William D. Reynolds

Life

Reynolds was born in 1867 in Virginia. After graduating from Hampden-Sydney College in 1887, he worked as a teacher and also studied at Johns Hopkins University. In 1890 he entered Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, a Southern Presbyterian school. In 1891, while still a seminarian, he attended a national convention of theological students on foreign missions, where he heard Horace Underwood and Yun Chi-ho speak about mission work in Korea. He is said to have resolved to become a missionary to Korea after hearing these addresses. He was also influenced by the Student Volunteer Movement.

On November 3, 1892, he arrived at Chemulpo with six other Southern Presbyterian missionaries. He retired in 1937, returned to the United States, and died in 1951. His wife, Patsy Bolling, worked alongside him in Seoul, Jeonju, Mokpo, and Pyongyang.

Ministry and Accomplishments

• Preparing the Honam mission and pastoral ministry: While in Seoul, he drew up the Southern Presbyterian plan for mission work in the Honam region. In 1894 he traveled throughout Jeolla Province to survey possible sites for mission stations and purchased land in Jeonju and Mokpo. He also opened his home near Seodaemun in Seoul as a place of worship, holding services there every Sunday. In 1897 he moved with his family to Jeonju, where he pastored Jeonju Church (later Seomunbak Church). From 1902 he lived in Seoul because of his Bible translation work, and in 1908 he returned to Jeonju Church and organized its board of officers (a council of the church's office-bearers).
• Bible translation: He took part in translation work for forty-three years, from 1893 to 1936, longer than any other translator of the Korean Bible. He is regarded less as the translator of particular books than as the one who gave the final polish to all sixty-six books of the Bible. His involvement extended from the 1911 Complete Bible (Seonggyeong Jeonseo) to the 1938 Revised Bible (Seonggyeong Gaeyeok).
• Theological education: Beginning in 1906, he lectured at Pyongyang Presbyterian Theological Seminary. From 1917 to 1937 he taught languages and systematic theology (the discipline that presents Christian doctrine in an orderly, systematic form) at the seminary, and he also served as editor of the theological journal Sinhak Jinam (The Theological Review).
• Church organization: He served as president of the Presbyterian Council of Missions, formed jointly by the Presbyterian missionaries. He also took an active part in the work of the Independent Presbytery and the General Assembly.

Influence on the Korean Church

The Bible translation that Reynolds refined over many years became the foundation for the Bible translations later used by Korean Protestants. Jeonju Church, where he first served as pastor, is regarded as the "mother church" from which the churches of the Honam region grew. In addition, because he taught systematic theology at Pyongyang Presbyterian Theological Seminary for more than twenty years and edited Sinhak Jinam, he influenced the theological formation of early Korean Presbyterian ministers.

Assessment

Reynolds is remembered chiefly as a Bible translator and a professor of systematic theology. Accordingly, much of the research on him draws on his theology to examine the theological identity of Pyongyang Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Some scholars note, however, that his pastoral work in the field, such as in Jeonju, is less well known than his other ministries. Few explicit critiques of his work have yet been systematically documented.