Reginald Fuller was born on 24 March 1915. An obituary from the
University of Wales Trinity Saint David noted that "Fuller was the son of Horace Fuller, an agricultural engineer, and his wife Cora Lottie née Heath. He came from
Horsham in West Sussex, where he attended
Collyer’s School. He was a choir boy in his local parish church between the ages of nine and fifteen." Fuller subsequently attended
Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating with
first-class honours in the
Classical Tripos (Part I) and
Theological Tripos (Part II) in 1937. He studied at the
University of Tübingen, Germany, from 1938 to 1939, and then prepared for ministry in the
Church of England at the
Queen's College, Birmingham from 1939 to 1940. He was
ordained in the
Church of England as a
deacon in 1940 and as a
priest in 1941. He met Ilse Barda in 1940 at a wedding. They married in 1942. Fuller was a
curate in England from 1940 to 1950 and lectured in theology at the Queen's College, 1946–1950. He was professor of theology and Hebrew at
St David's College, Lampeter, Wales (1950–1955). He also assisted in raising three daughters. Fuller became a US resident in 1955. He was professor of New Testament at
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., languages and literature (1955–1966),
Union Theological Seminary and
Columbia (adj.), NYC (1966–1972), and
Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria (1972–1985; adj., 1994–2002). Fuller was also visiting professor at nine other seminaries or colleges in the United States, Canada, and Australia:
University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. (1960, ..., 1988, 7 terms),
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Ca. (1975), College of Emmanuel and St. Chad , Saskatoon, Sask., Canada (1978),
Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va. (1985),
Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Tx. (1986),
Nashotah House, Wis. (1986, ..., 2004, 7 terms), St. Mark's College of Ministry, Canberra, Australia (1987), and
Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC (1990). Fuller was a member of
World Council of Churches study commissions (1957–1961), Episcopal–Lutheran Conversations (1969–1972, 1977–1980), Anglican–Lutheran Conversations (1970–1972), and Lutheran–Catholic (US) Dialogue Task Force (1971–1973), and the
New Revised Standard Version Bible Translation Committee (1981–2006). Fuller authored some twenty books and over 100 journal articles or book chapters. He also translated such works as
Bonhoeffer's
The Cost of Discipleship (1948) and
Letters and Papers from Prison (1953),
Jeremias's
Unknown Sayings of Jesus (1957),
Bultmann's
Kerygma and Myth, 2 v. (1953 & 1962) and
Primitive Christianity (1956),
Schweitzer's
Reverence for Life (with Ilse Fuller) (1969), and
Bornkamm's
The New Testament: A Guide to Its Writings (1973). ==Honours==