Daniel Fuller
{{Short description|American theologian (1925–2023)}}
Daniel Payton Fuller (August 28, 1925 – June 21, 2023) was an American theologian and professor of hermeneutics. Fuller was the son of radio evangelist Charles E. Fuller, co-founder of the Fuller Theological Seminary.
Life and career
Fuller was born on August 28, 1925, in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Charles E. Fuller and Grace Payton Fuller.[https://repository.sbts.edu/bitstream/handle/10392/4959/Taylor_sbts_0207D_10249.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y John Piper: The Making of a Christian Hedonist, pg. 108] After graduation from South Pasadena High School in 1943, Fuller enlisted in the United States Navy and became a commissioned officer. He was discharged in 1946. He was ordained at Immanuel Baptist Church in Pasadena, California. He served as Assistant Pastor at Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts, from 1949 to 1950.
Fuller held the title of Professor Emeritus of hermeneutics at Fuller Theological Seminary,{{cite book|last1=Lundin|first1=Roger|last2=Thiselton|first2=Anthony C.|last3=Walhout|first3=Clarence|title=The promise of hermeneutics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y2F6rSq9VMC&pg=PA36|access-date=7 July 2011|date=July 1999|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4635-8|pages=36–}} where he taught from 1953 to 1993 and served as Dean of the School of Theology from 1963 to 1973.[https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c88w3m84/entire_text/ Fuller Theological Seminary School of Theology Deans’ Files] Additionally he served as President of the Gospel Broadcasting Association and the Fuller Evangelistic Association.
Fuller was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Fuller Theological Seminary. He held the Doctor of Theology degrees from Northern Baptist Seminary and from the University of Basel in Switzerland.{{cite web |title=Faculty Emeriti |url=https://www.fuller.edu/faculty-emeriti/ |publisher=Fuller Theological Seminary |access-date=26 June 2021}}
In 2005, Fuller was honored at an awards convocation for 50 years of service to the seminary.{{cite news| title= Year in Review| year= 2005| publisher= Fuller Theological Seminary| url= http://www.fuller.edu/news/html/2005_review.asp| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080129002911/http://www.fuller.edu/news/html/2005_review.asp| archive-date= January 29, 2008}}
His papers from 1928 to 2000 are held in the archives and special collections of the Fuller Theological Seminary.{{cite web |title=COLLECTION 0019: Papers of Daniel Payton Fuller, 1928-2000 |url=https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=findingaids |publisher=Fuller Theological Seminary |access-date=24 June 2021}}
Fuller was married with four children. He died on June 21, 2023, at the age of 97.{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Justin |title=How Three Friends Dropped Out of Princeton Theological Seminary, Joined the Inaugural Class of Fuller Theological Seminary, and Changed Evangelicalism |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/how-three-friends-dropped-out-of-princeton-theological-seminary-joined-the-inaugural-class-of-fuller-theological-seminary-and-changed-evangelicalism/ |access-date=26 June 2023 |publisher=The Gospel Coalition |date=23 June 2023}}
Theology and influence
Fuller wrote Gospel and Law: Contrast or Continuum? in 1980. Paul Rainbow argues that he "sent shock waves throughout the bastions of Reformed theology by asserting that there is 'an inseparable connection between faith and resulting works' such that 'the Bible sometimes speaks of faith and sometimes of works when it speaks of the condition to be met' for salvation."{{cite book |last1=Rainbow |first1=Paul A. |title=The Way of Salvation: The Role of Christian Obedience in Justification |date=2012 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |page=20 |isbn=9781620326435 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JRNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |access-date=26 June 2021}} Fuller argued for a radical continuity between Old Covenant and New Covenant economies, and rejected the antithesis between law and gospel. His view was critiqued by Meredith Kline,{{cite book |last1=Jeon |first1=Jeong Koo |title=Covenant Theology: John Murray's and Meredith G. Kline's Response to the Historical Development of Federal Theology in Reformed Thought |date=2004 |publisher=University Press of America |page=252 |isbn=9780761830627 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qg5eovDNdMMC&pg=PA252 |access-date=26 June 2021}} O. Palmer Robertson,{{cite journal |last1=Robertson |first1=O. Palmer |author-link=O. Palmer Robertson|title=Daniel P. Fuller's Gospel & Law: Contrast or Continuum?: A Review Article|journal=Presbyterion |date=1982 |volume=8 |url=https://heidelblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/O.-Palmer-Robertson-Presbuterion-8.1-1982-84-91.pdf |access-date=26 June 2021}} and Robert Godfrey.{{cite journal |last1=Godfrey |first1=W. Robert |author-link=W. Robert Godfrey|title=Back to Basics: A Response to the Robertson-Fuller Dialogue |journal=Presbyterion |date=1983 |volume=9 |url=https://heidelblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/W.-Robert-Godfrey-Presbuterion-9.1-2-1983-80-84-1-2.pdf |access-date=26 June 2021}}
Fuller had a significant influence on John Piper, who studied under him at Fuller Seminary. In his foreword to Fuller's 1992 book The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding God's Plan for Humanity, Piper wrote, "No book besides the Bible has had a greater influence on my life than Daniel Fuller's The Unity of the Bible."{{cite book |last1=Piper |first1=John |author-link=John Piper (theologian)|title=The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding God's Plan for Humanity |date=2010 |publisher=Zondervan |page=viii |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c22N8Hx4mrsC&pg=PP8 |access-date=26 June 2021 |chapter=Foreword|isbn=9780310874126 }}
Selected writings
- The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding Gods Plan for Humanity, Zondervan (May 1992) {{ISBN|0-310-53300-7}}
- Gospel and Law: Contrast or continuum?: The Hermeneutics of Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology, Eerdmans (1980) {{ISBN|0-8028-1808-0}}
- "Give the Winds a Mighty Voice: The Story of Charles E. Fuller", Word Books, Waco (1972). {{ISBN|978-1498207157}}
References
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{{Fuller Theological Seminary}}
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Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:Fuller Theological Seminary alumni
Category:University of Basel alumni
Category:Fuller Theological Seminary faculty
Category:American expatriates in Switzerland
Category:United States Navy officers