Canadian missionaries in Korea (1945-1953): the transformation of the mission in the face of political upheaval

Abstract

The article examines the problem of the transformation of the activities of Western Protestant missionaries in the context of geopolitical changes using the example of the Canadian mission in Korea from 1945 to 1953. The aim is to trace how political upheavals such as the end of World War II, the division of Korea, and the outbreak of the Korean War changed the nature and focus of the missionaries’ work, forcing them to switch from religious service to primarily humanitarian. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time it focuses specifically on the turning point for Korea in 1945-1953 from the perspective of Canadian missionaries. In addition, knowledge has been gained about the mechanisms of the transformation of missionary work and its contribution to the development of healthcare, medical education and humanitarian support for Korean society during a critical period of its history. The study revealed that the inability to return to the northern provinces after the partition of the country led to a reorientation of missionaries to the south of the Korean Peninsula. Their work focused on large-scale assistance to refugees, medicine, and educational and pastoral activities at Christian institutions in Seoul (Yongse University, Severance Hospital). The Korean War finally consolidated the humanitarian character of their ministry.

Research materials

1. Bourns B. Better Baby Day // The Missionary Monthly. 1936. Vol. XI. No. 7. https://catalogue.unitedchurcharchives.ca/the-missionary-monthly-vol-xi-no-7-july-1936
2. Bourns B. Beans and Babies // The Missionary Monthly. 1937. Vol. XII. No. 12. https://catalogue.unitedchurcharchives.ca/the-missionary-monthly-vol-xii-no-12-december-1937
3. Bourns B. Last Days in Korea // The Missionary Monthly. 1942. Vol. XVII. No. 11. https://catalogue.unitedchurcharchives.ca/the-missionary-monthly-vol-xvii-no-11-november-1942
4. Famous Canadian women on the job: Buelah Vernon Bourns. https://www.famouscanadianwomen.com/job/medical.htm
5. Foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Halifax: Nova Scotia printing company, 1899.
6. Murray F. J. At the foot of Dragon Hill. N. Y.: E. P. Dutton, 1975.
7. Scott W. Canadians in Korea: Brief Historical Sketch of Canadian Mission Work in Korea: unpublished manuscript. 1975.
8. Our treatment of Great trust // The Knox College monthly and Presbyterian magazine. 1887. Vol. 6. No. 1.
9. Seven new missionaries // The Knox College monthly and Presbyterian magazine. 1889. Vol. 10. No. 2.

References

1. Хатанзейская В. В. Бьюла Бёрнс и ее вклад в здоровье и образование: исследование работы канадской миссионерки в Корее // Корееведение. 2025. № 2 (11). https://doi.org/10.48647/ICCA.2025.19.17.005
2. Brouwer R. Home Lessons, Foreign Tests: The Background and First Missionary Term of Florence Murray, Maritime Doctor in Korea // Journal of the Canadian Historical Association / Revue de la Société historique du Canada. 1995. Vol. 6. No. 1. https://doi.org/10.7202/031090ar
3. Brouwer R. Modern Women Modernizing Men: The Changing Missions of Three Professional Women in Asia and Africa, 1902-69. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2002.
4. Cosmilla J. L. O.Compassion and Service: The Roles of Two Female Missionary-Physicians in the Korean Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Canada (1898-1969) // Mount Royal Undergraduate Humanities Review. 2021. Vol. 6. https://doi.org/10.29173/mruhr588
5. Gagan R. R. A Sensitive Independence: Canadian Methodist Women Missionaries in Canada and the Orient, 1881-1925. Montreal – Kingston – L. – Buffalo: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992.
6. Glover F. J. Dispatches from the Wilderness: A History of the Canadian Missionaries and Korean Protestants in Northern Korea and Manchuria, 1893-1928: Doctoral thesis. Calgary, 2018.
7. Ion H. A. Canadian missionaries in Korea and Japan and the Korean war 1950-1951 // Bulletin of Institute for Christian studies (Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo). 2018. Vol. 50.
8. Ion H. A. Hoping to return to the North: E. J. O. Fraser and Canadian Missionaries in Occupied Korea 1946-1948 // Bulletin of Institute for Christian studies (Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo). 2017. Vol. 49.
9. Kim-Cragg D. A. Nationalist missions, migrating christians: a postcolonial history of a canadian-korean church relationship and the transformation of the united church of Canada, 1898-1988: PhD diss. thesis. University of Saskatchewan, 2020.
10. Lee K., Lee S., Koh S. Florence J. Murray (慕禮理 1894-1975), a Dedicated Female Medical Missionary // Yonsei Medical Journal. 2020. No. 61. https://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2020.61.1.1
11. MacDonald L. Minister of the Gospel and Doctor of Medicine: The Canadian Presbyterian Medical Mission to Korea 1898-1923: Master’s Thesis. Kingston, 2000.
12. Oak S. The making of Korean Christianity: Protestant encounters with Korean religions, 1876-1915. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013.
13. Paik L. G. The history of Protestant missions in Korea, 1832-1910. 3rd ed. Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1980.
14. Park A. L. Building a Heaven on Earth: Religion, Activism, and Protest in Japanese-Occupied Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015.
15. Yoo Y. The impact of Canadian missionaries in Korea: A historical survey of early Canadian mission work, 1888-1898: PhD. Dissertation. Toronto, 1996.

Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: October 8, 2026.
• Published: November 12, 2026.

Keywords

• канадские миссионеры
• корейский протестантизм
• Корейская война
• женщины-миссионеры
• миссионерская деятельность
• Canadian missionaries
• Korean Protestantism
• Korean War
• female missionaries
• missionary activity

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)
© 2026 Gramota Publishing, LLC

User license

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)