a missionary, established the first Western hospital in Korea, Je Jung Won, when he arrived at Jo Sun in September 1884. He also opened the first medical school to teach Western medicine. The hospital and medical education was developed rapidly by Oliver R. Avison. In the history of Severance Medical Center, Avison’s greatness can be found in three aspects. Firstly, he served the Korean people by his medical work throughout his life. Secondly, he developed an autonomous system for handing down Western medicine to Korean people, ensuring the continuation of his medical work to Korean people. Thirdly, he prepared and educated the Korean people in Western medicine without any pause or reservation for himself. Of these three, the third is the most distinctive achievement of Avison. He regarded the Koreans as the initiater of the medicine in Korea, not as child-like objects for education as other missionaries generally viewed them. It was because he was free from the confining racial prejudice of considering the Korean people as the inferiors to be pitied. Then what was the power in Avison’s faith that distinguished him from others? It was his understanding that the essence of faith was the power of the Christian passion that deeply sympathizes with the sick, the weak, and the alienated, as their own suffering, and lovingly serving neighbors to improve their lives as humans. He also had the political and religious convictions of democracy, that everyone was equal as the children of God. Cultivating the Severance Medical Center into a large tree was not the blind desire of efficacy and profit, which is the general perception. Paradoxically, it has grown through the power of non-profitable, loving commitment and serving. This is the very reason to pursue the spirit of the Severance Medical Center and to faithfully adhere to its historical tradition. Even today, Jesus Christ is calling us to the Word of the truth that human beings can not live by bread alone.

• 양현혜(이화여자대학교) | Yang Hyun-Hye