James S. Gale (1863-1937), a Protestant missionary to Korea (1888~1927), was well-known for his extensive and profound influence on Korean studies and for his translation of the Cloud Dream of Nine (九雲夢), which was the first Korean classical novel translated into English by a Westerner. However, it is not well-known that Gale published a translation of the Great Learning (Daxue, 1924) and arranged for the publication of the Mean of the Doctrine, the Analects and Mencius. This is because it was known that Gale regarded Chinese characters and Confucian scriptures as obstacles to establishing the Christianity during his early period of mission in Korea. This paper examined the change of Gale’s perspective of Chinese characters and the characteristics of Gale’s Daxue. The analysis compares Gale and James Legg in their translations of the Chinese characters ‘命,’ ‘天,’ ‘明’ and ‘君子’ He employed the pure Korean word ‘Hananim’ for ‘God’ from a traditional Korean religion and its Korean etymology, while he rejected the use of Sino-Korean ‘Sangje上帝’, or ‘Chunju天主’ in the Korean Bible. Gale subsequently translated Daxue from a Korean point of view. However, his Korean perspective is mingled with Christianized concepts, which are illustrated in his translation of ‘命’ as ‘God’s command’ ‘天’ as ‘God’ ‘明’ as ‘glory,’ and ‘君子’ as ‘good man’ and ‘godly man.’

• lee jin sook