When autocomplete options are available, use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
Apply Give

Divinity professor Dr. Donald Fowler models Christ’s love in his roles as teacher, mentor, and friend

Dr. Donald Fowler, School of Divinity professor, teaches in a classroom in the Freedom Tower.

“I only have five minutes of material, but I will make sure I stretch it out to take up the whole class time.”

Not the words one might expect to hear at the start of a class taught by a renowned Old Testament and Hebrew language scholar, but those familiar with Dr. Donald Fowler know that this type of classroom banter is part of his fun-loving style at the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.

Prior to coming to Liberty, Fowler pastored churches in Iowa and Indiana, and it was during his time in Iowa that his longtime friend and former Liberty professor, the late Dr. Paul Fink, asked Fowler to interview for a position at Liberty. Fowler joined the then-School of Religion in 1998 as one of seven staff members.

Since that time, Fowler has served in a variety of roles, from Sunday campus pastor to professor, but always with an eye on building relationships and living out the message of the Gospel.

“It has been such a joy ride for 22 years,” he said. “If God had given me the divine fingertips to guide everything, I don’t know if I could have guided myself into more happiness than what God has given me here.”

Fowler has seen some profound changes during his time at Liberty — the school has grown from a small Bible college to a world-class Christian university. Looking outward, he’s also seen changes in the Church, which he said has become increasingly secularized in some areas. But he’s discovered a response that has made all the difference in his life and in the lives of others.

“For decades, I have captured in my thinking that Christian education ought to be different in profound ways and not just in external ways,” he explained. “In external ways, we pray before classes, everybody is a Christian, we try to talk to our students about the Lord. And those are all important things, but they are not the foundation.”

The foundation, he said, is in showing and sharing the love of Christ together. He said that from reading the Epistles, we can see the importance of social contact in the early Church, a factor that is not as prominent today. The basis for Christian love and relationships, he said, is what makes him tick.

“The spread of the Church worked because people were loving one another. They would ‘greet one another with a holy kiss,’ and we know that every time church members came and shared that kiss, it was reconfirming the covenant with one another. That is where my heart is, but what I most want to do is give and share the experience of the love of our Savior.”

“I have always consciously tried to befriend my students, to enter into their world to be with them, and to dare to love them,” he added. “As somebody once said, it is ‘the greatest of these,’ and so I think that this is what I’ve done that probably has worked.”

And it has.

Over his career, he has taught 77 courses, held 19 interim and three full-time pastorate positions, performed 400 weddings, and invited hundreds of students to dinner with him and his wife.

Alumnus Cooper Smith (’09) was under Fowler’s teaching for four years.

Dr. Donald Fowler meets with students in the Jerry Falwell Library in 2015.

“It would be impossible for me to overstate the positive impact that Dr. Fowler has had on my life,” he said. “He always had an open-door policy, and I took advantage of it. I spent untold hours at his office and at his house just talking about life, talking about the Bible, talking about God and next steps.”

With Fowler’s encouragement, Smith went on to earn a master’s degree and Ph.D. and is now serving as a pastor in Minnesota.

Last May, students in the School of Divinity showed their appreciation for Fowler by nominating him as the school’s Faculty Member of the Year. This is Fowler’s third year receiving the award and the first year that the award was determined solely by student votes.

“I couldn’t have been more stunned,” Fowler said. “I had given serious thought to retiring, as a matter of fact I had gone through all of the steps this past summer and at the last minute it began to dawn on me that God has been so profoundly gracious to me, gracious in calling me, forgiving me, sustaining me, making me effective far beyond my talents.”

The award nominations included many comments regarding Fowler’s extra efforts beyond classroom teaching.

“Several of my classmates and I were invited to have dinner with him and his wife, and we had the best time of our semester,” one student wrote. “He is an amazing professor and person, and we highly expect him to be the Faculty of the Year.”

“Dr. Fowler makes such an intentional effort to connect with students,” another student noted. “He makes the effort to learn and remember our names, our hometowns, our favorite baseball teams, and our prayer requests. He encourages deep critical thinking by recognizing those who are asking good questions and contributing valuable insight, but never at the expense of those who are struggling. He responds to the thoughts and questions of students and will take time to address them fully. Dr. Fowler motivated me to be my very best in his class.”

Jack Carson, a fellow staff member at the School of Divinity, called Fowler “a scholar of exceptional wit and kindness.”

“He masterfully teaches students about the beauty of Scripture, and he mentors each of his students with a care and compassion that represents the best of Liberty University,” he said. “He has infused generations of students with a robust vision of the Old Testament and its relevance to the world around us.”

To Fowler, his life’s work has been much more than just a teaching job.

“It is important for me to be able to leave a testimony of thanks to God, but also maybe show the students a picture that Jesus is worth risking your life for — that is really why I am here.”

 

Chat Live Chat Live Request Info Request Info Apply Now Apply Now Visit Liberty Visit Liberty