John Fletcher Hurst (1834-1903) was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and first Chancellor of the American University in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1854, and in 1856 went to Germany to Study at the University of Halle and the University of Heidelberg. From 1858 to 1866 he was engaged in pastoral work in America, and he filled a five-year appointment as Professor of Systematic Theology at the Martin Mission Institute in Germany. In 1870, he was chosen to teach Historical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary in New Jersey, where he was elected President in 1873, serving until elected to the Episcopacy in 1880. As bishop he was assigned to Iowa. He subsequently served as the first chancellor of the American University in Washington, D.C., where through his work finances were secured and the university first opened. He served as chancellor from 1891 until his death. He wrote History of Rationalism (1865), Martyrs to the Tract Cause: A Contribution to the History of the Reformation (1872), Outlines of Bible History (1873), and Outlines of Church History (1874). He also edited The Wedding Day (1889).