Ross, John (1842-1915)

Biography: Scottish Presbyterian Missionary in Manchuria

john_ross_yi_ung_chan Born in northern Scotland, Ross several Gaelic-speaking churches before leaving for China under the United Presbyterian Church in 1872. His ministry deeply touched two areas, Manchuria and Korea. By 1873 he had preached his first sermon in Chinese and had pioneered Manchurian work through wide itineration from his post in Shenyang (Mukden). Known for his generous spirit toward Confucianism and Chinese ancestral rites, he supported the idea of a Chinese church that would not be a Western replica. In 1873, living on the northern border of a Korea still closed to outsiders, he met traders from the “hermit kingdom.” His growing interests produced the first Korean primer (1877) and grammar (1882) in English, the first history of Korea in any Western language (1879), and, under his direction, the first Korean translation of the New Testament (1887). Its unheralded distribution in Korea produced an authentic church there before Protestant missionary itineration began widely within the country. He retired to Scotland because of ill health in 1910 but continued to write and lecture.

Conn, Harvie M., "Ross, John," in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 577.

This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Bibliography:

Primary

Ross, John. 1978. The Boxers in Manchuria. Shanghai: N.-C. Herald Office.

Ross, John. 1877. Chinese foreign policy. Shanghai: Printed at the Celestial Empire Office.

Ross, John. The Manchus. [n.p.]: 1880.

Ross, John. Mission Methods in Manchuria. Edinburgh and London: O. Anderson & Ferrier, 1903.

Ross, John. The Original Religion of China. Edinburgh, London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1909.

Ross, John. The Origin of the Chinese People. Edinburgh, London: Oliphants ld, 1916.

Archives: A limited number of Ross’s letters are available in the records of the United Presbyterian Church housed in the National Library of Scotland; some materials are also available in the National Bible Society of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Secondary

Choi, Sung-il, “John Ross (1842-1915) and the Korean Protestant Church” (Ph.D. Diss., Edinburgh Univ., 1992)

Grayson, James H., John Ross: First Missionary to Korea (in Korean, “'Na Yohan: Han'gug-ui ch'ot son'gyo-sa'”; 1982).

_______________. 1989. Korea: a religious history. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

_______________, 'A Spark in North East Asia: A Personal Hagiography of a Scottish Missionary to Manchuria: John Ross (1842-1915)', in Sainthood Revisioned, Clyde Binfield (ed.), (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995 ), 93-106.

Links:

University of Edinburgh, School of Divinity, John Ross Scholarship Fund: http://www.div.ed.ac.uk/scholarships

Digital Texts:

Ross, John. 1877. Chinese Foreign Policy at: http://books.google.com/books?id=OuRKLNSiMtgC&printsec;=frontcover&dq;=Ross,+John#PPP3,M1

_________. 1891. The History of Corea: Ancient and Modern at: http://openlibrary.org/details/historycoreaanc00rossgoog

_________. 1880. The Manchus at: http://openlibrary.org/b/OL7116634M

Portrait:

"John Ross," at: http://www.div.ed.ac.uk/scholarships.

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Boston University School of Theology Theology Library Center for Global Christianity and Mission

The History of Missiology website originated from doctoral seminars taught by Professor Dana L. Robert. Because of the obscurity of historic mission texts, she initiated the collection and digitization of texts in the public domain. The provision of biographical data on each missiologist stems from the priorities of the course, which focuses on the social and contextual dimensions of mission theology, theory and strategy. While the work of mission practitioners is certainly of interest, the primary focus of the website is on books and studies considered of historic importance to the development of Protestant missiology.

To provide support for doctoral-level instruction in mission studies. the collection of archival and relevant published material is a priority for the School of Theology Library, under the leadership of Dr. Jack Ammerman. As the global dimensions of the interaction among religious traditions have become more important as a subject of academic inquiry over the past few years, the demands on our rare published and unpublished texts have increased. To make the texts more widely accessible, the Theology Library in collaboration with the Center for Global Christianity and Mission has designed a digital repository of texts to support the study of Christian mission. We will continue to scan texts in our collection, as well as to collect other digital texts in the public domain, and make them available on this website.

We wish to thank Dr. Gerald Anderson, an alumnus of Boston University, distinguished missiologist, and editor of the Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, for allowing us to use biographical sketches from the dictionary for this project. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Boston University School of Theology, the ITGP office at Boston University, the DeFreitas Family Foundation, and the Kip Knight/Peggy Day Foundation. We have relied on the work of numerous research assistants and library staff to make this website possible.