1964–65 Volume 89 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

JAPAN HONORS PHI MISSIONARYDr. John B. Cobb, Mercer '13, Returns to America forRetirement After More Than Forty Years in JapanDURING its 116 years of existence, *A9 hasfurnished its full share of Christian missionariesto the various denominations andfaiths active in the several mission fields of theworld. Among the brothers who have mostrecently rendered distinguished service in thisarea is Dr. John B. Cobb (Mercer '13),-whoonly recently retired from service as a missionaryin Japan.Upon his retirement, the Japanese Governmentconferred upon Brother Cobb the FourthOrder of the Sacred Treasure. The presentationmade by the Emperor was in recognitionof Brother Cobb's forty years of work in thefield of education in Japan.A native of Macon, Georgia, where he wasborn October 11, 1893, he entered MercerUniversity in 1910 and soon thereafter wasinitiated into Georgia Gamma. Following graduationfrom Mercer in 1914, he served asprincipal of a small high school in Georgia fora year, then taught in Kentucky WesleyanCollege for two years.Immediately after receiving an M.A. degreefrom Mercer in 1918, he and his bride sailedfor Japan as a missionary of the MethodistEpiscopal Church South, now a part of theMethodist Chiurch, arriving there April 1, 1918.Except for furloughs in America and the yearsin which our two wars made it impossible forhim to remain in Japan, he has spent his entireadult life in Japan.In 1946, he was the first Methodist missionaryto return to Japan after the war. He was appointeda member of the Commission of Six,sent by the International Missionary Councilto Japan to survey the needs of the countryand of the United Church of Christ of Japan(Methodist-related). It was the task of thisCommission to re-establish contact with JapaneseChristians, to organize relief work, tosiu'vey damage received by churches and otherChristian institutions, to prepare for the returnof other missionaries and give necessaryguarantees for them to MacArthur's Government,and to aid in rebuilding churches andother church-related institutions.Since completing his duties with the Commissionof Six, Dr. Cobb had done administrative,evangelistic, and educational work inKobe, particularly in connection with the PalmoreInstitute, a well known Christian night[97]DR. JOHN B. COBB, Mercer '13He wears the Fourth Order of the Sacred Treasurefrom Japanese Government.school with classes in English and several commercialsubjects. He has been a teacher at Palmoreand was for several years its director. Hehas also taught at Kwansei Gakuin, a Christianschool of 11,000 students in Nishinomiya, andat Keimei Christian Girls' School in Kobe.Diuring the few years of his adult life spentin his homeland. Dr. Cobb has studied at theUniversity of Chicago and at Emory Universitywhere he studied theology, and from which,in 1956, he received an honorary Doctor ofDivinity degreer During these periods in Americahe also served as pastor of a Japanese churchin Spokane, instructor in Japanese at WashingtonState College where he was in chargeof intensive courses in Japanese given a selectgroup of Air Force men, and acting superintendentof the Pacific Japanese Annual Conferenceof the Methodist Church.For some fifteen years, Brother Cobb wasthe Methodist representative on the jointbodies for cooperation with the United Churchof Christ in Japan and also served as a memberof the field committee of the Interboard Committeefor Christian Work in Japan.The conferring by the Japanese Government