OBITUARIES / PASSINGS / Ray S. Anderson

Ray S. Anderson, 83, longtime Fuller Theological Seminary professor and prolific author of academic and popular works, died June 21 in Fountain Valley of complications from kidney failure, the school announced.

His books “The Shape of Practical Theology” (2001) and “An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches” (2006) had wide influence among Christian ministers, and his 1994 study “The Gospel According to Judas: Is There a Limit to God’s Forgiveness?” helped revive debate about the deceitful disciple in academic as well as popular circles.

Anderson taught theology and ministry for more than 30 years at Fuller in Pasadena, directing courses on influential theologians Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Anderson received his divinity degree from Fuller in 1959, having arrived at the seminary at age 31, older than most incoming students at that time. A native of Wilmot, S.D., he had worked on a farm for several years after serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II and earning a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State.

He was also a practicing pastor in Southern California, founding the Covina Evangelical Free Church in 1959 and most recently ministering at Grace Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach.

Anderson earned a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 1972. He taught theology at Santa Barbara’s Westmont College for four years before returning to Fuller in 1976.