David Otis Fuller

David Otis Fuller (November 20, 1903 – February 21, 1988) was an American Baptist pastor. He was a graduate of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois and Princeton Theological Seminary. He pastored Chelsea Baptist Church in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Biography

In April 1916 when he was 13 years old, Fuller became a Christian at a Chapman-Alexander (John Wilbur Chapman and Charles Alexander) revival meeting in North Carolina and was baptized in the First Baptist Church of New York City by Dr. I. M. Haldeman.[1] The title of the sermon he heard that day was "What Wilt Thou Say When He Shall Punish Thee."

Fuller served as a United States Navy chaplain in World War II,[2] then for the next 45 years he was a pastor in a civilian capacity. He served as the editor of the General Association of Regular Baptists' "Baptist Bulletin" for 50 years.

He was the founder of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids (at the time named Baptist Bible Institute), serving as president from 1941 to 1944[3] and was the founder and president of the "Which Bible?" Society.

Fuller helped establish the Children's Bible Hour in 1942, where he was chairman for 33 years. He also was on the board of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) for 52 years.

A great love for the Bible was one of the distinguishing features of Fuller's life and ministry. By the time he retired from 40 years as pastor of the Wealthy Street Baptist Church in 1974, he had read the Bible through 75 times.

Fuller dedicated much of his life to the defense of the Byzantine text-type as embodied in the Textus Receptus and, largely, the King James Version.

In February 1988, Fuller died at the Blodgett Memorial Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[4]

Published works

Fuller's three volumes on the subject of texts and versions contain the full or summarized works of many older authorities on the textual issue. The most notable influence being Benjamin G. Wilkinson. Others include John Burgon, Herman C. Hoskier, Philip Mauro, Joseph Philpot, Samuel Zwemer, and George Sayles Bishop, as well as the works of a number of contemporary writers, including Edward Hills, Terence Brown, and Wilbur Pickering.

The Baptist researcher Doug Kutilek in his article The Unlearned Men[5] has traced some of what Fuller wrote in his book, Which Bible? to the discussion of the textual debate in Our Authorized Bible Vindicated[6] by Seventh-day Adventist scholar Benjamin G. Wilkinson.

Books
  • Valiant for the Truth: a Treasury of Evangelical Writings. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1961 (1st ed.). ISBN 0825426138, 9780825426131[7]
  • Which Bible? Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publications, 1970. 3rd ed. 1972. ISBN 0-944355-24-2
  • True or False? The Westcott-Hort Textual Theory Examined Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publications, 1973. ISBN 0-944355-12-9
  • Counterfeit or Genuine? Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publications, 1978. ISBN 0-8254-2615-4

See also

References
  1. Cloud, David W., ed. (2001). "Preachers on "The Bible Version Issue" CD: David Otis Fuller". Life Changing Sermons. Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. Cloud, David W. (2001). "A Tribute to David Otis Fuller: Some Jewels from His Correspondence". Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Archived from the original on 5 April 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. "Past Presidents". Cornerstone University. Archived from the original on 20 June 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. "David Otis Fuller, 84, Fundamentalist Pastor". The New York Times. Associated Press. 24 February 1988. p. section D, page 26. Retrieved 7 June 2008. The Rev. David Otis Fuller, a fundamentalist preacher who helped establish a children's radio ministry and the Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary, has died at the age of 84
  5. Kutilek, Doug. "The Unlearned Men". The King James Only Resource Center (Doug Kutilek). Archived from the original on 18 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. Wilkinson, Benjamin G. (1930). Our Authorized Bible Vindicated. Archived from the original on 13 December 2006.
  7. Fuller, David Otis (1961). Valiant for the Truth: a Treasury of Evangelical Writings. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780825426131.
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