Robert Jermain Thomas ( 17 September 1840disappeared 31 August 1866) was a Welsh Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society in late Qing Dynasty China and Korea. While serving as a missionary to China, Thomas developed a strong desire to work among the people of Korea. At the time, Korea was closed to foreigners because of the government's fear of foreign influence. Many Koreans had been converted by Catholic priests in the late 1700s, but the government killed 8,000 of those converts in 1866.

First visit to Korea
Thomas made his first visit to the Korean coast in 1865, making him the second known Protestant missionary to Korea (Karl Gutzlaff, a German Protestant missionary, was the first, having visited Korea in 1832 and distributed Chinese Bibles to Koreans). Thomas learned as much as he could about the people and their language during his two and a half months there, distributing tracts and New Testaments in Chinese because they were not available in Korean.

During this first visit, Thomas kept a diary of which the following are the entries for 3 and 4 November 1865.

Nov. 3rd.—This morning half-a-dozen junkmen went ashore to catch shell fish, on which three of them were cruelly beaten about the legs by a score of cowardly islanders. Our little fleet of nine junks was in a state of high indignation. We could send fifty men to fight. In their own fashion they immediately loaded their rusty matchlocks and small guns with powder only!  And taking to their , flying their respective flags, amidst great beating of gongs, made for the village. All the islanders were congregated like a flock of white sheep on the top of the hill. Two or three of the fiercer ones were going through all kinds of warlike maneuvers on a near cliff. Steadily our flotilla advanced, firing volley after volley of power—the more prudent one fire about five hundred yards from the village. Two of the most daring boats advanced towards the shore, where, by this time, many of those from the hill had collected themselves and were engaged very vigorously in pelting stones; nothing daunted, these two boats seized a small junk lying off the beach, in a trice they had lifted the anchor, and amidst great acclamations brought away their prize. It is a small tub and will be given up tomorrow.

Nov. 4th.—Yesterday, stormy. Today two islanders fixed a small stick in the ground at low water with a piece of paper attached to it. I sent my writer for it; the following is a free translation:--"This for all to see. You are engaged in a contraband trade, a trade severely punished by our respective countries. Your vessels that come here are too much given to disturbances. You have been here already ten days. You have dared to cut wood on a sacred islet with a temple on it, rendering us liable to tempests. Your guilt is very great indeed. As we have none who after the wood, you have taken it in a thievish manner. You are all a set of thieves. You indeed are a desperate set. One of our military officials will come with a thousand men, who will do battle with you and slay you. But now we are willing to make it up and not report it. You must believe this document. The other day you snatched away a vessel; you must return it, and then we will not entertain hostile feelings toward you. Be quick, be quick."

Second visit to Korea
In 1866, Thomas was asked to join the French Naval force as an interpreter to go to Korea as a part of invading party. However, the French force went to Vietnam instead. So Thomas took a job as an interpreter on an armed American trading ship, the General Sherman. Thomas persuaded the captain to sail to Pyongyang to establish trade between the United States and Korea, even though uninvited trade was forbidden. Thomas's personal motivation was to spread the gospel in Korea.

The General Sherman set sail on 9 August 1866 and was first spotted at the mouth of the Taedong River on 16 August. As the ship sailed up the river loaded with cotton goods, tin and glass, Thomas tossed gospel tracts onto the riverbank. Korean officials repeatedly ordered the American boat to leave immediately. On or around 25 August, the crew kidnapped Hyon-Ik Yi, a Korean government official, who was in charge of communications with the ship. An ex-military officer, Chun-Gwon Park, eventually managed to rescue Yi and reinstated him to his former position.  However, Yi's two subordinates, Soon-Won Yoo and Chi-Young Park, who had also been taken hostage, perished during the scuffles. On 31 August, the crew of General Sherman fired cannons and guns at the nearby civilians, resulting 7 deaths and 5 wounded. Both the Korean government and the early Korean Christian community agreed that it was the General Sherman that had initiated hostilities. Governor Gyu-Su Park of Pyong-An Province finally declared the General Sherman as an enemy vessel and ordered his troops to prepare for battle.

Death
When the General Sherman ran aground on a mud-bank near Pyongyang, the Koreans saw their opportunity and attacked. The crew held off the attackers for two days. Eventually, the Koreans launched a burning boat, which set the General Sherman on fire. Among the crew, 14 were shot and killed (including one who had been shot to death two days before), four were burnt to death, and two who had jumped to shore were beaten to death by angry civilians on the shore. Thomas most likely died during or shortly after the attacks.

Thomas's fate is unknown. However, there are unverified accounts of Thomas dying. The first claim appeared on Oh Mun-hwan's "Christian News" article of 8 December 1926, reporting that Thomas was killed in retribution by the relatives of those who had been killed by the crew of the General Sherman. In the same article, the author cites a statement from Rev. Lee Jae Bong, a minister in Southern province (1000 miles away). He had a distant relative who happened to be a soldier present during the General Sherman incident. This former soldier said that one of the crew being executed by sword had a red book which he begged the soldiers to take. Mr. Oh concluded that this man must have been Thomas. A year later, this account had evolved stating that Thomas tried to hand his Bible to the executioner and that this soldier later told his family that he had killed a good man (the "Korea Mission Field," Sept. 1927).  Others claimed that Thomas's executioner was none other than Chun-Gwon Park, who had previously rescued the government official, Hyon-Ik Yi.

The Korean official report of the General Sherman incident clearly states that Thomas was killed by civilians, not by Park, and this is corroborated by Oh Mun-Hwan's 1926 article. In another account, Thomas leapt to shore carrying a Bible, which he offered to his attackers while crying, "Jesus, Jesus!" in Korean. This account was also rebutted by others who stated that Thomas was waving the official signet of Hyon-Ik Yi which had probably been taken from him when he was kidnapped. Hyon-Ik Yi was later demoted for losing an important official signet.

Legacy
"One government official named Pak Yong-Sik who took home some of the Bibles thrown onto the river bank, used them to wallpaper rooms in his house, so people were able to read the gospel there for themselves."
This was discovered by the local Christian community in early 1900s, and people came from all over to read the words on his walls. Eventually, a church was established in the area. Certainly, Thomas's influence grew after his death. Only fifteen years later, Pyongyang had become a strong Christian center with a hundred churches. According to Sungho Choi, lecturer at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology, contemporary Korean Christians may not know that Wales is a country with its own language and history, but they do know that Thomas was Welsh.

Personal life
Robert Thomas was married to Caroline Godfrey during the years of 1863–1865.  Caroline died of a miscarriage only four months after their arrival in Shanghai, China.

See also
Samuel Austin Moffett

References

Bibliography

External links

1839 births
1866 deaths
Welsh Protestant missionaries
Welsh evangelicals
Welsh martyrs
Protestant missionaries in China
Protestant missionaries in Korea
Christian writers
British expatriates in Korea
British expatriates in China
로버트 저메인 토마스(Robert Jermain Thomas, 1839년 ~ 1866년 8월 31일)는 영국의 개신교 선교사이다.

생애 
웨일스 라예다에서 로버트 토마스 목사의 아들로 태어났다. 토마스의 아버지 로버트 토마스 목사는 영국 회중교회의 사역자였다. 런던 대학교를 졸업한 뒤 청나라와 조선 선교에 뜻을 두고 런던 선교회(London Missionary Society, 倫敦傳道會) 소속으로 부인과 함께 청나라로 떠났다.

몇 달간의 여행 끝에 상하이에 도착하였고 부인인 케더린은 동료 선교사의 죽음에 대한 소식을 듣고 충격에 유산하고 홀로 죽음을 맞이한다. 토마스는 이일로 고통에 잠기게 된다. 또한 런던선교회 중국 지부장인 뮤어헤드의 사립학교 엥글로-차이니즈라는 학교의 교장을 맡아줄 것을 요청받았으나 그는 거절한다. 

중국에서 조선인 천주교 신자들을 만난 것을 계기로 1865년에는 조선에 잠입해 성경을 배포하며 선교 활동을 벌이기도 했다. 조선에서 돌아온 후에는 베이징에 있는 선교회 산하 학교에서 교장으로 부임했다.

이듬해인 1866년 프랑스 신부들의 학살에 항의하기 위하여 조선으로 떠나는 프랑스 함대에 통역관으로 합류하기로 되어있었으나,

로즈 제독이 이끄는 프랑스 함대는 때마침 베트남에서 일어난 반란을 진압하기 위하여 상해로 떠났다는 소식을 듣고 토마스는 미국의 상선인 제너럴셔먼호에 항해사 겸 통역으로 탑승하여 다시 조선으로 떠났다.

제너럴셔먼호 

제너럴셔먼호는 대동강에 진입하여 통상을 요구하였으나 거절당하자 만경대 한사정(閑似亭)에까지 올라와 그들의 행동을 제지하던 중군(中軍) 이현익(李玄益)을 붙잡아 감금하였다. 토마스는 이 일에 동의하지 않고 오히려 반대했다.

사태가 이에 이르자 평양성 내의 관민(官民)은 크게 격분하여 강변으로 몰려들었고, 셔먼호에서는 소총과 대포를 이들 관민에게 마구 쏘아 사태는 더욱 악화되었다.

결국 제너럴 셔먼호는 모래톱에 좌초되었고, 이에 평안도 관찰사 박규수는 철산부사(鐵山府事) 백낙연(白樂淵) 등과 상의하여 음력 7월 21일부터 포격을 가한 뒤 대동강 물에 폐식용유를 풀고 불을 붙여 셔먼호를 불태워 격침시켰으며, 승무원 23명 가운데 대부분이 불에 타 죽거나 물에 빠져 죽었다. 배는 소실되고 승무원 전원이 죽었으며 통역관 역할을 한 토마스는 이 과정에서 사로 잡혀 순교했다.

"내가 오늘 서양 사람 하나를 죽였는데 아무리 생각해도 이상한 점이 있다. 내가 그를 찌르려고 할 때 그는 두 손을 마주잡고 무슨 말을 한 후에 웃으면서 책 한 권을 내밀며 받으라고 권했다. 결국 그를 죽이기는 했지만, 그 책을 받지 않을 수 없어서 가지고 왔다."라고 그를 죽인 병사는 회고 했고, 평양신학교 제 1회 졸업생으로 조선 교회에 큰 영향을 끼친 한석진 목사는 편지에서 이렇게 말한다.

"제가 평양에 온 것은 임진년 10월, 즉 주후 1892년으로 토마스 선교사가 순교한 지 26년이 지난 때였습니다. 이 때 저는 성경을 팔며 전도하러 다니면서 토마스 목사의 순교를 목격한 사람들로부터 어떤 이야기를 들었는데, 제너럴셔먼호가 불에 탈 때 바깥으로 성경을 던지면서 "야소(예수)!"라고 외치는 소리를 들었다는 것입니다. 지금 제가 전도하는 내용과 팔러다니는 책자가 그 서양인이 배에서 던진 책과 같은 것이라는 이야기도 들었습니다."

제너럴셔먼호에 승선했다가 살해된 토마스가, 한때 박규수의 초청으로 평양에 왔다는 견해가 있다. 반면 성균관 대학교 한국한문학 김명호교수는 이 견해에 대하여 "토마스 목사가 조선에 들어오기 직전 베이징에서 박규수를 만나 선교활동의 지지와 후원 약속을 받았다는 설은 사실 무근으로, 셔먼호 사건 당시 박규수는 청나라 베이징에 간 사실이 없다"며 반박했다.

조선에는 ‘최난헌(崔蘭軒)’이라는 이름으로 기록되어 있다. 《매천야록》에는 미국인으로 잘못 기록되어 있다.

약력 
 1840년 9월 7일 영국 웨일즈라드노주 라야다에서 회중교회 목사의 아들로 태어남
 1857 ~ 1863년 5월 런던대학 뉴칼리지에서 학업
 1863년 6월4일 고향인 하노버 교회에서 목사안수(24세)
 1863년 8월 런던선교회 파송선교사로 아내와 함께 중국 상해 도착. 아내 캐롤라인 유산과 감염으로 사망
 1865년 1 ~ 8월 청나라 해상세관 통역으로 근무
 1865년 9월 세관 사임. 1차 한국 방문, 13일 서해안 도착, 두달 반동안 스코틀랜드 바이블 협회의 에이전트로 성경을 판매하며 포교.
 1865년 10월 27일 태풍을 만나 Yung Chung이라는 곳으로 떠내려 감
 1865년 10월 30일 연평도로 다시 돌아옴
 1865년 11월 11일 조선을 떠남. 태풍만나 구사일생. 만주 거쳐 북경으로 돌아감
 1866년 8월 9일 제너럴 셔먼호 동승, 2차 한국여행
 1866년 9월 2일경 '제너럴 셔먼호 사건'의 와중에 죽음.(27세)

참고 자료 
 
 Servant of Christ, ROBERT JERMAIN THOMAS AND THE KOREAN REVIALS (DVD), Gary Wilkinson(www.garywilkinson.eu)
 한국 최초의 선교사 토마스, 이지영, 하늘기획, 2013.4.8.
 한국 최초의 순교자 토마스 목사의 생애, 나동관, 생명의말씀사, 1990.10.20.
 회중사상문고 1 한국 개신교 최초의 순교자 R.J.토마스목사 연구, 민병호 목사, 홍익재, 1984.9.15.
 토마스와 함께 떠나는 순례여행 (토마스 목사의 생애와 선교사역에 관한 연구), 고무송, 쿰란출판사, 2004.9.1.
 대동강가에 떨어진 한 알의 밀알 토마스 목사전, 유해석, 생명의말씀사, 2006.5.30.
 실록 한국기독교백년, 1권 여명의 장, 박완, 성서교재간행사, 1981.9.5.
 오문환의 토마스 목사 순교기념 선교사업, 은혜기독대안학교, 2012.5.8.

각주

같이 보기 
 새뮤얼 오스틴 모펫

1839년 출생
1866년 사망
기독교 순교자
기독교 작가
웨일스의 개신교 선교사
웨일스의 복음주의자
중국에서 활동한 개신교 선교사
한국에서 활동한 개신교 선교사
한국에 거주한 영국인
중국에 거주한 영국인