James Scarth Gale (1867–1937): A Christian Engagement with Buddhism

This article analyzes how the Canadian Presbyterian missionary James Scarth Gale (1867–1937) developed an interest in and respect for Buddhism during the later stages of his career in Korea during the Japanese Colonial Period (1910–45). Gale’s positive attitude toward Buddhism marked him as something of an anomaly among his peers and was at least partly an outcome of his study of Literary Sinitic (Hanmun), something that allowed him to understand more fully Korea’s intellectual inheritance and the roles of Buddhism and Confucianism within it. Gale’s growing understanding of Buddhism and Korea’s intellectual inheritance was also indebted to mass modern publication by both Koreans and Japanese, through which core classical texts were made more widely available than ever before. As a result, Gale was predisposed to be sympathetic toward both Confucianism and Buddhism and thus favor the Confucian-Buddhist mix that predominated during Korea’s Koryŏ dynasty (936–1392) and that came under pressure during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). There was no small irony in this. Gale’s masterwork as a translator was his 1922 published translation of a seventeenth-century novel, The Cloud Dream of the Nine (Kuunmong), which dealt with Confucian-Buddhist tensions in Korean history. Yet it is clear that he struggled to make full sense of the novel’s implications. This article concludes with observations on how Gale most likely attempted to reach a fuller understanding of the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism in Korean history during the final years of his life in retirement.