Methodist Theological University

Overview

Methodist Theological University is a theological university that trains pastors and church workers for the Korean Methodist Church; it is commonly known by the Korean abbreviation Gamsindae. The school describes itself as the first institution of theological education established in Korea. Its undergraduate programs include majors in theology, Christian education, and philosophy of religion, and its graduate schools comprise a general graduate school, a graduate school of theology, and a graduate school of pastoral theology.

Founding and History

In an 1888 report to his home mission board, Henry Appenzeller, a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church (the Northern Methodist church in the United States), wrote that he had been teaching theology to Korean students at Pai Chai Hakdang since September 1887. On this basis, the school regards 1887 as its founding year. In 1907 the theological program separated from Pai Chai Hakdang and opened as the Union Methodist Theological Seminary, a school for men operated jointly by the mission boards of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1910 the school purchased its present site in Naengcheon-dong.

In 1925 the seminary merged with the Union Methodist Women's Theological Seminary, which had trained women, and according to the school's official history it was renamed Methodist Theological Seminary in 1931. The school effectively closed during the final years of Japanese colonial rule and reopened after Korea's liberation. Its subsequent history is as follows:

• 1959: Hong Hyeon-seol was installed as the first president (hakjang).
• 1964: The school received government approval as the four-year Methodist Theological College.
• 1971: The school received authorization to establish a regular graduate school.
• 1993: The school was renamed Methodist Theological University, and the title of its head was changed from hakjang (college president) to chongjang (university president).
• 1997: The school received authorization to establish the Graduate School of Pastoral Theology (M.Div.), a program for training pastors.

Major Activities

The school's central mission is the training of pastors, and since 1975 it has published the academic journal Theology and the World (Sinhakgwa Segye). It is reported to have opened the first undergraduate major in philosophy of religion in Korea in 1982. The school also takes historical pride in the fact that seven of the Thirty-Three National Representatives of the March First Movement were among its alumni. The oldest building on campus is Taksa Memorial Hall, built as a dormitory in 1910. It is named after Taksa, the pen name of Choi Byung-hun, an alumnus and early Korean theologian.

Governance and Organization

The university is operated by the Methodist Theological Seminary Foundation, its educational corporation, and is a theological university run directly by the Korean Methodist Church. Its board of trustees has been reported to include the denomination's bishops and the president of the alumni association, among others.

Controversies and Assessment

The 1992 heresy trial: The Committee for the Defense of Methodist Doctrine filed charges against President Byun Sun-hwan and Professor Hong Jung-soo. In response, the trial committee of the Seoul Annual Conference of the Korean Methodist Church sentenced both men on May 7, 1992, to excommunication, the denomination's most severe penalty. The grounds for excommunication were that they had advocated religious pluralism, the view that salvation may also be found in other religions, as well as postmodern theology. Some regarded the verdict as a measure to safeguard doctrine. Byun, for his part, rejected the claim that his theology of indigenization (a theology that seeks to articulate the gospel through Korean culture and modes of thought) was heretical. Criticism that ecclesiastical authority suppressed academic freedom continues to be voiced in some church circles.

Internal conflicts: Campus unrest in 1982 and 1985 led to the resignations of the presidents then in office. In 1994 President Koo Duk-kwan stepped down following a student campaign for his resignation. In 2016 dysfunction on the board of trustees prevented the selection of a successor president, and it was not until October 2017 that Kim Jin-doo was elected the fourteenth president. More recently, it has been reported that the board has gone nearly two years without selecting new trustees or a board chair, disrupting the school's operations.