Chai-Shin Yu (April 11, 1932 – April 24, 2023) was a Korean-Canadian academic and a distinguished professor of Korean studies at the University of Toronto. Yu helped establish Korean Studies at U of T, being the one of the first people to teach a Korean studies course at a Canadian university. Before teaching Korean studies, he was a pastor for the local Korean community at the Korean Metro United Church.
Biography
Chai-Shin Yu was born on April 11, 1932, in Ch'aho, Korea during the Japanese colonial period.[2] In 1948, Yu fled from the Soviet-occupied North Korea to South Korea to escape religious persecution and further his studies. In 1964, he immigrated from South Korea to the United States to study theology.[3] He received a Master of Arts degree from Hartford Seminary Foundation in 1967, and then received a Master of Arts in religion in 1969 from McMaster University[4] for his graduate thesis, A Critical Examintion of Suzuki's Understanding of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism.[5] In 1970, Yu was ordained as a minister of the United Church of Canada.[6] In 1973, Yu was awarded his PhD in Religious Sciences for his PhD thesis, A Comparative Study of the Founder's Authority, the Community, and the Discipline in Early Buddhism and in Early Christianity.[7] He would also be inducted as the pastor of the Korean Metro United Church (Korean: 토론토한인교회) in the same year.[8]
In 1977, Chai-Shin Yu was appointed as a visiting part-time assistant professor at the University of Toronto to teach EAS 270: Introduction to Korean Studies, which would become the first course in the Korean studies program.[9][10] Yu would continue to add more courses to the Korean studies program during his tenure at U of T.[11] On July 1, 1982, Yu would be promoted to associate professor.[12] On June 19, 1997, for his contributions to founding the Korean studies program, U of T recognized Yu as a distinguished professor of Korean studies.[13] Yu was given the Seongnyu Medal of the Order of Civil Merit by the South Korean government in 2006.[14] On March 7, 2017, Yu was given the KBS Global Korean Award for contribution in helping promote Korean studies in Canada.[15]
Yu, Chai-Shin (1981). Early Buddhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study of the Founders' Authority, the Community and the Discipline. Delhi: Motilal Barnasidass. ISBN8120800508.
Yu, Chai-Shin (2011). Early Korean Art and Culture: Koguryo Tomb Paintings. Toronto: Society for Korean and Related Studies. ISBN978-0968107270.
Yu, Chai-Shin (2012). The New History of Korean Civilization. Bloomington, IN: IUniverse. ISBN9781462055609.
Yu, Chai-Shin (2015). Korean Influence on Chinese Culture. Toronto: Society for Korean and Related Studies. ISBN978-0991966714.
References
^"위촉장". Collections U of T. Retrieved September 7, 2024.