Samuel Austin Moffett

Life

Moffett was born in Madison, Indiana, and studied at McCormick Theological Seminary. Sent by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Northern Presbyterian), he arrived in Seoul on January 25, 1890, his twenty-sixth birthday. His Korean name, Ma Po-sam-yeol, renders the surname Moffett in Chinese characters; some records give it as Ma Sam-yeol.

From 1893 he made Pyongyang his base and worked mainly in the Pyeongan provinces. Having opposed the Japanese colonial government's imposition of Shinto shrine worship, he left Korea in 1936. He died on October 24, 1939, in Monrovia, California. In 2006, at the request of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), the remains of Moffett and his wife were moved from the United States to the campus of Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul.

Ministry and Accomplishments

• Church planting: In 1893 he began holding worship services in Pyongyang with Han Seok-jin, his helper (josa, a Korean evangelist who assisted a missionary). The resulting Neoldarigol Church was the forerunner of Jangdaehyeon Church. He was also involved in founding several other churches, including Sanjeonghyeon Church.
• Theological education: In 1901, in accordance with a resolution of the Presbyterian Council, he began teaching two students in the guest room of his home. This marked the beginning of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang (Pyongyang Theological Seminary). He served as its first president until 1924. In 1907 its first seven graduates, including Kil Sun-ju, Han Seok-jin, and Yi Ki-pung, became the first Korean Presbyterian ministers. In 1935 he stepped down as chairman of the seminary's board of directors over the shrine worship issue.
• General education: His teaching of students at Neoldarigol Church in 1894 is regarded as the origin of Soongsil School. He served as principal of Soongsil School from 1918 to 1928.
• Church polity: He played a leading role in drafting the Presbyterian constitution in 1907. In 1919 he became moderator of the Eighth General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Chosen.
• Public advocacy: During the 105-Man Incident, he protested to the Governor-General of Korea and informed the Presbyterian headquarters in the United States of the case. At the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, he reported on the state of missions in Korea.

Influence on the Korean Church

Whereas early mission work in Korea had been concentrated mainly in Seoul, Moffett established churches and schools in Pyongyang. He is credited with playing a major part in Pyongyang's coming to be called the "Jerusalem of the East." After the Korean Presbyterian schisms, Pyongyang Theological Seminary became the common root whose tradition Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Chongshin University, Kosin University, and others each claim to continue. For this reason, many Presbyterian denominations in Korea share in honoring his memory. His son, Samuel Hugh Moffett (Korean name Ma Sam-nak), also served as a missionary and became a scholar of the history of Christianity in Asia.

Assessment

Moffett is often called the "father of the Korean Presbyterian Church." In recent years, attention has also turned to his actions during the Japanese colonial period, such as his opposition to Shinto shrine worship and his response to the 105-Man Incident. In 2017 a collection of Moffett source materials, edited and translated under the direction of Sung-Deuk Oak, was published, providing a foundation for research in the primary sources. Some stories associated with him, however, remain unverified. One example is the widely circulated anecdote that Yi Ki-pung threw a stone at him while he was preaching in the street; such accounts remain at the level of tradition.