Fuller Theological Seminary

History

Fuller Theological Seminary was founded in 1947 by Charles E. Fuller, a radio evangelist known for his Old Fashioned Revival Hour show, and Harold Ockenga, the pastor of Park Street Church in Boston. The seminary's founders sought to reform fundamentalism's separatist and sometimes anti-intellectual stance during the 1920s–1940s. Fuller envisaged that the seminary would become "a Caltech of the evangelical world."

The earliest faculty held theologically and socially conservative views, though professors with liberal perspectives arrived in the 1960s and 1970s.

David Hubbard recruited Donald McGavran to be the first dean of the newly created school of world mission in 1965. McGavran was esteemed as perhaps the world's most prominent and influential missiologist of the 20th century. McGavran recruited some of the greatest missiologist of the 20th century to serve as faculty of the school of world mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. This included Alan Tippett, Ralph Winter, C. Peter Wagner and many others. These faculty would shape world missions for the ensuing decades. Fuller's School of World Mission became the largest missions training institution in the world. The school of world mission also has the largest amount of missions faculty of any institution in the world as well as graduating the most missions students of any seminary.

In 2022, it had 2,370 students enrolled.

Presidents

Fuller has had six presidents over its over 70-year history. The founding president, Harold Ockenga, remained in Boston and served as president in absentia from 1947 to 1954. He described his role to Charles Fuller as recruiting faculty and setting the curriculum, which did not require his active presence in Pasadena. His successor and protege Edward John Carnell, a Baptist theologian and apologist, took over the post in 1954 but resigned in 1959 under failing health. Ockenga resumed his in absentia leadership until 35-year-old David Allen Hubbard, a Baptist Old Testament scholar and member of Fuller's third entering class, became Fuller's third president in 1963. Hubbard served for 30 years and led the seminary through both substantial growth and significant controversy.

Hubbard was succeeded by Reformed philosopher and theologian Richard Mouw, who served as president of Fuller from 1993 to 2013. In 2006, a Los Angeles Times article labeled him as "one of the nation's leading evangelicals". In July 2013, Mark Labberton became the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair of Fuller. Labberton, a Presbyterian (USA) pastor, had previously served Fuller as director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching since 2009. He retains his position as Lloyd John Ogilvie Associate Professor of Preaching alongside the presidency. Mouw remained at Fuller as Professor of Faith and Public Life until 2020. In October 2021, Labberton announced his retirement.

David Goatley became the sixth president in January 2023. He is the first African American to occupy the role. Goatley is a missions executive and former administrative executive at Duke University.

Academics

Fuller Theological Seminary is organized into the School of Mission and Theology (SMT) and the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy (SOPMFT). The seminary emphasizes integration between the schools and many students take courses in both. The seminary offers eight masters degrees, seven doctoral degrees, and two certificate programs. Four of the masters degrees are available fully online, and several are available in Korean or Spanish.

Fuller is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Additionally, the Clinical Psy.D. and Clinical Ph.D. programs of the SOPMFT are accredited by the American Psychological Association. Fuller's student body of 2,897 includes students from 90 countries and 110 denominational backgrounds.

Campuses

Fuller closed Fuller Northwest (Seattle), Fuller Bay Area (Menlo Park), and Fuller Orange County (Irvine). It also reduced degree programs offered in Fuller Colorado (Colorado Springs) and Fuller Arizona (Phoenix). These closures and reductions took place before the 2019–20 academic year.

In May 2009, Fuller opened its 47000 sqft David Allan Hubbard Library that incorporated the former McAlister Library building on its main campus in Pasadena, California for a total of 90000 sqft.

In 2018, Fuller briefly planned to sell its main campus in Pasadena and move to Pomona. In October 2019 the board of directors voted to cancel the move and remain in Pasadena, citing dramatically escalated costs of construction in Southern California and differences with the City of Pasadena, which affected the sale and sale price of the seminary's Pasadena campus.

Fuller currently has campuses in Pasadena, California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Houston, Texas. The Phoenix and Houston campuses are called Fuller Arizona and Fuller Texas, respectively.

Community Standards

Fuller Theological Seminary has seven statements of community standards which all students and employees are required to sign and follow as a condition of their enrollment and/or employment by Fuller Theological Seminary.

Sexual Standards

The seminary has expelled students and fired staff who have not agreed to or maintained the seminary’s required community standard of abstinence from homosexual forms of conduct. In 2023 and 2024, the senior director Ruth Schmidt, a long-time employee and student, met with leadership to request "a legal rider that would allow her to respect, but not personally affirm, the standards regarding gay marriage.” The seminary leadership refused to agree to this compromise. As a result, Schmidt chose not to sign the statement of faith and Fuller Seminary fired this employee via Zoom.

In 2021, three LGBTQ former Fuller students joined the class-action lawsuit Elizabeth Hunter et al. vs. U.S. Department of Education, arguing that religious exemptions that allow religious institutions of higher education to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity violate the Constitution.

In 2025, Fuller Theological Seminary re-affirmed its policy requiring employees and students to abstain from homosexual conduct as a requirement of their employment and enrollment.

Social issues

Some members of the Fuller Theological Seminary community have expressed personal opinions regarding a variety of social issues. In 2013, one of the seminary's former presidents, Mark Labberton, marched in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. In 2015, one assistant professor suggested that we learn to respect those who are different from us, including differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status. Fuller Studio interviewed a pastor, Michael McBride, who expressed his support for the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2016, the seminary started the first LGBTQ group organized within an evangelical seminary. However, the seminary continues to require all employees and students to abstain from homosexual sexual conduct as a condition of employment and enrollment.

Awards and prizes

Fuller annually awards the David Allan Hubbard Achievement Award to a graduating student from each of Seminary's three schools, in recognition of outstanding work completed while at Fuller. The award was instituted in honor of David Allan Hubbard, an Old Testament scholar, and the third President of Fuller Theological Seminary. Each recipient is chosen by the faculty of their respective school.

References

References

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8. In the late 1940s, evangelical theologians from Fuller championed the Christian importance of social [[activism]].David R. Swartz, ''Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism'', University of Pennsylvania Press, USA, 2012, p. 18
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24. "Academics".
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32. Post, Kathryn. (2024-02-02). "Fuller seminary senior director fired for refusal to sign non-LGBTQ affirming statement".
33. Foley, Ryan. (March 31, 2021). "LBGT Christian college students sue to block Title IX religious exemptions".
34. Silliman, Daniel. (2025-05-23). "Fuller Seminary Reaffirms Historic LGBTQ Stance".
35. (18 November 2013). "Fuller Seminary students, staff march on Pasadena City Hall for immigration reform". pasadenastarnews.com.
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37. (30 March 2016). "A conversation on why Black Lives Matter to White churches". Fuller Studio.
38. "LGBT group finds acceptance at evangelical college".
39. (2017-10-17). "Policy Against Unlawful Discrimination {{!}} Fuller Seminary".
40. Saxon, Wolfgang. (June 16, 1996). "Obituary: David Allan Hubbard".
41. (July 6, 2017). "Article: Three Accomplished Graduates Given Prestigious Hubbard Achievement Award".