Fuller Theological Seminary is a multidenominational evangelical Christian seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States.
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 differing perspectives arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. There were tensions in the late 1950s and early 1960s as some faculty members became uncomfortable with staff and students who did not agree with Biblical inerrancy. This led to the people associated with the seminary playing a role in the rise of neo-evangelicalism. In 2019, it had 2,672 students enrolled.
Presidents
Fuller has had five presidents over its 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 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 remains at Fuller as Professor of Faith and Public Life.
Fuller Theological Seminary is organized into schools of theology, psychology, and intercultural studies. The seminary emphasizes integration of the three schools and many students take courses in more than one school. The seminary offers 18 degree programs, including seven master's degrees and 11 advanced degrees.
Campuses
Fuller is closing Fuller Northwest, Fuller Bay Area, Fuller Orange County. It is also reducing degree programs offered in Fuller Colorado and Fuller Arizona. These closures and reductions will take place before the 2019–20 academic year. In May 2009, Fuller opened its David Allan Hubbard Library that incorporated the former McAlister Library building at its main campus in Pasadena, California for a total of. On May 23, 2018, Fuller announced that its main campus in Pasadena would be sold and the seminary would move its main campus to Pomona by 2021. 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.
Social issues
While Fuller has established policies, the seminary is open to difference in opinion among students and faculty. The seminary's current president, Mark Labberton, marched in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in 2013. Others have expressed support in the Fuller forum for the Black Lives Matter movement as raising awareness for civil rights. In 2015, some faculty at the seminary called on Christians to openly discuss, with respect, issues related to race, gender, sexual orientation, refugees, and immigrants. While the seminary officially recognizes marriage as "between a man and a woman", the seminary did allow an LGBTQ student club to organize on campus; the club, "OneTable", became the first LGBTQ group organized within an evangelical seminary.
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.
