John Weir Murray (October 6, 1913 – March 20, 1996), also known as Jack Murray, was an American pastor, evangelist, and educator.

Biography

Murray was born in

Laurium, Michigan Laurium (; or ) is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan, in the center of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The population was 1,977 at the 2010 census. The village is mostly surrounded by Calumet Township, wi ...

, and grew up in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

. He studied at the

Bible Institute of Los Angeles Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor ...

, Wheaton College in Illinois, and

Faith Theological Seminary Faith Theological Seminary is an Higher education accreditation in the United States, unaccredited evangelicalism, evangelical Christian seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1937 in Wilmington, Delaware, relocated to Philadelphia ...

. He later received

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s from Faith as well as from

Bob Jones University Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. It is known for its Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical cultural and religious posit ...

. Murray served as an assistant pastor in the

Bible Presbyterian Church The Bible Presbyterian Church is an Protestantism in the United States, American Protestant denomination in the Reformed tradition. It was founded by members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church over differences on Christian eschatology, eschatolo ...

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...

. He edited his denomination's publication ''Faith and Fellowship'', later called ''Truth for Youth'', from 1944 to 1950. In 1955, when the denomination split, Murray joined with the Collingswood faction and became president of

Shelton College Shelton College was a private, Christian college, Christian, liberal arts college that was located in Cape May, New Jersey, Cape May, New Jersey. It was involved in a landmark case requiring religious schools to acquire a state license to grant a ...

. Murray led the establishment of the Harvey Cedars Bible Conference in 1941, with the purchase of the historic Harvey Cedars Hotel. In 1960, he left Shelton to start a radio evangelism ministry, Bible Evangelism Inc. Murray co-founded Clearwater Christian College in 1966, serving as the Chairman of the Advisory Board. In 1971, along with

Allan MacRae Allan Alexander MacRae (February 11, 1902 – September 27, 1997) was an evangelical Christian scholar who, with Harold S. Laird, Carl McIntire, Roland K. Armes, and several other conservative Presbyterians, helped found Faith Theological Seminar ...

, Murray founded

Biblical Theological Seminary Missio Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The seminary was previously known as Biblical Theological Seminary but changed to its current name in 2018. It is located on the site of Fran ...

. MacRae was Murray's friend and former teacher, and although they had different visions for the seminary (MacRae wanted to train scholar-pastors while Murray wanted to focus on evangelism), they were able to work together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, John Weir 1913 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American academics American evangelists American Presbyterian ministers Biola University alumni Editors of Christian publications Faith Theological Seminary alumni Heads of universities and colleges in the United States People from Bellingham, Washington People from Laurium, Michigan Radio evangelists University and college founders Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni