Th e An d r e w Fu ller Center

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2 Th e An d r e w Fu ller Center for Baptist Studies The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, now located at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, seeks to promote the study of Baptist history as well as theological reflection on the contemporary significance of that history. The center is named in honor of Andrew Fuller ( ), the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century English Baptist pastor and theologian, who played a key role in opposing aberrant thought in his day and who was also a major figure in the founding and early years of the Baptist Missionary Society. Fuller was a close friend and theological mentor of William Carey, one of the pioneers of that society. When English Baptist life was threatened by the winter chill of hyper-calvinism, Andrew Fuller warmed the churches with the free offer of the Gospel, and thus fuelled the modern missions movement, Russell D. Moore, Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at Southern, has noted with regard to the theological importance of Andrew Fuller. The Andrew Fuller Center holds an annual two-day conference in August that examines various aspects of Baptist history and thought. It also supports the publication of the critical edition of the Works of Andrew Fuller, and from time to time, other works in Baptist history. In time, it is hoped that the Center will be able to play a role in the mentoring of junior scholars interested in studying Baptist history. Twice each year, in the spring and the fall, the Andrew Fuller Center publishes Eusebeia, a journal that carries articles and books reviews related to Baptist history and thought.

3 An d r e w Fu ller ( ): A b r i e f o v e rv i e w o f h i s l i f e & l e g a c y Andrew Fuller was an indefatigable Baptist theologian and pastor, an outstanding figure with qualities that make him one of the most attractive figures in Baptist history. Many in his day and after could echo the words of his very close friend William Carey, I loved him. Self-taught when it came to theology, Fuller immersed himself in the works of Baptist and Puritan authors, including John Bunyan and John Gill, John Owen and Jonathan Edwards. Ultimately, though, it was to the Scriptures that he looked for his theological convictions. His first major work, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, which appeared in 1785 with a second edition in 1801, proved to be an epoch-making book that decisively refuted Hyper- Calvinism and laid the theological foundations for the modern missionary movement. In 1793 he issued an extensive refutation of Socinianism or Unitarianism, The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems examined and Compared, as to their Moral Tendency, which well displays the Christ-centered nature of eighteenth-century Evangelical thought. Fuller also published influential rebuttals of Deism and Sandemanianism, the latter an eighteenth-century form of easy-believism. One other book of Fuller s literary corpus deserves mention. His Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Pearce (1800), modeled after The stream in Soham, England, where Fuller was baptized.

4 Jonathan Edwards life of David Brainerd, recounts the life of his close friend, Samuel Pearce of Birmingham, whose walk with God was admired by many in the nineteenth century. Fuller s own spirituality, which was deeply indebted to the piety of Jonathan Edwards, also played a key role in shaping Baptist life in the years after his death. In addition to these literary projects Fuller was also a conscientious pastor and secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society. As a pastor-theologian, he is a great mentor for Baptists today. A 19th-century medal commemorating the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society and noting one of the key texts that undergirded the Society, Zechariah 4:6. and Yale (1805) both awarded him a DD, though he declined to accept either of them. C.H. Spurgeon did not hesitate to describe Fuller as the greatest theologian of his century, while the Southern Baptist historian A. H. Newman said that his influence on American Baptists was incalculable. Without a doubt, he was the most important theologian of the late eighteenth-century transatlantic Baptist community. Fuller s church in Kettering today. It is clear that Fuller had remarkable stores of physical and mental energy that allowed him to accomplish all that he did. But it was not without cost to his body. In the last fifteen years of his life he was rarely well. He preached for the last time on 2 April 1815 and died 7 May of that year. The importance of his theological achievements was noted during and after his life. The College of New Jersey (1798) The title page of the Memoirs of Samuel Pearce.

5 The English Baptists of the 17th Century THE ANNUAL ANDREW FULLER CENTER FOR BAPTIST STUDIES CONFERENCE ON THE CAMPUS OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, LOUISVILLE, KY august 25-26, 2008 CONFERENCE SPEAKERS Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Dr. Barry Howson (Heritage Theological Seminary, Cambridge, ON) Dr. Larry Kreitzer (Regents Park College, University of Oxford) Dr. Tom Nettles (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Dr. Jim Renihan (The Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies/Westminster Seminary, CA) Austin Walker (Maidenbower Baptist Church, Crawley, Sussex, UK) Dr. Malcolm Yarnell (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) Dr. Peter Beck (Charleston Southern University) Scott Bowman (PhD candidate, Pretoria, South Africa) Dr. Dennis Bustin (Atlantic Baptist University) Jason Duesing (PhD candidate, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) Jay Collier (PhD candidate, Calvin Seminary) Dr. Stan Fowler (Heritage Theological Seminary, Cambridge, ON) Tom Hicks (PhD Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Jim Holmes (PhD candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Allen Mickle (PhD candidate, University of Leiden) Dr. Jeff Robinson (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Steve Weaver (PhD candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Dr. Stephen Yuille (The Toronto Baptist Seminary) RESERVE THE DATES! Cost is $80 per person. Student rate $40 (meals included) Updates, further details and registration information available online at

6 nd 2 Annual Conference of the Andrew Fuller Center th The English Baptists of the 17 Century REGISTRATION FORM Name Address City State / Province Zip / Postal Code Guest room reservations at the Legacy Center at Southern should be made by calling or by going online at www. legacycenteratsouthern.com. Please reference Group ID#35728 when making your reservations. $80 per person X people = Student Rate: $40 per person (This includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and one dinner.) Guest room rates: $79.99 for mini suites $99.99 for double rooms $99.99 for suites TOTAL = $ Fill out the registration form and mail it and the check for the meals and/or accommodations to: The Andrew Fuller Center Conference The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2825 Lexington Road Louisville, Kentucky 40280

7 About the Director Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin is currently the Director of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, located on the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the editor of Eusebeia: The Bulletin of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. Dr. Haykin has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto (1974), a M.Rel. from Wycliffe College, the University of Toronto (1977), and a Th.D. in Church History from the University of Toronto and Wycliffe College (1982). He is the author of a number of books, including One heart and one soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, his friends, and his times (Evangelical Press, 1994); Kiffin, Knollys and Keach: Rediscovering Our English Baptist Heritage (Reformation Today Trust, 1996); The Armies of the Lamb: The spirituality of Andrew Fuller (Joshua Press, 2001); and The Pure Fountain of the Word: Andrew Fuller as an Apologist (Paternoster Press, 2004). He served as editor for The Life and Thought of John Gill ( ): A Tercentennial Appreciation (E.J. Brill, 1997) and The British Particular Baptists, Volumes (Particular Baptist Press, 1998, 2000, 2003). A 15-volume critical edition of the works of Andrew Fuller is being published under his editorship by Paternoster Press. His present areas of research include eighteenth-century British Baptist thought and piety and Patristic Trinitarianism.

8 The works of Andrew Fuller project The Andrew Fuller Center also helps co-ordinate The Works of Andrew Fuller Project. The aim of this project is to publish a modern critical edition of the entire corpus of Andrew Fuller s published and unpublished works by This edition will comprise fifteen volumes and will be published by Paternoster Press. The controlling objective of The Works of Andrew Fuller Project is to preserve and accurately transmit the text of Fuller s writings. The editors are committed to the finest scholarly standards for textual transcription, editing, and annotation. They are convinced that transmitting these texts is a vital task, since Fuller s writings not only for their volume, extent, and scope, but also for their enduring importance are major documents in the Baptist story. Fuller s writings exist in three states: those published during his lifetime, those issued posthumously, and those still in manuscript (these are mostly letters, a few sermons and a diary). Up until now, scholars and general readers have had to rely generally on a nineteenth-century, three-volume American edition that has been reprinted in the late 1980s: The Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller. The inadequacies of this edition include its incompleteness, the small font size of the text, and the lack of both critical annotation and adequate indices. What is also missing is the massive correspondence of Fuller, which reveals the enormous influence that Fuller had in both Baptist circles and other realms of eighteenth and nineteenthcentury Evangelicalism. By making the entire corpus of Fuller s works available, a proper appreciation of Fuller s impact and achievement can be done. 5IF 4PVUIFSO #BQUJTU 5IFPMPHJDBM 4FNJOBSZ 2825 Lexington Rd, Louisville, KY