Article

James Frederick McCurdy

Published Online February 27, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

James Frederick McCurdy, "father of biblical studies in Canada" (b at Chatham, NB 18 Feb 1847; d at Toronto 30 Mar 1935). A graduate of the University of New Brunswick he taught grammar school, then entered Princeton Seminary in 1868 to study biblical languages.

McCurdy, James Frederick

James Frederick McCurdy, "father of biblical studies in Canada" (b at Chatham, NB 18 Feb 1847; d at Toronto 30 Mar 1935). A graduate of the University of New Brunswick he taught grammar school, then entered Princeton Seminary in 1868 to study biblical languages. He taught there 1871-82, but resigned when his "modernist" views on the Bible were attacked. After studying in Germany he was hired by the University of Toronto in 1885, and taught there until retirement in 1914. As head of the oriental languages department he made biblical studies an important and popular discipline in a secular university, and trained a generation of outstanding scholars who later taught in Canadian and other universities. His 3-volume History, Prophecy and the Monuments (1894-1901) won him international critical acclaim.