Doctor Kim Chi-seon (1899?1968), the so-called Prophet Jeremiah of Korea, was a minister, a theologian, and an educator who played a major role in the Korean Church and in Korean society. The designation “Jeremiah of Korea” succinctly describes his life and thought. This designation discloses him as a patriot who loved his nation and people from a humanistic perspective and a person of prayer who prayed in his eyes tearfully for the evangelization of his people.
As one of the first-generation Korean Presbyterian theologians, Kim Chi-seon made a seminal contribution to the formation of the Korean Church and its theology. He studied abroad in Japan and then in the United States, ultimately earning the doctorate degree in theology. Afterwards, he was active in Japan and Korea. Upon his return to Korea in 1944, he engaged in pastoral ministry at Namdaemun (South-Gate) Church, and founded the Daehan Seminary, the predecessor to today’s Anyang University. At the same time, he devoted himself to the rebuilding and reformation of the Korean Church through prayer and evangelism. In the wake of Korea’s independence, he worked to rebuild the Korean Church through an evangelistic campaign, believing that the evangelization of the public was the most urgent task in the liberated Korea. In particular, he carried out a campaign of evangelism in order to protect the Korean Church from the onslaught of liberal and progressive theologies. Professor Han Seong-gi, the former president of the seminary of Anyang University, even classified Dr. Kim’s theological orientation as that of fundamentalist conservatism.
It is now time to critically reflect, from the vantage point of the history of the Korean Church, on the life and the theology of Kim Chi-seon in his role as a theologian and a pastor who was devoted to his nation and people. As in the words of a Church Historian, Lee Sang-goo, despite Kim Chi-seon’s life-long work, it is true that his life and accomplishments have been largely overlooked within the history of the Korean Church. For this reason, we wish to provide an occasion to look back on the faith, the theology, and the life of Kim Chi-seon by publishing his major works.