A Chinese Protestant Literature Tailored for Korean Readers: Gate of Virtue and Wisdom (Tŏkhye immun 德慧入門, 1915)

This article examines the transmission and Korean translation of Gate of Virtue and Wisdom (Dehui rumen), a Chinese text by Griffith John, to explore how Protestant missionaries adapted their theological and linguistic strategies to late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Korea. The Korean version, produced by Horace G. Underwood and his assistant, reflects not only Underwood's theological alignment with John's exclusivist stance, but also the complex linguistic negotiations involved in rendering Christian concepts into vernacular Korean. This study analyzes how the text's original rhetorical strategies—comparing Confucian and biblical thought, integrating science with Christianity, and adopting fulfillment theory—were preserved, revised, or intensified in the Korean text. It also explores the translator's lexical strategies, including transliteration, hybrid word formation, and adaptation of Sinographs. The public reception of the translated work was facilitated by Korea's sociopolitical transformations and its position within the Sinosphere. Ultimately, this case reveals how the translation of Chinese Protestant literature in Korea functioned as a theological, linguistic, and cultural intervention—reshaping vernacular language, redefining religious authority, and enabling Christianity to take root in a period of ideological upheaval and national transition.