19-20세기 조선 사회는 격변의 사회였다. 개화기 시점에서 서양 과의 무역통상 조약을 맺음으로 강제화 된 개방을 해야 했다. 조선개화 와 더불어 19세기 서구 선교사들은 조선에 복음을 전하기 위해 다양한 방법을 통해 입국했지만, 폐쇄적이고 서구 종교에 대해 배타적인 자세 로 일관했던 조선에서 선교는 상당한 어려움을 맞았다. 이러한 입장에 서 19-20세기 서구 개신교 의료선교사들은 조선에 입국하여 병원을 세우고 가난하고 병든 조선 사람들을 치료하고 보살핌으로 조선에서 기독교 형성의 발판을 마련했다. 의료선교는 조선 개신교 형성의 출발 점이 되었으며 신앙 공동체의 모체가 되었다. 또한 조선 사회를 새롭게 변혁시키는 변혁의 주체가 되었다. 의료선교사들은 조선에서의 선교적 헌신을 통해 그리스도의 사랑을 실천했으며, 근대 병원 건립을 통해 선진화된 의료기술을 전수했다. 교육의 불모지지였던 조선에 위생교육 을 통해 복음의 접촉점을 마련했다. 나아가 조선간호협의회를 만들어 여성 리더십을 고취시키는 일 등을 마련함으로 조선 개신교 형성과 선교 사역에 지대한 공헌을 하게 되었다.

이 글은 한국전쟁이 한국 개신교 교회에 준 영향을 규명하고, 이러한 규명을 바탕으로 한국 개신교 교회의 평화선교 과제를 제시하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이 연구의 범위는 한국전쟁이 한국 개신교 교회에 준 영향이다. 이 연구의 방법론은 문헌 연구와 메츠(J. B. Metz)의 위험스러운 기억과 역사의 주체로서의 희생자이다. 희생자의 입장에서 한국전쟁의 결과를 제시한다. 한국 개신교가 한국전쟁으로부터 받은 영향으로 교회 재건과 국가 재건, 개신교 교회의 구조와 성격, 개신교와 국가의 관계, 교회분열과 사이비이단 발흥 등을 다룬다. 한국전쟁의 영향을 받은 한국 개신교의 특징으로 친미반공 이데올로기의 보루, 기복적 신앙, 신학적 성찰 없는 교회성장주의, 교회와 국가의 관계, 개신교 우파의 등장과 정치참여, 신학적 영향을 제시한다. 한국 개신교의 평화선교 과제로 죄고백, 회심, 전쟁 기억 치유를 통한 민족화해, 민간인 학살 진상규명, 올바른 한일관계 수립, 희년을 이루는 교회 10년, 베트남 민간인 학살 진상규명과 사과, 평화신학과 평화선교신학 수립, 평화교육, 민족의 코이노니아, 군축과 평화체제로의 전환 등을 제시한다.

This article aims to analyze the features of early christianity mission and mission tasks in Jeonju region. The mission in Jeonju started with the seven missionaries who were sent by the overseasmission department of the Southern Presbyterian Church of America(SPCA) in 1892. They arrived in Jemulpo in November 1892, and were assigned to Honam area. And they started their mission works in 1893. At that time, people in Jeonbuk were in the depths despair under the failure of Donghak revolution. In this dark period, people were lured to newlyemerged religions such as Jeungsangyo, Cheondogyo( Donghak), and Wonbuddhism. These religions were surprisingly originated in Jeonbuk area when the Buddhism and Confucianism were hopeless and became weak. So, the first feature of mission in Jeonju is that christianity started the mission work and approached to people as hope under this situation. Another feature of mission in Jeonju is that the triangle mission station which are based on the church, school and hospital was formed in Jeonjumission station. SPCA in 1893 purchased a house in Eunsongri, Jeonju for future purpose. This house became the place for worship later and gave birth to motherchurch( called as Seomoon church) in Honam. In 1902, Mattie B. Ingold and Mr. Harrison established Jeonju hospital on the mission site which is known to ‘Jesus’ hospital now. In 1899, missionary Harrison taught a few boys churcheducation on Sunday and he also started training 8 boys with his language teacher. From 1900, missionary Reynolds, the founder of ‘Shinheung’ school, started the regular curriculum at his house with his wife, Bolling. From April 24, 1900, Mattie Tate started training 12 girls churcheducation and regular curriculum twice a week at her house. This was the beginning of ‘Kijeon’ girls’ mission school. The third feature is that the activity of local layman missionaries were great. The early mission strategy of protestant in Korea adopted the ‘Nevius’ plan which are based on the ‘Three Self Principles’. This Nevius plan was very helpful to mission work by the layman at that time because there were absolutely short of leaders like pastor. Therefore, there are some mission tasks to solve for world mission in Jeonju region. First of all, churches in Jeonju region are to change their goals from expansion of each denomination to Missio Dei. In Missio Dei, the subject of mission is God, not the church. Also, the purpose of mission is the expansion of kingdom of God, not the church. And it is not the glory of church but the glory of God through His Son in Holy Spirit. Therefore the authentic mission is expanding the kingdom of God, not the church and setting the sovereignty of God firmly. Thus Missio Dei made the theological cofoundation between evangelical and ecumenical and opened up the interdenominational cooperation for world mission. Second, the mission needs to be shifted from the salvation of soul to holistic mission. The early christianity mission in Jeonju was the mission based on the social service with the church, school and hospital, but it was different from the Missio Dei which builds up the sovereignty of Christ. Early missionaries enlightened the people by education, evangelism, and bible distribution, and also they did medical work for aid and service. But it was a way for the salvation of soul, not today's holistic way. The holistic mission through social welfare is just to help the poor, to heal the wound, and to fill the poverty, and it is the anticipation about a new life, a new community and a freely world in the kingdom of God. The Missio Dei, which aims for the kingdom of God, should be the holistic mission. It should be changed from an individual salvation to a whole man salvation and social salvation. Third, It should be ecumenical mission with local people together. There was a surprising revival in the early Korean church but it was relatively slow in Jeonju which was assigned as the mission region to SPCA because it was the local culture of confucianism and rooted male domination and the antiecumenical theology of SPCA. Mattie Ingold who laid the foundation of Jesus hospital, is an example. Therefore, Mission plan has to be made in a most appropriate way to do the ecumenical cooperation among the ministers. Especially, the overseas Korean missionaries have reported that the biggest problem is the conflicts among themselves. It shows us how desperately urgent the ecumenical cooperation needs.

『The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal』에 기고했던 재중 선교사 티모티 리차드, 존 로스, 및 D. Z. 셰필드의 글들은 19세기에 맺어진 서구열강과 중국 간의 조약들, 그 조약에 포함된 선교적 권리들, 그리고 선교사의 향후 태도에 대하여 서로 다른 견해를 보여준다. 리차드는, ‘조약권리’ 중 기독교 선교와 관련된 항목들이 본국 외교부와 중국 관료들에 의해 이행되지 않으면서 더 많은 중국 신자들의 박해가 일어나고 선교에 큰 장애가 되어왔다고 간주하여, 동 권리의 이행 및 법 개정을 위한 외교부의 노력을 주장하였다. 그는 ‘신자들의 종교자유권’, ‘선교사의 내지거주권’, 그리고 박해자의 처벌을 포함하는 ‘신자 및 선교사 보호권’을 강력히 요구하였다. 그의 주장은 선교현장에서 ‘선교의 자유’를 충분히 얻지 못하고 있던 개신교 선교사공동체의 내적인 딜레마를 잘 보여주고 있지만, 또한 그의 제국주의적 서구의 중국침탈에 대한 인식의 결여를 잘 보여준다. 로스는, 선교사들이 서구열강의 억압으로 쥐어짜낸 ‘조약권리’에서 나오는 선교적 권리를 포기하고, 신자들과 비신자간에 일어난 분쟁을 해결하기 위하여 공사관의 권력에 의지하지 말며, 극단적인 박해사건에 개입하되 관리들과의 ‘직접적인 대화’를 통하여 ‘우호적인 방식’으로 문제를 해결할 것을 제안하였다. 그의 견해는 서구 제국주의의 본질을 통찰하고 중국인들의 입장을 고려하고자 하는 것이다. 그 역시 텐진조약이 가져다 준 북부항구의 개방이라는 외교적 조건 안에서 기독교 선교를 수행하는 한계를 안고 있었지만, 선교적 문제해결에서 ‘가장 덜 제국주의적인 방식’의 해결을 제안하였다. 이와 달리, 셰필드는, 기독교선교와 문명의 전파를 위하여 서구국가가 역할을 해야 한다고 역설하였다. 기독교신앙과 진보정신 그리고 우월한 인종을 보유한 서구기독교국가의 선교는 독자적인 가치를 지니며 서구국가들 및 중국의 보호를 받을 만하다고 보았다. 기독교 선교의 방법으로써 말(word)과 힘(power)을 제안하는 셰필드의 견해는 매우 가부장적이며, 나아가 서구제국주의에 대한 무비판적인 태도를 보여준다. 리차드, 로스, 그리고 셰필드는 청말의 동시대에 중국선교사로 일하였지만, 중국의 조약법 및 기독교선교를 위한 조약법의 이행에 대하여 매우 다른 견해를 가졌음을 보여준다.

Korea is recognized home and abroad as a country where various religions exist without conflict or enmity which is rare in the world. However, it's certain that Korea is one of the country where social conflict can happen caused by religious conflict or enmity at any time. The conflict and enmity among religions are already deep and it can’t be solved by temporary measure. It will be difficult to overcome this problem without continuous and honest conversations among religions. This study was done with this issue and I aim at finding the new way for conversation and collaboration to reach peace among religions. In Korea, the portion of protestantism and buddhism is biggest and these two religions have the most serious conflict between them. In this situation, I analyzed two survey results. One is ‘the survey for social credit to Korean churches’ done by ‘Christian Ethics Movement of Korea’ with the aim of “evaluating the social credit of Korean churches and finding a way to enhance it.” The other is ‘social culture in Korea and survey of people about religion’ done by ‘Buddhism Society Institute,’ affiliated by Jogye Order of Korean Buddhist with the aim of “finding a indicator for religions in Korea including buddhism and to utilize as a fundamental data on social culture and religion in Korea.” The result of the study shows that the future of Korea churches will be pessimistic if they continue church individualism and aggressive evangelism for the growth of church. It is an urgent task to reform such a image. The way to reach the harmony and co-existence for the peace among religions may be different but being different does not mean wrong. I believe that we can reach harmony with the spirit of ‘Hwa-i-bu-dong’(peace in difference) which is admitting and respecting others. In this era, community spirit is required for rebuilding of community. Religion is not an exception of it. Furthermore, religion has more responsibility and duty compared to other sectors in the society to enhance community spirit and social spirit. Like this, it can be the way to reach the ultimate goal or original function of the religion. For conversation and collaboration among religions, the authenticity from the deep inside of people’s heart is required absolutely.

Since 1884, many western Protestant missionaries came to Korea. The missionaries initially treated of the spiritual perspective of Koreans as superstitious and ignorance-oriented. Especially in the field of medicine, the Western perspective seemed to be far advanced than the Korean traditional perspective. According to the Korean traditional view, sicknesses was in many cases caused by intrusions of spiritual beings. Therefore, to cure the sick, one had to cast out those spiritual beings out of the bodies through placations or by force. With such perceptions, Korean people were not able to overcome the hard situations caused by the contagious diseases such as pestilence, small pox, and typoid fever. Western missionaries could take advantage on those matters in order to help Koreans and thereby achieving the trust of Korean government. Even though Western science and medicine proved their effectiveness through such medical works, excessive reliance can cause one to fall into the idolatry of worshipping medicine instead of God. Throughout the development in the area of science and technology, Westerners have tended to look everything through the scientific perspectives. Through such trends Western societies were believed to run the course of secularization throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. God and His supernatural world have been marginalized especially in public areas. According to Professor Paul G. Hiebert, even missionaries with severe Western cultural backgrounds have difficulties in understanding the spirit world of the native people. Early missionaries to Korea were not exceptions. They also had difficulties when they first met the Koreans and tried to understand their spiritual view points. In contrast to the Westerners who generally do not recognize the spiritual beings around them, the Koreans recognized the spiritual beings such as ghosts, ancestors in almost every aspect of their lives. Koreans were famous in maintaining the practices related to such spiritual beings throughout their ancient history. When the missionaries first observed practices related to the spiritual beings, they judged Koreans to be ingnorant or superstitious. However, the missionaries continuously tried to understand the people and their worldviews. When they were unable to understand the Korean worldview on the spiritual beings, they resorted not to the Western naturalistic perspective but to the Bible. Through comparison between the Korean traditional perspectives and the Biblical perspectives, they discovered that the Biblical perspectives were more similar to the Korean traditional perspectives. And with careful observation and examination of the Korean ministers’ deliverance works, they changed their thought about the spirit world. The demons and spiritual beings which were regarded to harass Korean people were not supterstitions or fatacies. They were real beings confirmed by the Bible. The native Korean ministers contributed a lot in the paradigm shift from Western perspective to the Korean perspective on the reality of spiritual beings. The Korean ministers viewed the Bible differently. They believed Bible stories where the possessed were released by Jesus and his disciples. The faith of Korean ministers proved to be simple and firm enough to follow the practices of Jesus and his disciples in casting out demons. When the missionaries heard about the stories of deliverances by the Korean ministers and believers, they did not stop but rather carefully examined such behaviors in light of the Bible. The final criteria of missionaries were not the western but the Biblical perspective. With such criteria, they accepted and recognized the deliverance ministries of the Korean believers. Some missionaries, when asked if they could cast out demons out of troubled, succeeded in the deliverance ministries. In my estimation, the Nevius mission plan contributed greatly in making harmony and cooperation between the missionaries and the Korean ministers. God brought Koreans who were troubled with spiritual bondage into the Kingdom of God through such faithful servants of God. The reasons the early protestant missionaries to Korea brought such great success in evangelizing Korea were foremost their deep reliance to the Bible as the Word of God and secondly their deep understanding of Koreans and their ways of thinking.

Animism was prevalent among people when Protestant missionaries first came to Korea. Since then, Protestant mission brought in great results among Koreans characterized by worshipping spiritual beings. Therefore, by examining the conversion pattern carefully in the materials written by missionaries as well as Korean Christians, one can easily find the significance of “power encounter”. Korean animists are very conscious of “power,” which is believed to be located in the spiritual beings, i.e. gods, ancestors and ghosts. Korean animists believe that the world is populated with lots of spiritual beings surrounding their environment. They not only have lots of traditions related to spiritual beings, but also serve many spirits in homes as well as in their villages. They are afraid of the spiritual beings and try to have good relationships with them. They also believe that anger or jealousy from the spiritual beings cause their everyday calamities. To overcome the problems, they either have to propitiate the spiritual beings with food or materials or coerce them through more powerful spiritual beings. In this context of spirit worship, the Gospel was very difficult to be accepted wholeheartedly by Korean animists. When they thought about accepting the Gospel, they had to deal with the retaliation from the spiritual beings they had formerly served. To accept Christ, they had to confront those spiritual beings. As soon as they accepted the Gospel, the title of the spiritual beings became negative such as “Satan” or “devil”. So they burnt fetishes like clothes, potteries, papers which were considered as the locations where the spiritual beings reside. Burning those fetishes terrorized lots of people who gathered around. Those who accepted the Gospel through such confrontation initially met persecutions from their family as well as their neighbors. But the early Korean Christians had persevered and ultimately overcame persecutions. Only when the family which had burnt those fetishes survived and ever thrived through the processes did family members confirm that God is more powerful than the spiritual beings. The story of the “power encounter” ran rapidly through relatives and neighbors. These kinds of illustrations of “power encounter” resulted in a paradigm shift among the people. They decided to accept the Gospel and became Christians. In short, “power encounter” engendered “people movement” toward Christ. Missiologist Alan R. Tippett’s thesis, the conversion of the animists are through the power encounter types of evangelism, is firmly proved by examining the Korean animists. As Tippett mentioned through his research among Melanesians and Polynesians that “power encounter” brought about “people movement” toward Christ, so did “power encounter” among Korean animists also result in “people movement” toward Christ. Although the animistic beliefs among Koreans nowadays are reduced in comparison to the period of first Protestant missions, many Koreans still resort to divinations and shamanistic rituals. Even many Buddhists seem to have animistic belief rather than the pure Buddhistic concept or perspective. So to approach the Buddhistic people with the Gospel, one has to be prepared with God’s power rather than with one’s knowledge about Buddhistic philosophy. Lessons we received from the Korean animists’ conversion experiences could be wisely applied when we evangelize the Buddhistic people. However, many cases of syncretism and backsliding to heretical movements are also found in Korean church history. When the process of “power encounter” is neglected or by-passed, chances of falling into such pitfalls are high. Without vivid confrontation with the deities which were served before, they cannot commit wholeheartedly to Christ. They can easily slide back to their traditional beliefs and become victims to heretical movements. To escape such negative influence from traditional belief systems, God’s servants working among animists have to examine carefully not to miss nor by-pass the process of “power encounter”. Also they have to consider carefully how to nurture believers with animistic backgrounds. Without appropriate nurturing, new believers with animistic backgrounds can easily backslide to their traditional beliefs. Upon the Word of God, their animistic perspectives and value systems have to be transformed to fit into the Biblical ones. Korean people were blessed when they accepted the Gospel and became God's people. They realized their mission sincerely and have tried to fulfill the great commission. They tried to be used by God especially for the worldwide evangelization. Even today there are many animists all over the world. For them, Koreans' experiences of turning from animists to God's people, can be utilized strategically. One who is thinking about evangelizing the animists over the world can use the “power encounter“ tactics and become a faithful servant of God. The conversion patterns of the Korean Christians can be used effectively in evangelizing the animists of the world when they get wisdom from early Korean Christians’ experiences.

Since Korea disclaimed to open the ports, Korean architecture has met the impetuous transformation. Although there would be various factors of this transformation, the new-coming architecture by missionary seemed to be a significant one, and many researches have been carried out on this theme in diverse viewpoints. However, because these researches have preponderated on the Catholic tradition, it is deficient for clarify the whole history of mission architecture. Therefore, this research has the meaning to enrich the history of Korean modern architecture by making balance. First of all, this paper is focused on the activities of one missionary, Graham Lee. He is a practical missionary at the beginning, his architecture made a critical influence in Korean traditional architecture. Graham Lee was born in Rock Island, Illinois, 1861, and he determined to become a missionary through grown up. He spent his boyhood by working as a plumber for his purpose and studied in a university afterward. Graduating of McComick Theological Seminary, he was nominated as a pioneer of Pyeng Yang Mission Station and set foot in Korea, September of 1892. Since then he started to erect missionary facilities in Pyeng Yang, such as Well House(1898), Pyeng Yang Central Church(1900-1901), Pyeng Yang Academy(1902). These all his works are designed with eclectic style which shows western and Korean traditional style intermingled. This unique characteristic made a profound influence to the Korean mission architecture afterwards. Especially, the L-type plan of Pyeng Yang Central Church, which is first shown by him, is recognized very unique, and this plan type had been spread all over the country. Therefore the L-type plan became the peculiar feature of the early Korean churches. Furthermore, working with Korean carpenters, he taught them new skills of modem buildings. After that, they were expanded out northern part of Korea and took the roles of master builders. According to this expansion, his particular style had got spread and had been settled as a unique eclectic style in Korean modern architecture. In the conclusion, he is evaluated to be a critical pioneer missionary, who left a big influence on the frame work of Korean modern architecture in the transitional times.

본 연구의 목적은 초기 내한 선교사들이 한국 무속신앙을 어떻게 이해 했는지를 보다 종합적으로 살펴보는 것이다. 지금까지 몇몇 연구자들이 선교사들의 한국 무속 이해를 간략하게 언급하였고, 선교사들의 한국 종교 이해를 다룬 연구도 있었다. 그러나 무속신앙에 초점을 맞추어 보다 체계적으로 분석한 것은 존재하지 않는다. 그런 의미에서 본 연구는 초기 선교사들이 무속신앙을 어떻게 이해했는지를 살펴볼 수 있는 하나의 창을 제공한다. 본 연구는 선교사들이 인식한 한국 종교 체계 속에서 무속신앙의 위치를 다룬다. 한국인들이 무속신앙을 어떻게 느꼈다고 선교사들이 인식했는지도 다룬다. 한국인들의 무속신앙 인식에 따른 다양한 행동들도 분석한다. 한국인들의 무속신앙 속에서 선교사들이 기복주의를 발견했음도 살펴본다. 악귀와 관련된 다양한 무속신앙의 치유방법들이 선교사들에게 목격되었음도 살펴본다. 그리고 선교사들이 무속신앙을 비판적으로 인식하며 대결의 대상으로 삼았음도 확인한다. 본 연구의 방법론은 문헌연구이다. 선교사들은 한국 선교 경험을 토대로 책을 저술하였고, 편지, 잡지, 일기를 통해 그들의 무속신앙에 대한 견해를 드러냈다. 이러한 자료들을 분석하여 선교사들의 이해를 분석하여 정리하게 될 것이다.

19세기에 중국에서 활동한 개신교 선교사들은 가톨릭교회의 선교에 비 해서 그들의 선교가 여러 측면에서 불리한 조건을 가지고 있었음을 인식하 였다. 그러므로 그들은 선교현장에서 의도적으로 개신교회가 ‘성서의 종교’ 임을 강조하고, 성서를 번역하는 일에 최우선 순위를 두었으며 성서를 보 급하는 일에 노력하였는데 이는 개신교 선교부의 가톨릭교회와의 차별화 전략에 속한다고 볼 수 있다. 가톨릭교회가 초기에는 ‘선교보호권’(宣敎保 護權)을 중심으로, 1622년부터는 포교성성(布敎聖省)을 중심으로 하여 국 가 및 교황청을 중심으로 하여 아시아 및 중국선교를 수행하였던 것과는 달리 개신교 선교사들은 대체적으로 자발적 선교회 등을 중심으로 하여 국 가 또는 강력한 교회중심체제로부터 벗어나 선교를 수행하였다. 일부의 현 상이나마, 가톨릭교회가 기독교를 선점한 중국에서 그리고 당시 직접적 복 음전도의 자유가 없던 중국에서 개신교 선교사들의 최선의 전략은 성서원 문으로부터의 성서번역과 보급이었으며 이는 종교개혁의 후예로서 자신들 의 정체성과도 일치하는 일이었다. 로버트 모리슨의 번역본을 시작으로 첫 100여년동안 8개의 다른 중국어번역본을 출판한 개신교의 열정이 그들의 성서에 대한 관심을 증거한다. 그러나, 대립되는 성서판본을 출판할 수밖에 없었던 개신교회의 불일치성은 오늘날 진지한 성찰을 요구하기도 한다.

한국 기독교 선교의 기원에 관해 관심을 갖고 있는 몇몇 개신교 단체들은 최근 올해 2014년을 한국기독교 130주년으로 정하고, 이를 기념하려고 노력하고 있다. 그러나 이러한 중대한 역사적 사건을 기념하기 전에, 우리는 1) 용어 사용의 문제, 2) 역사관의 중요성, 그리고 3) 첫 번째 선교사에 대한 논쟁 등과 같은 문제들을 주의 깊게 연구해 보아야 한다. 가장먼저 우리는 ‘기독교(Christianity)’의 의미를 고려한 후, 우리가 사용하는 용어가 과연 적절한가를 살펴보아야 한다. 일반적으로 기독교란 ‘예수를 그리스도로 믿는 사람들의 모임이나 그 상태’를 의미한다. 그래서 기독교는 로마 카톨릭 교회, 동방정교회, 성공회, 그리고 개신교회를 모두 다 포함하는 매우 포괄적인 용어이다. 만일 한국에서 가장먼저 선교역사가 시작된 천주교의 역사의 시작점인 1784년을 한국기독교의 시작점으로 본다면, 올해는 한국기독교 130주년이 아니라 230주년이 되어야 할 것이다. 그러므로 만일 올해 2014년도를 한국 기독교 전체가 아닌 개신교 차원에서만 기념하려 한다면, ‘한국기독교 130주년’이 아닌, ‘한국개신교 130주년’이라는 슬로건을 사용해야 할 것이다. 또한 우리들은 역사를 이해함에 있어서 역사관의 중요성에 관해서 반드시 인지해야 한다. 일반적으로 말해서, 한국에서는 한국교회사 혹은 한국선교역사를 연구함에 있어서 크게 ‘선교사 중심의 역사이해’와 ‘한국인 중심의 역사이해’라는 두 개의 역사관이 존재한다고 볼 수 있다. 한국인 중심의 역사이해를 하려는 사람들은 1884년 이전에 주로 중국이나 일본에서 초기 선교사들과의 만남을 통해 개신교 신앙을 접한 초기 한국인들(예를들어, 백홍준의 아버지, 이응찬, 김진기, 서상륜, 서경조, 이수정)에게 관심을 많이 갖고 있다. 물론 이들 한국인들은 한국 개신교 신앙의 개척자들로서 한국개신교 선교를 위해 다방면에서 공헌을 한 점은 인정한다. 그러나 그들이 진정한 기독교인 이었는지, 그리고 한국에 교회를 설립한 것이 맞는지는 의심의 여지가 있다. 바로 이런 점들 때문에 어떤 이들은 한국개신교 역사의 시작은 외국 선교사들의 한국입국과 깊은 관련이 있다고 생각한다. 그러나 한국에 온 첫 번째 개신교 선교사가 누구인가에 관해서는 여전히 논쟁점들이 존재한다. 찰스 귀츨라프는 1832년에 그리고 로버트 토마스는 1866년에 한국에 처음 도착한 것은 역사적으로 분명한 사실이다. 그럼에도 불구하고 이들이 과연 진정한 선교사였는가에 대해서는 명확한 입장이 아직 정리되지 않았다. 왜냐하면 그들이 한국에 올 때, 서구 제국주의 혹은 식민주의자들과 함께, 그리고 그들의 조력자로 한국에 왔기 때문이다. 바로 이런 이유 때문에 한국 교회사학계와 교회들에서는 1880년대에 한국에 온 선교사들 가운데에서 그 첫번째 선교사를 찾으려고 한다. 한국감리교의 초대 총리사였던 양주삼은 1880년대 한국에 온 선교사들 중에 로버트 매클레이를 첫 번째 개신교선교사로 보고 있다. 왜냐하면 매클레이가 1884년에 고종으로부터 감리교를 포함한 모든 개신교 선교사들의 선교(의료, 교육)에 관해 공식적으로 허락을 받았기 때문이다. 특히 매클레이가 보여준 한국정부와 한국 사람들을 대하는 정중한 태도는 오늘날 한국 개신교회들에게 매우 긍정적인 교훈을 주기 때문에, 우리는 매클레이를 한국에 온 첫 번째 개신교 선교사라고 고려할 수 있다고 생각한다.