Korean Covenanters: J. G. Vos, Bruce Hunt, And A Presbyterian Covenant In Manchuria -- By: Namsik Yang

Journal: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal
Volume: RPTJ 04:2 (Spring 2018)
Article: Korean Covenanters: J. G. Vos, Bruce Hunt, And A Presbyterian Covenant In Manchuria
Author: Namsik Yang


Korean Covenanters: J. G. Vos, Bruce Hunt, And A Presbyterian Covenant In Manchuria

Namsik Yang1

Associate Pastor
Los Angeles Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA)

Introduction

The practice of covenanting appears in diverse times and places in the history of the church. One example is found during the Japanese occupation of Korea at the time of World War II. At this time, there was a Korean group which practiced biblical covenanting against Shinto worship. This group, referred to as the “Korean Covenanters,” developed and signed a covenanting statement against Shinto worship. Ministers who subscribed to the covenant led their worship and preached before them. Subscribing lay people could come and participate at the Lord’s table.

The Korean Covenanters worked closely with and were led by Bruce Finley Hunt (1903–1992), a missionary of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), and later of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Hunt had many fellow workers laboring shoulder-to-shoulder for the advancement of God’s Kingdom in East Asia. Among them was Johannes Geerhardus (J. G.) Vos (1903–1983) who graduated the same year (1928) as Hunt from Princeton Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. J. G. Vos, served as a missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), whose members were commonly referred to as Covenanters. Vos was engaged in missionary work with a movement of Chinese Covenanters in Manchuria. In support of the act of covenanting of the Korean Christians in Manchuria, Vos offered wise, biblical contributions toward this political but religious protest.

This paper focuses on understanding the largely untold story of the Korean Covenanters, including the missionary cooperation between Bruce F. Hunt and J. G. Vos. Understanding covenanting as a means for Korean Christians to respond biblically and theologically to a context of persecution by the Imperial Japanese Army provides helpful application for 21st-century Christians. To enable both historical understanding and application, this essay considers the origin and practice of the Korean Covenanters, a brief history of this stream of the Korean church, the lives and relationship of Bruce F. Hunt and J. G. Vos, and the theology of covenanting in the setting of hostile civil magistrates.

Background

The Starting Point: Appearance Of The Term, “Korean Covenanters”

The two terms Korean and Covenanters are usually not linked together. The term Covenanters in church history has generally referred to the Presbyterians in Scotland from 1638 to 1690 who fought against the Stuarts of England ...

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