Despite his popularity, the Rev. James S. Gale has not been given sufficient scholarly attention. How could it be? It appears that while Gale has been known as a missionary and a scholar of Korean studies, this two-fold identity has not been appreciated in a comprehensively way: scholars tend to interpret two aspects of his identity as contradictory ones or simply juxtaposed ones rather than as mutually interacted ones. In this context, in the area of Korean studies, they have seen him mainly as a Korean expert, without paying attention to his being a missionary; on the other hand, in the realm of Korean Christian studies, they have largely viewed him as a missionary, without properly relating this to his expertise in Korean studies. This article aims to overcome this discrepancy in the understanding of Gale in the contemporary studies, secular and Christian, in Korea. The thesis of this article is that the mutually integrated two-fold identity of Gale is the key to the understanding of his thought and work; that is, he was a scholar of Korean studies as a missionary. Such characteristics of his being a scholar of Korean studies as a missionary can be summarized as follows: first, he prepared himself as a missionary in Korea through cultural identification, through which he gradually overcome his paternalism; second, he equipped himself with expertise in Korean studies, which enabled him to be a first-class cultural missionary, namely, a theologian of missionary indigenization; and last, he bequeathed his legacy as a missionary scholar, which paves the way for Korean studies as mission. Thus, he challenged the understanding of both missionary works and a missionary.

This article is to examine of Duncan M. MacRae’s early missionary work in Korea and its characters. Duncan M. MacRae was born at Cape Breton Island in Canada. In 1897, the Foreign Mission Committee of Canada Presbyterian Church advertised for two missionaries to proceed to Korea. At its February 15 meeting the applications of Dr. Robert Grierson and Mr. William Rufus Foote were received and their appointment was made. Because of the financial difficulties, the application of MacRae was rejected. But when Maritime congregations sent the required funds, the F.M.Committee appointed him to the third member of the first group to go to Korea. Eventually, following graduation from the Presbyterian College in Halifax, Duncan M. MacRae ventured to Korea to do missionary work. MacRae arrived at chemulpo in Korea on September 7, 1898 and arrived in Wonsan Mission Station on February 10, 1899. And then, he constructed Hamheung Mission Station on the northeast coast of Korea in 1904 and lived on Dragon Mountain for almost forty years. In this station, he did the missionary itinerancy around the city of Hamheung to establish church and managed the Christian academy to educate the Korean Christians. The characters of MacRae’s early missionary work at Hamheung Mission Station can be summarized as follows. Firstly, he theologically was a conservative. Through the Canada Presbyterian Church and his mother, MaRae was affected by the traditional Calvinistic doctrines of the sixteenth century and Puritanism of the seventeenth century. Secondly, MacRae faithfully was a vigorous evangelist. Although he did encounter with many danger in a journey, he frequently had gone to the missionary itinerancy to evangelize Koreans. Thus, his vigour and courage for the spread of Gospel made him a legendary figure among koreans. Thirdly, MacRae ecclesiastically aimed at the establishment of independent and indigenized church governed and managed by the native christians. And also, he was quite interested in the Korean traditional culture and religion in order to indigenize Christianity in the Korean soil. Finally, MacRae has an anti-Japanese Sentiment. He has a forceful personality who did not hesitate to risk a security and reputation when he saw Christian beliefs or his beloved Korea jeopardized by the Japanese authorities. For his courage and passionate concern for Koreans, he was respected and admired by Christian and non-Christians.