John Ross

Life

Ross was born in 1842 in northern Scotland, the son of a tailor. Sources differ on his exact date of birth. His native language was Gaelic. From 1865 to 1869 he studied at the United Presbyterian Theological Hall in Edinburgh, and he ministered in churches in the Highlands. In 1872 he was sent out as a missionary of the United Presbyterian Church and ordained as a minister. He married that same year and settled in Yingkou (Newchwang), Manchuria. In 1873 his wife died shortly after giving birth to a son. He later made Shenyang (Mukden) his base, where he is said to have founded the Dongguan Church. In 1894 he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Glasgow. After retiring in 1910 because of ill health, he served as an elder in a church in Edinburgh. He died in 1915 and was buried in Newington Cemetery in Edinburgh.

Ministry and Achievements

• Mission in Manchuria: Ross evangelized across a wide region and trained local believers as church workers. He put into practice the principles that the church should support itself financially (self-support), spread the gospel by its own efforts (self-propagation), and govern itself (self-government).
• Korean language and Korean studies: In 1874 he visited Goryeomun (the Korean Gate), the border gateway between Joseon and Qing China, where he met Korean merchants. In 1876 he began learning Korean from Yi Eung-chan, a merchant from Uiju. He published a Korean primer in English (1877) and a Korean grammar (1882). In 1879 he published History of Corea, which is regarded as the first history of Korea written in a Western language.
• Bible translation: Ross worked on the translation with his fellow missionary John MacIntyre and with Koreans including Yi Eung-chan, Seo Sang-ryun, Baek Hong-jun, and Kim Jin-gi. In 1882 they published the Gospel of Luke (Yesu Seonggyo Nugabogeum Jeonseo) and the Gospel of John, and in 1887 they published Yesu Seonggyo Jeonseo, a translation of the entire New Testament. This translation is known as the "Ross Version." Although it was based on the Chinese Bible, it was written in Hangul, the script that ordinary people could read. It used Haneunim/Hananim as the term for God, and it is also known as the first work to introduce spacing between words in Korean writing.

Influence on the Korean Church

Colporteurs (people who sold or distributed Bibles while evangelizing) carried copies of the Ross Version into Korea. As a result, communities of believers had already formed in a number of places before official missionaries arrived. Later, Horace Underwood and Henry Appenzeller traveled through the northwestern region, guided by evangelists whom Ross had trained, and there they met people asking for baptism. The principles of self-support, self-propagation, and self-government that Ross practiced in Manchuria are consistent with the Nevius Mission Plan, which later became the policy of the Presbyterian mission in Korea. Today his grave is visited by many Koreans.

Assessment

Ross is regarded as the "father" of the Protestant churches in both Manchuria and Korea. He never lived or ministered in Korea, however, and scholars place different emphases on the question of whether he should be considered "Korea's first missionary." He was tolerant toward Confucianism and Chinese ancestral rites, holding that decisions about traditional customs belonged to the local church. This position differs from the mainstream view of the Korean church, which has strictly prohibited ancestral rites (see Ancestral Rites and Memorial Services). Studies have also examined the characteristics and limitations of his understanding of Korean history.