Thoburn Taylor Brumbaugh

(1896-1974) Brumbaugh was born in Agosta, Ohio on August 4, 1896. He was a second lieutenant in the United States Army First World War, fighting in France and Belgium in 1919. After the war, Brumbaugh attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he recieved an A.B. in 1920. Later, he attended Boston University, where he received an S.T.B. in 1924, and Union Theological Seminary for an S.T.M. in 1930.

Brumbaugh was ordained in 1924, working in the West Ohio Conference. That same year, he married Gladys Grace Davenport, and he went to Japan as a missionary. There, he worked in Tokyo (1924-25), Hirosaki (1925-27), Sapporo (1927-29), and again in Tokyo as director of the Wesley Foundation (1929-41). Brumbaugh left Japan only after the United States declared war. During the war period, he worked on ecumenical projects with the Detroit Council of Churches. In 1947, Brumbaugh became the secretary for East Asia in the Division of World Missions. After a seventeen year period, he began to work as secretary of education of the World Division, and then special assistant for the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia.

He received a D.D. from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1938, an LL.D. from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, and a D.D. from Tokyo Union Theological Seminary. He received the distinguished alumni award from Boston University in 1964. He died in 1971.

Bibliography:

1929. Japan, Our Missionaries’ Own Story of its Evangelization. Japan Mission Council of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1929. 健全なる娯楽: 教会及び社交会のため. 教文館出版部.

1930. Valuable Elements in the Religious Culture of Japan. Union Theological Seminary.

1931. A Son of the Rising Sun: The Story of a Band of Christians in Japan and One in Particular, Shosuke Sato. Kobunsha Company.

1934. Religious Values in Japanese Culture. Christian Literature Society of Japan.

1934. 福音戯曲集 (Trans: Collection of Gospel Drama). 教文館出版部.

1940. Japan’s Drive for Religious Unity.

1947. Christ for All Japan. Friendship Press.

1957. Report on a Study of our Christian Schools in Japan. Division of World Missions, Board of Missions of The Methodist Church.

1969. My Marks and the Scars I Carry: The Story of Ernst Kischo. Friendship Press.

Sources:

“Thoburn Taylor Brumbaugh,” The Encyclopedia of Methodism (Duke, 1974).