Law and Gospel in the Theology of Andrew Fuller

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2001 by Steven R. Harmon

By George M. Ella. Eggleston, England: Go Publications, 1996. 235 pp.

The publication of Andrew Fuller's book The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation in 1785 is surely one of the most significant events in the development of the Baptist theological tradition. In the opinion of Leon McBeth, the treatise "turned Particular Baptists around, brought a new style of preaching, helped stave off the paralysis of hyper-Calvinism, developed a theology of moderate conservatism which made possible the missionary movement embodied in William Carey, and laid the groundwork for Baptist advance in the nineteenth century" (The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness, Broadman Press, 1987, 182).

George Ella's perspective on the impact of Fuller's book in Law and Gospel in the Theology of Andrew Puller is not nearly so sanguine. A paragraph in the introductory chapter preceded by the heading "Annus calamitosus" (p. 18) reveals not only the agenda but also the tone of the whole monograph:

      The year 1785 was a bad year for truth, sound sense, moral integrity and
   gospel theology. This little book seeks to show how Andrew Fuller returned
   to the follies of his pre-Awakening Latitudinarian fathers and left the
   beaten track trod by saints who were justified and sanctified by
   free-grace. He chose to return to the rational doctrines of moral duties
   and works-righteousness of more darkened times. It will be shown that
   Andrew Fuller had a faulty view of man, a faulty view of God, a faulty view
   of the Law, a faulty view of the gospel, a faulty view of redemption and a
   faulty view of Christ's Church. To crown it all, it will be shown that
   Fullerism, despite its boast of being the only true means of evangelism, is
   not in any way conducive to preaching the gospel of free grace to sinners.
   In its essential features, it is a gospel for Fullerite believers only.

The essence of Ella's objection to Fuller's modification of extreme Calvinism seems to be that in emphasizing the need for a believing response to the gospel, Fuller has made grace contingent upon a human work. This is a common-enough Calvinist objection to non-Calvinist alternatives, but Ella attempts to bolster his case against "Fullerism" by linking it with the thought of Pelagius, Abelard, Socinius, Grotius, and Arminius. The similarities between these theologies and that of Fuller are superficial at best, and Ella's arguments for Grotian influence on Fuller (pp. 67-79) in particular fail to establish any direct literary or intellectual dependence.

The book is as much an apology for the theology of Fuller's hyper-Calvinist contemporaries John Gill and William Huntington (about both of whom Ella has previously written biographies) as it is a strident polemic against Fuller and his theological descendants and sympathizers. In other words, only the most extreme of the hyper-Calvinists meet Ella's canons of Baptist--and Christian--orthodoxy. Readers of this journal will be surprised to discover that such ardent advocates of Calvinist theology in Baptist life in North America as Thomas Nettles (e.g., p. 91) and Michael Haykin (e.g., pp. 67-68) are counted among the infidels for their admiration of Fuller.

Commenting on the polemical nature of Fuller's writings, Ella observes that "such writing rarely encourages cool thinking" (p. 19). Law and Gospel in the Theology of Andrew Puller falls victim to the same malady. Those wishing a more level-headed introduction to Fuller's theology should request a copy of Arthur H. Kirkby's 1956 University of Edinburgh dissertation, "The Theology of Andrew Fuller and Its Relation to Calvinism," via interlibrary loan. The main contribution of Ella's mono-graph is to underscore the need for a new book-length treatment of the life and thought of Andrew Fuller. Any volunteers?--Reviewed by Steven R. Harmon, assistant professor of Christian theology, Campbell University Divinity School, Buies Creek, North Carolina.