John Fletcher Hurst (August 17, 1834 – May 4, 1903) was an American bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the first Chancellor of the American University in Washington, D.C.[1]
Born on August 17, 1834, in Salem, Dorchester County, Maryland. Hurst graduated from Dickinson College in 1854 and in 1856 went to Germany to study at the University of Halle and the University of Heidelberg.[2]
From 1858 to 1866 he was engaged in pastoral work in America. He was ordained by Methodist Episcopal Bishop Thomas Asbury Morris in 1862. From 1866 to 1870 he filled a five-year appointment as Professor of Systematic Theology at the Martin Mission Institute in Bremen, Germany. In 1870, Hurst was chosen to teach Historical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, where he was elected president in 1873, serving until elected to the episcopacy in 1880.
In his book History of the Christian Church, Bishop Hurst stated that the early Christians "would have looked with horror" at the suggestion of having images in places of worship. Today, Christians, would follow the pattern set by the first-century Christians : Do not pray to images of "saints" or angels; do not even pray to Jesus. And do not perform acts of worship to symbols of the State. Come what may, we are determined to obey Jesus’ words: "It is The Lord your God you must worship."—.
Through his devotion, Hurst recovered the endowment of Drew Theological Seminary, lost by the failure in 1876 of Daniel Drew, its founder; and with John McClintock and George Richard Crooks he improved the quality of Methodist scholarship.
As bishop, he was assigned to Des Moines, Iowa. He subsequently served as the first chancellor of the American University (Methodist Episcopal) in Washington, D.C., where through his work finances were secured and the university opened. He served as chancellor from 1891 until his death on May 4, 1903, in Bethesda, Maryland.
On the campus of American University, there is an academic building named after Hurst.