William D. Reynolds Explained

William Davis Reynolds
Birth Date:November 12, 1867
Birth Place:Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Death Date:1951
Death Place:North Carolina, U.S.
Church:American Southern Presbyterian
Education:Hampden-Sydney College, Johns Hopkins University, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Spouse:Patsy Bolling Reynolds
Children:Carey Mebane Reynolds Wilson

William D. Reynolds (1867–1951) was an American Southern Presbyterian (PCUS) missionary and Bible translator in Korea.

William Davis Reynolds was born 12 November 1867. He received his undergraduate education at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and subsequently studied theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary. In 1891 he attended the Inter-Seminary Alliance for Foreign Missions and heard a talk by Horace Grant Underwood who was furlough from a medical missionary scheme in Seoul; Reynolds was inspired by the talk and applied to the PCUS Executive Committee of Foreign Missions to go to Korea as a missionary.[1]

He and his wife Patsy were living in Korea by 1904.[2] They wrote several magazine articles during their time there.[3] He took the name of ‘Lee Nulseo’ while in Korea.[4]

He completed the first translation of the Old Testament into Korean in 1910.[5]

Along with Horace G. Underwood, James Scarth Gale, Henry G. Appenzeller, William B. Scranton,[6] Lee Seung Doo (이승두), and Kim Jeong Sam (김정삼), Reynolds and the team's efforts led to the first Korean translation of the New Testament and the first Korean Hymnal.

From 1917-1937 he was professor in Systematic Theology and Biblical Languages at Pyongyang Presbyterian Theological Seminary.[7] He was known for teaching a conservative and fundamentalist version of theology.

References

  1. https://pres-outlook.org/2017/07/history-presbyterian-mission-korea/ The Presbyterian Outlook website, A history of Presbyterian mission in Korea, article published July 18, 2017
  2. https://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/directories/1904_Directory.pdf Yale University Library website, Directory of Protestant Missionaries in China, Japan and Corea for the year 1904, published in London (1904)
  3. https://kmhistory.com/writings/bibl/ KM History website, Magazine & Journal Articles
  4. https://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/hts/v72n3/37.pdf Academy of Science of South Africa website, The Biblicism of the Korean Protestant churches: Its origin and early development, article by Jae-Buhm Hwang, dated April 13, 2016 (page 8)
  5. http://koreanchristianity.cdh.ucla.edu/images/stories/1911_reynolds_translation.pdf UCLA website, Korean Christianity section, William D. Reynolds, “How We Translated the Bible into Korean”, article published in Union Seminary Magazine 22 (1910-11), pages 292-303.
  6. http://anthony.sogang.ac.kr/RASKBHistory1940.html Brother Anthony of Taizé website, The Early Years of the RASKB: 1900-1920
  7. Web site: ko:레이놀즈(한국명:이눌서, 李訥瑞, William David Reynolds, 1867.12.11~1951) 선교사 . kcm.kr . 16 May 2008 . 2 March 2019 . http://kcm.kr/dic_view.php?nid=39704 . ko .

External links

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