Kim Dae-hyun

Life

Kim was a native of Yeongil in North Gyeongsang Province. Sources differ on his year of birth, giving either 1873 or 1876. In 1901 he completed his studies at the Government Medical School, and in the same year he was appointed chambong (a low-ranking official post in the Joseon dynasty) at Sungnyeongjeon. He later served as a member of the Heunghae Township Council, a member of the academic affairs committee of Heunghae Public Common School, and dean of Heunghae Myeongsin School, devoting himself to educational work during Korea's enlightenment period.

After converting to Christianity, he moved to Seoul, joined Seungdong Church, and became an elder in 1923. When Chosun Theological Seminary opened in 1940, he became its first president, but according to Hanshin University's official history, he died in September of that year. He was succeeded as president by Yun In-gu.

Ministry and Achievements

In 1938 the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang (commonly called Pyongyang Seminary) closed over the issue of Shinto shrine worship, leaving the Presbyterian Church without an institution for training its ministers. In March 1939, Kim Dae-hyun, Kim Young-ju, Song Chang-geun, and others took the lead in forming the Committee for the Establishment of Chosun Theological Seminary, and Kim Dae-hyun donated funds to create the school's endowment. Sources give differing figures for the amount, such as 300,000 won or 500,000 won. He is known to have set aside his tithes separately under the name "Geum Pil-heon" (金必獻) and to have given them to churches and the seminary.

Because Chosun Theological Seminary was unable to obtain official authorization as a theological school, it was licensed by the governor of Gyeonggi Province as a private institute and began classes at Seungdong Church on April 19, 1940. At its opening, the full-time faculty consisted of Yun In-gu, Kim Jae-jun, and the Japanese pastor Miyauchi Akira (宮內彰). Ham Tae-young is also counted among those who took part in founding the school with Kim Dae-hyun's donation as its financial basis.

Influence on the Korean Church

Chosun Theological Seminary is significant as a theological school funded and operated by Koreans themselves rather than by missionaries. Within the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, this is regarded as the first occasion on which control over ministerial education passed from the missionaries to the Korean church. In 1946 the school became a seminary directly operated by the Southern General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, but this status was revoked at the continued session of the 36th General Assembly in 1951. Following the schisms in Korean Presbyterianism, the school continued as Hanshin University, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea. Hanshin University still honors him as its founder and holds memorial services in his memory.

Assessment

Hanshin University holds that he founded the school out of the conviction that the Korean church should take responsibility for training its own ministers. At the time of the school's founding, some reportedly tried to dissuade him, arguing that for Koreans to establish a separate seminary would slight the contributions of the missionaries.

The school has also been criticized for having been founded during the period of enforced Shinto shrine worship. News & Joy pointed out that the report on the founding of Chosun Theological Seminary, submitted to the General Assembly under Ham Tae-young's name, contained expressions such as "training ministers for the Imperial Nation." It also reported that those credited with opening the school, including Kim Dae-hyun, were not free of involvement in the shrine worship issue. Chosun Theological Seminary offered a theological education distinct from that of Pyongyang Seminary, including the acceptance of biblical criticism. This direction later became the subject of theological controversy within the Presbyterian Church.