David Allan Hubbard (April 8, 1928–June 7, 1996) was the 3rd President of

Fuller Theological Seminary Fuller Theological Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature. Fuller consistently has a student body that compr ...

and an Old Testament scholar. Under his leadership, Fuller became the world's largest multidenominational seminary and an important center for mainstream evangelical thought.

Education and early career

Native Californian Hubbard earned a B.A. from

Westmont College Westmont College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Montecito, California. It was founded in 1937. History Ruth Kerr, owner and CEO of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, established the school as the Bible Missionary Institute in ...

in Santa Barbara and B.D. and Th.M. from Fuller. He went to St. Andrews University in Scotland for his doctoral work, where he wrote a dissertation on ''The literary sources of the

Kebra Nagast The Kebra Nagast, var. Kebra Negast ( gez, ክብረ ነገሥት, ), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic from Ethiopia, written in Ge'ez by Nebure Id Ishaq of Axum, by the office of Abuna Abba Giyorgis and at the command ...

''. Hubbard taught at Westmont College from 1957 to 1963 and quickly became the chair of the department of biblical studies and philosophy.

Presidency at Fuller

At the age of 35 in 1963, Hubbard became president and chancellor of Fuller Theological Seminary. He was also appointed as a professor of the Old Testament. He served in that role for 30 years, during which the seminary added a School of Psychology and a School of World Mission (now called the School of Intercultural Studies) to its original School of Theology and experienced the growth in enrollment and influence that led it to identify itself as the world's largest interdenominational seminary. He led the seminary through several controversial decisions, including opening an Office of Women's Concerns, mandating use of inclusive language, and changing the wording in the seminary's statement of faith with respect to

biblical inerrancy Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact". Some equate inerrancy with biblical ...

. David’s leadership enabled the seminary to grow from 300 students in the 1960s to over 3,500 in the 1990s.

Other activities

Hubbard authored 36 books, including four commentaries on books of the Old Testament. He was a general editor of the

Word Biblical Commentary The Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) is a series of commentaries in English on the text of the Bible both Old and New Testament. It is currently published by the Zondervan Publishing Company. Initially published under the "Word Books" imprint, t ...

series at the time of his death. Hubbard was an ordained Baptist minister. He succeeded Charles E. Fuller as speaker on ''The Joyful Sound'' radio program, which evolved from the ''Old Fashioned Revival Hour'' broadcast following Fuller's death. He served on the California Board of Education from 1972 to 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, David 1928 births 1996 deaths People from Stockton, California American Christian theologians