The Underwood Legacy Continues

December 4, 2022

A year after graduating from NBTS in 1884, Horace G. Underwood became a Presbyterian missionary in Korea. His missional vision embraced people’s physical and spiritual needs. With financial support from his entrepreneur brother, Underwood was instrumental in founding educational institutions, advancing Korean Bible translation, producing a Korean hymnbook, and establishing Saemoonan Presbyterian Church.

To honor Dr. Underwood’s long commitment to missions on the Korean peninsula, NBTS formed the Underwood Center of Global Christianity. Its purpose is to educate persons and strengthen communities for transformational, public ministries in church and society on a global scale and in an international context.

Dr. James Jinhong Kim serves as the Horace G. Underwood Chair in Global Christianity. Along with teaching courses in missiology and global Christianity, Kim directs the activities of the Underwood Center. He recently published Global Christianity and the Early Letters of Horace G. Underwood, a book exploring the interculturation Underwood experienced as a missionary, a transformation that allowed him to discover and encourage a glocal (global yet local) expression of faith in Korea.

13th Underwood International Symposium

One program offered by the Center for Global Christianity is the annual Underwood International Symposium held in Seoul, Korea. The symposium is co-sponsored by NBTS and the Saemoonan Church of Seoul, the first church established by Dr. Underwood.

This year’s symposium occurred May 27 to June 1 after a two-year hiatus. The keynote speaker was NBTS professor emeritus Dr. John Coakley, who presented three lectures around the theme Seeking a Fresh Encounter with the History of Christianity.

In conversation with the work of scholars Lamin Sanneh and Andrew Walls, Coakley addressed the question, “How can you do justice to the history of Christianity given its rootedness in cultures around the world?” Coakley suggested that we can confess the past affiliation of Christian mission with colonial power while at the same time acknowledge the Gospel’s power to connect with any culture. By its very nature, Christianity is immersed in culture as seen in the Incarnation—God as a first-century Palestinian human in Jesus Christ.

Horace G. Underwood Chair and Center Endowment Endowed chairs and programs are critical to the Seminary’s future as a way to sustain scholarly excellence and as a means to respond more profoundly to a changing world. To ensure the permanency of the Underwood Chair and Center at NBTS, donors are encouraged to give to this endowment.

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