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News, events, updates, and tidbits from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Use tags to read related articles or sort by author for similar posts written by PHS staff members and volunteers.

Past PHS LIVE: Racial Prejudice and Colonial Politics in Korean Mission History

December 4, 2020

On November 19, Dr. William Yoo discussed U.S. Presbyterian Missions in Korea and how race and colonial politics shaped that history.

The presentation connected first encounters between U.S. Presbyterians and Koreans to the years surrounding the Korean War. Dr. Yoo's overview and the question-and-answer phase to follow focused on the ways Presbyterian mission co-workers of the past engaged with questions about Korean independence and identity, and how history has remembered--and sometimes misremembered--that engagement.

Read the Presbyterian News Service coverage of the session...

Author:

Kristen

Tags:

PHS Live, Korea, Mission History

Missionary Life in a Time of Transition: The Reifsnyders, Denominational Oversight, and National Churches

October 9, 2020

--By Richard W. Reifsnyder

Grace and Bancroft Reifsnyder were not only accountable to the “Mission,” the semiautonomous organization of missionaries within a particular country or region in which they served. They also were under the appointment and authority of the larger church through the church’s Board of Foreign Mission (BFM), as we discussed in our previous post....

Author:

Guest Blogger

Tags:

Mission History, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba

Missionary Life in a Time of Transition: The Reifsnyder Family in Latin America

September 16, 2020

--By Richard W. Reifsnyder

From time to time after I was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1972, colleagues would inquire whether I was related to Grace Reifsnyder, a retired long-time missionary in Latin America, and widow of T. Bancroft Reifsnyder, who had served the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) from 1919 until his death in 1957. I did not know them (though surely they must be some distant relation) but was intrigued and wanted to learn more of...

Author:

Guest Blogger

Tags:

Mission History, Mexico, Venezuela

PHS LIVE Past Episode: China Mission Research

August 20, 2020

On August 13, 2020, Jenny Barr led a Zoom webinar that explored the history of Presbyterian mission to China through records held at the Presbyterian Historical Society.

Watch the video below to take a brief look at the history of Presbyterian mission work in China, and to learn about the archival collections and other resources PHS has that document this fascinating topic. Included are examples of research done using the records of China missionaries.

...

Author:

Kristen

Tags:

PHS Live, Mission History, China

Journal Interview: Thomas Nimick on Mary Morrison’s Outreach to Women in China

August 6, 2020

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Thomas Nimick about his article “Missionary Women’s Outreach to Poor Women in China: Origins of the Industrial Class Strategy.” The article appears in the Spring/Summer 2020 Journal of Presbyterian History. Watch the conversation below: