Fred Zaspel recently gave a talk entitled “Andrew Fuller: The Man Who Rescued The Baptists From Hyper-Calvinism” at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. According to Fred, “It was very well received, and we’ve begun a tradition now—a series of these kinds of “Baptist Heritage” lectures each semester.” Here is the talk on Fuller.
We are currently accepting paper proposals for this Fall’s conference (September 21-22, 2012). We have a limited number of spaces, so please respond quickly if interested. These papers should be about 3,000-4,000 words in length and able to be delivered in approximately 20-25 minutes. Those interested in presenting need to e-mail the Center (andrewfullercenter@sbts.edu) with a title and brief outline of their proposal as well as a brief resume.
The topic of papers for the parallel sessions must fall within the theme of the conference, namely, “Andrew Fuller and His Friends.” The plenary session schedule is available here. Parallel sessions may focus on Fuller’s relationship with others or some aspect relating to one of Fuller’s “friends.” Some examples of papers already accepted are:
Submission of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance. The presenters of papers accepted for the conference will be notified promptly.
Presenters must register for the conference (details forthcoming) and are responsible for their own transportation, lodging, and meals.
This conference is held annually on the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
I just posted the schedule for our 6th annual conference. The theme this year is “Andrew Fuller and His Friends.” As usual, a stellar line-up of speakers are slated to speak on a range for interesting topics related to our conference them. Please watch this website for more details about the conference, including registration details.
Information about and audio of previous conferences are available here.
Why devote a significant amount of one’s academic career to focus on a figure, namely, Andrew Fuller, who is nowhere near as well known as say, Athanasius, Anselm, Calvin, Owen of Edwards? Is it worth doing? A comment by the great historical theologian Geoffrey Bromiley has never left me in the many years since I read it: As a Christian academic, pour your energy into what is worthwhile. Is the study of Fuller and Fullerism worthwhile? The unequivocal answer is yes!
Fuller exemplifies for me the best in Baptist thought and piety. He was rigorous in defence of the Christian faith and an unashamed Baptist (he did, after all, argue for a closed communion over against his close friends William Carey and William Ward). He knew that piety was the vital fire to ignite the coals of doctrine. His love for his family and friends was remarkable: Carey’s three words when he heard of his death sum it all up, “I loved him,” he said. He was catholic and reformed in the best sense of those terms, and could well be described as a reformed catholic theologian, as Owen and Benjamin Keach have recently been so described. He was the main disseminator of Edwardsean theology in the UK in the nineteenth century, and true to his mentor, Edwards, passionately missional. Little wonder, Spurgeon rightly commented to his son that Fuller was the greatest theologian the Baptists had in the nineteenth century.
Did he get everything right? No. But that does not diminish from his greatness. Spending time elucidating his thought is time indeed well spent.
Why do I love Samuel Pearce and William Carey and Andrew Fuller?
For the very same reason that William Ward did:
“I cannot describe to you what pleasure I feel in communion with brethren Pearce, Fuller, and the Northamptonshire ministers in general; I love them, not only because of their views of the gospel, but on account of their being thoroughly given up, in heart and soul to Jesus Christ, and to promote the eternal welfare of their fellow creatures.”
Did you notice what Fuller said about the way God would dwell among his people?
” ‘Will God indeed dwell with men?’ He will; and how? It is by the means of ordinance and ministers. A church of Christ is God’s house, and where anyone builds a house it is a token he means to dwell there.” (Importance of Christian Ministers considered as the Gift of Christ inThe Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller [Repr. Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publications, 1988], I, 522).
In other words, the ordinances, including baptism and the Lord’s Table, are means by which God dwells among us. This is in line with Baptist thought from the 17th and early 18th centuries but a distinct challenge to us today. On the other hand, Fuller’s close friend, John Sutcliff, argued that Christ was absent from his ordinance of the Table. Yet, they were close friends. This is glorious–I mean their friendship despite such differences.
A friend just asked me: “before jumping in and trying to read the whole of Andrew Fuller’s works, what would you recommend to start with?”
Well, without being self-promoting I would first of all recommend reading my edited The Armies of the Lamb: The spirituality of Andrew Fuller (Dundas, Ontario: Joshua Press, 2001). This is a great entry point into Fuller: there is a small bio, an essay on his piety (the heart of all of his writing, preaching, and living), and a judicious selection of his letters. Letters are always a tremendous way to understand a person.
Then, assuming you have access to the three-volume Sprinkle reprint [The Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller (Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publications, 1988)], you need to read the following to begin:
1. The “Memoir” by Fuller’s son Andrew Gunton Fuller in vol. I (pages 1–116): this is fabulous for the diary extracts. The whole diary is not there—we hope to have this in the new critical edition—but there is enough to reveal the tenor of his life and thought.
2. The nine circular letters that Fuller wrote for the Northamptonshire Baptist Association on key theological and practical issues: vol. III, 308–66. These would were an annual custom where the association would ask one of her ministers to draft such a letter on behalf of the association and it would be sent to all of the churches in the association.
3. Strictures on Sandemanianism (vol. II, 561–646). A rebuttal of a significant theological error. But in the course of it, Fuller explores a lot of theological ground.
4. The Atonement of Christ, and the Justification of the Sinner, edited Andrew Gunton Fuller (New York: American Tract Society, n.d.): this is a compilation of Fuller’s thoughts on two key issues.
5. Sample his sermons in vol. I of his Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller.
Blessings on you as you read!
Just read F.W. Butt-Thompson’s study of William Vidler (1758–1816), a nemesis of Andrew Fuller, and by successive degrees a Calvinistic Baptist who turned Universalist and then Unitarian. His church, Butt-Thompson tells us, eventually became “an Ethical Society without any distinct Christian bias” [Transactions of the Baptist Historical Society 1 (1908), 42–55, quote at page 54]. I am looking forward to Chris Chun’s treatment of the controversy between Vidler and Fuller—that has so much contemporary significance—at ETS this November in San Francisco.
Why do I love Andrew Fuller and his circle of friends? There are many reasons. One of them is this: their profound sense of belonging to a catholic body. Lest some of you think I think they were Roman Catholics, that is definitely not what I am saying.
What I am saying is this: through friendships with men like John Newton, John Berridge, Thomas Scott–all of them Anglicans–Thomas Chalmers and John Erskine–Scottish Presbyterians–the New divinity heirs of Edwards in New England–all of them Congregationalists–and even Hyper-Calvinists, like William Button and Arminian Baptists like Dan Taylor–these men had a balance in their Christian lives that is enviable. They knew they were Baptists and gloried in that heritage. They were Calvinistic and would not surrender these truths for the world. But their goal in life was not to make men and women Baptists or even Calvinists–it was to make them first of all Christians.
Honestly, it scares me today to see men building little fiefdoms based on secondary issues or even tertiary issues. And whose basic raison d’etre is not the great orthodox, catholic Faith. Oh that the biblical catholocity of Fuller and his friends might be more in evidence!
Addendum (written four hours later): I am a Baptist through and through (even closed communion). I am an unashamed Calvinist (certainly not hyper, nor committed to double predestination–here I follow the 1689). But I am first and foremost a follower of the Lamb. I want him, and his Father and Spirit, to be my all in all.
Addendum 2 (written a day or so later): That is why I am a Baptist, though. I am seeking to follow Jesus in all that he commanded (Matt 28:19-20). But I recognize and love brothers dearly who see things differently. For my position see John Sutcliff’s preface to his 1789 edition of Jonathan Edwards; Humble Attempt. It cannot be said better than he says it there.
I recently missed out in bidding for an item on e-bay by Andrew Fuller, a first edition of his sermon Christian Patriotism: or, The Duty of Religious People Towards Their Country. A Discourse delivered at the Baptist Meeting-House in Kettering, on Lord’s-Day Evening, Aug. 14, 1803 (Printed and sold by J. W. Morris, Dunstable, 1803). Measuring 6½ inches x 4¼ inches, it is 34 pages in length. The going price for this piece was $162.00. To be utterly honest, I found the whole experience of bidding for this—watching my bids escalate in price as I tried vainly to outbid the person who bought this item—quite irksome.
Why so irksome. Well, here is how my train of thinking ran. Here am I, the director of the Andrew Fuller Center, involved in the publication of the critical edition of Fuller’s works. Why shouldn’t I be given some special access to such works like this at a reasonable price to further the cause of Fuller scholarship? I must admit that such thoughts, essentially unwholesome thoughts, ran through my mind. In fact, they did more than run through it. They lodged there for a few days, and are still there, I fear. But Romans 12:3 calls me to think much more soberly of myself and my calling. My calling may involve me in the editing of some of Fuller’s works, but the world of Fuller scholarship does not revolve around me or this project. Why should I be entitled to some sort of special privilege?
This is even truer on another, far more important level: my place in this universe and my standing with God. This universe is not centred around me. I can lay claim to no special privilege with God. I must come the way of all sinners: seeking mercy through the merits of the stainless life and sweet death of the Lord Jesus.