On April 20 at Youngnak Church’s Han Kyung-jik Memorial Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, Director Park Yong-gyu of the Institute of the History of Christianity in Korea exhibited 'Bible Society Record' contents and photographs containing Lee Su-jung’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The May 1885 issue of BSR, a magazine published by the American Bible Society, carried Lee Su-jung’s translation in Korean characters under the title “The Lord’s Prayer in Corean.”
Lee’s “Lord’s Prayer” consists of 161 characters written in 9 vertical lines from right to left, starting with “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
Director Park discovered this document last summer, while searching for materials related to Korea in the archives room of the University of New Haven in eastern U.S.A. Previously, the earliest known original translation of the Lord’s Prayer into Korean was the one done by Scotland missionary John Ross in 1884; until now, Lee Su-jung’s Lord’s Prayer was totally unknown.
Reporter A-young Kim (cello08@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Photo courtesy of the Institute of History of Christianity in Korea
Click here for full story in Korean
