This paper is on Sung Il Choi’s book, John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and Its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea, published in Korea in 2024. This was a Korean translation of his English dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1992. Therefore, I started with the review question at the beginning, “Why is it necessary to review this work, despite it being a 32-year-old contribution to the field?” Then I proceeded to the main point of this book. It consisted of six chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One provides a general overview of the historical, socio-cultural, and religious conditions in which the Word of God was introduced in Korea. Chapter Two deals with a biographical sketch of John Ross and his initial contact with Koreans, which led him to do the translation of the New Testament in Korean. In Chapter Three, the procedure of Bible translation, period of translation principles and methods of translation, and its publication and distribution are discussed. In addition to these, the major criticism and eventual use and impact of the Ross Version are also discussed in this chapter. Through analysis of the Ross Version in Chapter Four, the basis of translation is verified and the intelligibility of the Ross Version is especially examined according to the major critical frameworks. In Chapter Five, the result of the Bible translation is determined by examining the formation of early Korean Christian communities. This examination helped to define the central characteristics of the Korean Protestant Church: Bible centered, lay oriented, and self-sustained. In Chapter Six, in order to find out where these characteristics came from, the Nevius mission method is cross-examined with the Ross’s mission methods in relation to the so-called “three-self” principles. Through this case study of the Korean mission history, the place of the Bible is reaffirmed as being the origin of the Christian Church. In conclusion, I return to the question at the beginning, “Why review this 32-year-old work now?” My first regret lies in the fact that it took more than three decades for a Korean translation of Sung Il Choi’s book to finally emerge. Had this translation been available sooner, it would have undoubtedly provided a broader foundation of data and themes for the generation of rising scholars who have been active since the early 2000s. Nevertheless, despite these lingering regrets, I wish to express my sincere gratitude for the eventual translation and publication of this monumental work.
Sukjoo Kim (Fri,) studied this question.