View source for Fuller Theological Seminary

{{short description|Evangelical theological seminary in Pasadena, California, United States}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Fuller Theological Seminary
| image = Fuller-Theological-Seminary-Official-Logo-All-Rights-Reserved.png
| established = {{ Start date and age|1947}}
| type = [[Seminary]]
| president = [[David Emmanuel Goatley]]
| city = [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]]
| state = California
| country = United States
| campus = Urban
| website = {{URL|fuller.edu}}
}}
[[File:2008-1226-Pasadena-005-FullerTS.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Payton Hall on the Pasadena Campus]]

'''Fuller Theological Seminary'''  is an [[Evangelical]] [[seminary]] in [[Pasadena, California]], with [[Satellite campus|regional campus]]es in the western United States. It is [[Christian egalitarianism|egalitarian]] in nature.<ref>{{cite web |title=Women in Ministry {{!}} Fuller Seminary |url=https://www.fuller.edu/womeninministry/ |date=5 July 2017}}</ref>

Fuller has a student body of approximately 2,300 students<ref name="ats.edu">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ats.edu/member-schools/fuller-theological-seminary|title=Fuller Theological Seminary {{!}} The Association of Theological Schools|website=www.ats.edu|language=en|access-date=2023-12-01}}</ref> from 90 countries and 110 denominations. There are over 41,000 alumni.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YI2DwAAQBAJ&dq=fuller+denominations+countries&pg=PA169|title = Evangelical America: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Religious Culture|isbn = 9781610697743|last1 = Timothy|first1 = J. Demy PH D.|last2 = Paul|first2 = R. Shockley PH D.|date = 21 September 2017| publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref> Fuller is broadly [[evangelical]] among faculty and student body. Some hold conservative evangelical views such as unlimited [[Biblical inerrancy|inerrancy]] while others hold liberal evangelical sentiments such as limited inerrancy which views the Bible as true on matters of salvation but contains error in its recording of history and science.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wz0CwAAQBAJ&dq=fuller+seminary+broad+inerrancy&pg=PT154|title=Vital Issues in the Inerrancy Debate|isbn=9781498237253|last1=David Farnell|first1=F.|last2=Geisler|first2=Norman L.|last3=Holden|first3=Joseph M.|last4=Roach|first4=William C.|last5=Fernandes|first5=Phil|date=14 January 2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref>

==History==
Fuller Theological Seminary was founded in 1947 by [[Charles E. Fuller (Baptist minister)|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]].<ref>Randall Herbert Balmer, ''Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition'', Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 276</ref> The seminary's founders sought to reform [[Fundamentalist Christianity|fundamentalism]]'s separatist and sometimes anti-intellectual stance during the 1920s–1940s.<ref name=Marsden>{{cite book|author=Marsden, George M. | title=Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism | location=Grand Rapids | publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing | year=1987 |isbn=978-0-8028-3642-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?as_isbn=9780802836427 |access-date=November 30, 2009}}</ref> Fuller envisaged that the seminary would become "a [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]] of the evangelical world."<ref name=Marsden /> In the late 1940s, evangelical theologians from Fuller championed the Christian importance of social [[activism]].<ref>David R. Swartz, ''Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism'', University of Pennsylvania Press, USA, 2012, p. 18</ref>

The earliest faculty held theologically and [[socially conservative]] views, though professors with [[Liberal Christianity|liberal]] perspectives arrived in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name=Marsden /> 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]].<ref name=Marsden /> This led to people associated with the seminary playing a role in the rise of [[neo-evangelicalism]] and [[Progressive Christianity|progressive]] theology.<ref name=Marsden /><ref>George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, ''Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5'', Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 929</ref>

David Hubbard recruited [[Donald McGavran]] to be the first dean of the newly created school of world mission in 1965.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0USBgAAQBAJ&dq=donald+mcgavran+1965+dean+hubbard&pg=PA233|title=Give the Winds a Mighty Voice: The Story of Charles e. Fuller|isbn=9781498207157|last1=Fuller|first1=Daniel P.|date=2 January 2015|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref> McGavran was esteemed as perhaps the world's most prominent and influential missiologist of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jy6C3STdZv8C&dq=mcgavran+missiologist+influential&pg=PA71|title = World Christianity, 1970-2000: Toward a New Millennium|isbn = 9780878085040|last1 = Crawley|first1 = Winston|year = 2001| publisher=William Carey Library }}</ref> 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 D. Winter|Ralph Winter]], [[C. Peter Wagner]] and many others.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmkbEAAAQBAJ&dq=mcgavran+tippet+winter+wagner&pg=PA86|title = The Far Side of the Sea: A Study of Church Growth in India|isbn = 9781622457519|last1 = Hogrefe|first1 = James|date = April 2021| publisher=One Mission Society }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs8IBAAAQBAJ&dq=fuller+seminary+largest+missions+world&pg=PA130|title = Introduction to Global Missions|isbn = 9781433678981|last1 = Pratt|first1 = Zane|last2 = David Sills|first2 = M.|last3 = Walters|first3 = Jeff K.|date = July 2014| publisher=B&H Publishing }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZBLAwAAQBAJ&dq=fuller+seminary+largest+missiology+faculty&pg=PA66|title = Dictionary of Mission: Theology, History, Perspectives|isbn = 9781597525497|last1 = Muller|first1 = Karl|last2 = Sundermeier|first2 = Theo|last3 = Bevans|first3 = Stephen B.|last4 = Bliese|first4 = Richard H.|date = 30 January 2006| publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref>

In 2022, it had 2,370 students enrolled.<ref name="ats.edu"/>

===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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Awakening the evangelical mind : an intellectual history of the neo-evangelical movement|last=Strachan, Owen.|isbn=9780310520795|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|oclc=907181035|year = 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Ockenga resumed his ''in absentia'' leadership until 35-year-old [[David Allan Hubbard|David Allen Hubbard]], a Baptist Old Testament scholar and member of Fuller's third entering class, became Fuller's third president in 1963.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2017|title=COLLECTION 0150: David Allan Hubbard: Presidential Papers, 1947–1996|url=https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/findingaids/3|journal=Fuller Seminary Archives and Special Collections|access-date=2019-04-28|archive-date=2021-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125211105/https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/findingaids/3/|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Kang">{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-dec-02-me-beliefs2-story.html | title=Aiming to Clarify the Meaning of a Loaded Word |author=Kang, K. Connie| date=December 2, 2006| work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | access-date=November 20, 2009 }}</ref> In July 2013, [[Mark Labberton]] became the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair of Fuller. Labberton, a [[Presbyterian Church (USA)|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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mark Labberton Faculty Profile|url=http://www.fuller.edu/faculty/mlabberton/|publisher=Fuller Theological Seminary|access-date=July 9, 2013}}</ref> Mouw remained at Fuller as Professor of Faith and Public Life until 2020.<ref>{{cite web|title=Richard J. Mouw Faculty Profile|url=http://www.fuller.edu/faculty/rmouw/|publisher=Fuller Theological Seminary|access-date=July 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127024059/http://www.fuller.edu/faculty/rmouw/|archive-date=November 27, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kucinski|first=Matt|date=June 4, 2020|title=Richard Mouw comes home to Calvin|url=https://calvin.edu/news/archive/richard-mouw-comes-home-to-calvin|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Calvin University|language=en}}</ref> In October 2021, Labberton announced his retirement.<ref>{{Cite web|last=NEWSWIRE)|first=Fuller Seminary (GLOBE|title=Fuller Seminary Begins Presidential Transition|url=https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/news/fuller-seminary-begins-presidential-transition/article_9903c0cc-d005-51c7-947b-05205ecb5e95.html|access-date=2021-10-23|website=The Bakersfield Californian|language=en|archive-date=2021-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023055159/https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/news/fuller-seminary-begins-presidential-transition/article_9903c0cc-d005-51c7-947b-05205ecb5e95.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release|title=Fuller Seminary Begins Presidential Transition|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fuller-seminary-begins-presidential-transition-213000723.html|access-date=2021-10-23|website=Yahoo Finance|via=GlobeNewswire|date=22 October 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[David Emmanuel Goatley|David Goatley]] became the sixth president in January 2023.<ref name="fuller.edu">{{cite web | url=https://www.fuller.edu/posts/fuller-seminary-names-david-emmanuel-goatley-as-sixth-president/ | title=Fuller Seminary Names David Emmanuel Goatley as Sixth President |publisher= Fuller Seminary | date=12 September 2022 }}</ref> He is the first African American to occupy the role. Goatley is a missions executive and former administrative executive at [[Duke University]].<ref name="fuller.edu"/>

==Academics==
Fuller Theological Seminary is organized into the School of Mission and Theology (SMT) and the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy (SOPMFT).<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Fuller |url=https://www.fuller.edu/about/ |access-date=May 25, 2024 |website=Fuller Theological Seminary}}</ref> 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.<ref name="FullerFactsandFigures">{{cite web |title=Academics |url=https://www.fuller.edu/academics/ |access-date=May 25, 2024 |website=Fuller Theological Seminary }}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 12, 2024 |title=Search for Accredited Programs |url=https://apps.apa.org/accredsearch/ |access-date=May 25, 2024 |website=American Psychological Association}}</ref> Fuller's student body of 2,897 includes students from 90 countries and 110 denominational backgrounds.<ref name="AboutFuller">{{cite web | url=http://fuller.edu/About/ | publisher=Fuller Theological Seminary |title=About Fuller | access-date=August 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="ats.edu" />

==Campuses==
Fuller closed Fuller Northwest ([[Seattle]]), Fuller Bay Area ([[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]]), and Fuller Orange County ([[Irvine, California|Irvine]]).  It also reduced degree programs offered in Fuller Colorado ([[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]]) and Fuller Arizona ([[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]]).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/fuller-theological-seminary-closing-some-campuses-welcome-online-shift/110932.htm|title=Fuller Theological Seminary closes some campuses|access-date=2018-05-25|language=en}}</ref> These closures and reductions took place before the 2019–20 academic year.

In May 2009, Fuller opened its {{convert|47000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} David Allan Hubbard Library that incorporated the former McAlister Library building on its main campus in Pasadena, California for a total of {{convert|90000|sqft|m2|adj=on}}.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.dailynews.com/2009/05/18/fuller-theological-seminary-celebrates-new-library/ | title=Fuller Theological Seminary celebrates new library | author=Williams, Janette | newspaper=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]| date=May 18, 2009 |access-date=August 31, 2018 |url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831120550/https://www.dailynews.com/2009/05/18/fuller-theological-seminary-celebrates-new-library/ | archive-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>

In 2018, Fuller briefly planned to sell its main campus in Pasadena and move to Pomona.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fuller-seminary-20180523-story.html|title=Fuller Theological Seminary leaving Pasadena and putting campus up for sale|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|first=Roger |last=Vincent|date=May 23, 2018|access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fuller.edu/future/|title=The Future of Fuller Seminary {{!}} Fuller Seminary|date=2019-06-01|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/october/fuller-seminary-pasadena-campus-cancel-move-pomona.html|title=Fuller Seminary Won't Leave Pasadena After All|last=Fowler|first=Megan|website=News & Reporting|date=31 October 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-01-14}}</ref>

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. The seven community standards are: Academic Integrity, Marriage and Divorce, Respect for People and Property, Sexual Standards, Substance Abuse, Policy Against Sexual Harassment, and Policy Against Unlawful Discrimination.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-17 |title=Community Standards {{!}} Fuller Seminary |url=https://fuller.edu/about/mission-and-values/community-standards/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Sexual Standards ===
Fuller Theological Seminary requires all students and employees to abstain from “homosexual forms of explicit sexual conduct”. The seminary states that “The seminary does lawfully discriminate on the basis of sexual conduct”. The seminary also states that “adherence to [the abstention of homosexual sexual conduct] is a continuing condition of admission and employment."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2017-10-17 |title=Policy Against Unlawful Discrimination {{!}} Fuller Seminary |url=https://fuller.edu/about/mission-and-values/community-standards7/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Kathryn |date=2024-02-02 |title=Fuller seminary senior director fired for refusal to sign non-LGBTQ affirming statement |url=https://religionnews.com/2024/02/02/fuller-seminary-senior-director-fired-for-refusal-to-sign-non-lgbtq-affirming-statement/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=RNS |language=en-US}}</ref> 

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foley |first=Ryan |date=March 31, 2021 |title=LBGT Christian college students sue to block Title IX religious exemptions |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/lgbt-students-sue-to-block-religious-exemptions-to-title-ix.html |access-date=2021-04-06 |website=www.christianpost.com |language=en}}</ref> 

In 2025, Fuller Theological Seminary re-affirmed its policy requiring employees and students to abstain from homosexual sexual conduct as a requirement of their employment and enrollment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Silliman |first=Daniel |date=2025-05-23 |title=Fuller Seminary Reaffirms Historic LGBTQ Stance |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/05/fuller-seminary-reaffirm-lgbtq-sexuality-marriage-stance/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=Christianity Today |language=en-US}}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2013/11/18/fuller-seminary-students-staff-march-on-pasadena-city-hall-for-immigration-reform/|title=Fuller Seminary students, staff march on Pasadena City Hall for immigration reform|date=18 November 2013|publisher=pasadenastarnews.com|access-date=April 27, 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fuller.edu/communication/homepage-features/2015/conversations-the-church-needs-to-have-in-2015/|title=Conversations the Church needs to have in 2015|website=fuller.edu|access-date=April 27, 2016|archive-date=October 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023100206/http://fuller.edu/communication/homepage-features/2015/conversations-the-church-needs-to-have-in-2015/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Fuller Studio interviewed a pastor, Michael McBride, who expressed his support for the  [[Black Lives Matter]] movement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 March 2016 |title=A conversation on why Black Lives Matter to White churches |url=https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/michael-mcbride-conversation-black-lives-matter-white-churches/ |access-date=April 27, 2016 |publisher=Fuller Studio}}</ref> In 2016, the seminary started the first [[LGBT|LGBTQ]] group organized within an evangelical seminary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/13/lgbt-group-finds-acceptance-at-evangelical-college/2514629/|title=LGBT group finds acceptance at evangelical college|website=USA TODAY|access-date=April 27, 2016}}</ref> However, the seminary continues to require all employees and students to abstain from homosexual sexual conduct as a condition of employment and enrollment.<ref name=":1" /> 

== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/us/david-a-hubbard-68-is-dead-bible-expert-and-seminary-head.html|title=Obituary: David Allan Hubbard|last=Saxon|first=Wolfgang|date=June 16, 1996|website=New York Times}}</ref> Each recipient is chosen by the faculty of their respective school.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fuller.edu/posts/three-accomplished-graduates-given-prestigious-hubbard-achievement-award/|title=Article: Three Accomplished Graduates Given Prestigious Hubbard Achievement Award|date=July 6, 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Fuller Theological Seminary people]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official website|http://www.fuller.edu}}

{{Coord|34|08|55|N|118|08|24|W|display=title|region:US_type:edu_source:dewiki}}

{{Fuller Theological Seminary|state=expanded}}
{{CCCU}}
{{Colleges and universities in Los Angeles County}}
{{Pasadena, California}}
{{Evangelicalism in the United States}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fuller Theological Seminary| ]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges established in 1947]]
[[Category:Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges]]
[[Category:Evangelicalism in California]]
[[Category:Interdenominational seminaries and theological colleges]]
[[Category:Seminaries and theological colleges in California]]
[[Category:Education in Pasadena, California]]
[[Category:1947 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Council for Christian Colleges and Universities]]