Gordon Donald Fee (May 23, 1934 – October 25, 2022) was an American-Canadian

Christian theologian Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradit ...

who was an

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

minister of the

Assemblies of God (USA) The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially The General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States and the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal ...

. He was professor of

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

Studies at

Regent College Regent College is an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies, and an affiliated college of the University of British Columbia, located next to the university's campus in the University Endowment Lands west of Va ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Canada.Gordon Fee online
accessed June 4, 2011.

Biography

Fee was born in 1934 in

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population w ...

, to Donald Horace Fee (1907–1999) and Gracy Irene Jacobson (1906–1979). His father was an Assemblies of God minister who pastored several churches in

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. Fee received his BA and MA degrees from

Seattle Pacific University Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a private Christian university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It ...

and his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

where he wrote his dissertation on the

Papyrus 66 Papyrus 66 (also referred to as 𝔓66) is a near complete codex of the Gospel of John, and part of the collection known as the Bodmer Papyri. Description The manuscript contains John 1:1–6:11, 6:35b–14:26, 29–30; 15:2–26; 16:2–4, 6– ...

. On April 21, 2010, Fee was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from

Northwest University Northwest University may refer to: *Northwest University (China) in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China *Northwest University (United States) in Kirkland, Washington, US *North-West University in Potchefstroom and Mahikeng, North West Province, South Africa *Nor ...

in Kirkland, Washington, where Fee had taught in the past and where a building is named for his father, Donald Fee. After teaching briefly at Wheaton College in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and for several years at

Vanguard University of Southern California Vanguard University (officially Vanguard University of Southern California) is a private Protestant university in Costa Mesa, California. It was the first four-year college in Orange County. Vanguard's required core curriculum includes courses o ...

, Fee taught at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in

South Hamilton, Massachusetts South Hamilton is a postal address assigned to ZIP code 01982 by the Postal Service and is part of the town of Hamilton, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S ...

, from fall 1974 until 1986. He then moved to Regent College where he was Professor of New Testament until his retirement in 2009.Christianbook.com
Meet Gordon Fee
August 2008, accessed June 4, 2011. Fee was considered a leading expert in

pneumatology Pneumatology refers to a particular discipline within Christian theology that focuses on the study of the Holy Spirit in Christianity, Holy Spirit. The term is derived from the Greek language, Greek word ''Pneuma'' (wikt:πνεῦμα, πνε� ...

and

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

of the New Testament. He was also the author of books on

biblical exegesis Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

, including the popular introductory work ''How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth'' (co-authored with Douglas Stuart), the "sequel," ''How to Read the Bible, Book by Book'', ''How to Choose a Translation for all its Worth'' (co-authored with Mark L. Strauss), and a major commentary on

1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in Anc ...

, as well as numerous other commentaries on various books in the New Testament. In the 1990s, he succeeded

F.F. Bruce Frederick Fyvie Bruce (12 October 1910 – 11 September 1990) was a Scottish evangelical scholar, author and educator who was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester from 1959 until 1978 and one of ...

to become the editor of the notable

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

commentary series, the ''

New International Commentary on the New Testament The New International Commentary on the New Testament (or NICNT) is a series of commentaries in English on the text of the New Testament in Greek. It is published by the William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. The current series editor is Joel B ...

'' of which his commentaries on

and

Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christia ...

are a part. Fee was a member of the CBT (Committee on Bible Translation) that translated the ''

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Published by Biblica, the complete NIV was released on October 27, 1978, with a minor revision in 1984 and a major revision in 2011. The NIV relies ...

'' (NIV) and its revision, the ''

Today's New International Version Today's New International Version (TNIV) is an English translation of the Bible which was developed by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT also developed the New International Version (NIV) in the 1970s. The TNIV is based on the N ...

'' (TNIV).Committee on Bible Translation
Gordon Fee Biography
accessed June 4, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110705021420/http://www.niv-cbt.org/translators/dr-gordon-fee/ Archived from the Wayback Machine He also served on the advisory board of the International Institute for Christian Studies.International Institute for Christian Studies
Board of Advisors
, accessed June 4, 2011. He discovered that

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

in Gospel of John 1:1–8:38 and in some other parts of this Gospel does not represent the

Alexandrian text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern (after 1900) Bible translations. Over 5,8 ...

but the

Western text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Western text-type is one of the main text types. It is the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin and Syriac translations from the Greek, and also in quotations from ...

. In 2012, Fee announced that he was retiring as general editor of the

series due to the fact that he had been diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. He died on October 25, 2022, at his home in New York City, aged 88.

Views

Christian egalitarianism

Fee was a Christian egalitarian and was a contributing editor to the key Christian egalitarian book ''Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without hierarchy'' (2004). His above mentioned commentary consistently translates the generic "men" as "men and women" with an explanatory footnote. He was also a member of the board of reference for

Christians for Biblical Equality Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) is an organization that promotes Christian egalitarianism and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. CBE's Mission Statement reads: "CBE exists to promote biblical justice and community by educating C ...

, a group of Evangelical Christians who believe the Bible teaches complete equality between men and women and that all Christians, regardless of gender "must exercise their God-given gifts with equal authority and equal responsibility in church, home and world".Christians for Biblical Equality
Leadership
an
Our Mission and History
, accessed June 4, 2011.

Pentecostal distinctives

Fee was a Pentecostal; nevertheless, he disagreed with some long held and deeply cherished Pentecostal beliefs. Specifically, he questioned article 7 of the

Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths The Statement of Fundamental Truths is a confession of faith outlining the 16 essential doctrines adhered to by the Assemblies of God USA. These doctrines are heavily based on other evangelical confessions of faith but differ by being clearly Pe ...

, which articulates a classical Pentecostal understanding of

baptism in the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...

as subsequent to and separate from

Christian conversion Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person that brings about changes in what sociologists refer to as the convert's "root reality" including their social behaviors, thinking and ethics. The sociol ...

. In "Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Issue of Separability and Subsequence", Fee writes that there is little biblical evidence to prove the traditional Pentecostal doctrinal position.Gordon D Fee. "Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Issue of Separability and Subsequence," ''Pneuma: The Journal of the Society of Pentecostal Studies'' 7:2 (Fall 1985), p. 88. On the other hand, he maintained that "the Pentecostal experience itself can be defended on exegetical grounds as a thoroughly biblical phenomenon".Fee (1985), "Baptism in the Holy Spirit", 91. Fee believed that in the early church, the Pentecostal experience was an expected part of conversion: Fee believed the Spirit's empowerment is a necessary element in the life of the Church that has too often been neglected.Fee (1985), "Baptism in the Holy Spirit", 95–96. It is this neglect, Fee argued, that led early Pentecostals to seek the presence and power of the Spirit in experiences which they identified as baptism in the Holy Spirit.Fee (1985), "Baptism in the Holy Spirit", 98.

Opposition to prosperity theology

Fee was a strong opponent of the

prosperity gospel Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, seed-faith gospel, Faith movement, or Word-Faith movement) is a belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial bl ...

and published a 1985 book entitled ''The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels''.See his booklet entitled ''The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels'', Regent College Publishing, January 1, 1985, .

Works

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As editor

Articles

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fee, Gordon 1934 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Canadian Protestant theologians American emigrants to Canada American Pentecostal pastors Assemblies of God people Bible commentators Canadian Pentecostal pastors Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary faculty New Testament scholars Pentecostal theologians Pentecostal writers Academic staff of Regent College Seattle Pacific University alumni University of Southern California alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty Writers from Ashland, Oregon