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Pepperdine | Seaver College
Joshua Fullman

Joshua Fullman

Associate Professor of Humanities
Seaver College
PLC 109
310.556.6567

Biography

Joshua S. Fullman is Associate Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University and has worked in higher education for over fifteen years. Prior to joining the faculty at Pepperdine, he served as Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at California Baptist University; Professor of English, Humanities, and Great Books, and Director of the Institute for Faith and the Academy at Faulkner University; Candidacy Coach for the PhD in Leadership Studies at Johnson University; and Chair of English at York University.

Fullman has presented and published on secular apocalyptic literature in the Middle Ages, considering how eschatology informs moral living, social organization, and political ideology. With an interdisciplinary background, he is interested in intertextuality and the history of ideas.

His creative pursuits are primarily in verse, with some work in drama. His debut book of poems, Voices of Iona, explores time, faith, and pilgrimage in the British Isles. He is working on a collection of Lenten sonnets, and he has also served as a script consultant for stage plays.

His current research interests are in Shakespeare's problem plays and their connection to the medieval marriage debate, namely the problem of sovereignty. He is passionate about introducing students to the Great Tradition, sharing with them, in the words of Matthew Arnold, "the best that is known and thought in the world."

Education

  • PhD, English, Southern Illinois University

  • MBA, Faulkner University

  • MSc, Medieval Studies, University of Edinburgh

  • MA, English, California State University

 

Peer Reviewed Articles

  • “Christian Ducats and Jewish Scales: Religious Currency in The Merchant of Venice.” Christian Libertarian Review 4, 2023.
  • “‘No Truste For to Truste In’: Malory’s Apocalyptic Vision in Le Morte D’arthur.” An Unexpected Journal, 6.2, Spring 2023.
  • “‘It’s in the Syllabus, But…’: Effects of Instructor-Initiated Out-of-Class Communication on Student Performance.” The Journal of Faith and the Academy, 13:2, Fall 2020 (with Leah I. Fullman).
  • “Anne Bradstreet.” American Religious History: Belief and Society through Time. Ed. Gary Scott Smith. ABC-CLIO, Dec. 2020.
  • “The Epistemology of Eschatology: Medieval Problems of Knowledge and the End of Time.” ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚΑ, 4:1, Spring 2016.

Selected Book Reviews

  • Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds by James Matthew Wilson. The North American Anglican Review, August 2024.
  • “An Unsettling Sense of Justice.” A Glooming Peace This Morning by Allen Mendenhall. The University Bookman, Feb 18, 2024.
  • Wading through Lethe by Paulette Guerin. The North American Anglican Review, August 2023.
  • Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity – and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. The Journal of Faith and the Academy, 14:2, Fall 2021.
  • Alcestis in the Underworld by Nina Murray. Southern Literary Review, May 2020.
  • Undead Souths: The Gothic and Beyond in Southern Literature and Culture, Eds. Eric Gary Anderson, Taylor Hagood, and Daniel Cross Turner. Southern Literary Review, September 2016.
  • Christianity and Literature by David Lyle Geoffrey and Gregory Maillet. The Journal of Faith and the Academy, Spring 2014, pp.88-91.

Selected Poetry

  • “Doomrolling.” October Hill 9.3, Fall 2025, p.77.
  • “Mishpacha.” Poems for Ephesians, July 2, 2025. 
  • "All Bodies Bounded.” The Body: An Anthology of Poetry, Rough Diamond Poetry, 2025.
  • “In Waiting.” The Amethyst Review. April 23, 2025.
  • “The Hermit Curses.” Society of Classical Poets. April 15, 2025.
  • “Eucharist.” Ekstasis. Winter 2025.
  • “First Wednesday.” The North American Anglican, March 1, 2025.
  • “Simile.” Teleios 5.1, Winter 2025
  • “A Little Death.” An Unexpected Journal 7.2, Summer 2024.
  • “Johannes de silentio Speaks.” Homage to Søren Kierkegaard: Poems in Memory of Reverend Ronald Marshall. Wiseblood Books, 2023.
  • “A Midwinter’s Song.” The North American Anglican Review, April 17, 2022.
    Voices of Iona. Resource Publications, 2022.
  • Excellence in Teaching, Faulkner University, 2019
  • Faculty Teacher of the Year, York College, 2012-2013
  • "Assaying Virtue: Reading Measure for Measure as a Clerk's Tale." 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 13-16, 2026.
  • “Desire and Transformation: Reading Helena as Loathly Lady.” 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 8-11, 2024.
  • “When Grading Hurts: How to Improve Student Writing Without Losing Your Hair.” College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Faculty Development Seminar. California Baptist University, Jan. 8, 2024.
  • “Voices of Iona.” Poetry Reading. Gus Nichols Library, Faulkner University. April 27, 2023.
  • “‘To Whom Honor is Due’: Teaching Honors Students to Become the Next Generation of Leaders.” Christian Scholars Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. June 5-9, 2018 (with Andrew R. Jacobs).
  • “Effects of Increased Instructor Initiated Out-of-Class Electronic Communication on Student Performance.” Christian Scholars Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. June 5-9, 2018 (with Leah I. Fullman)
  • “The Exiled Polis: The City Imagined in Augustinian Eschatology.” Southeastern Medieval Association, Charleston, South Carolina. Nov 16-18, 2017.
  • "The Divine Pilgrimage: A Journey to Christ through Poetry.” Culture, Criticism, and the Christian Mind, Dordt College. Nov 2-4, 2017.
  • “Knightmares and Phantasies: Medieval Utopian and Dystopian Landscapes.” Midwestern Conference on Language, Literature, and Media, Northern Illinois University. April 7-8, 2017.
  • “Rebellion, Socialism, and Lollardy: Piers Plowman’s Pursuit of Justice.” Institute of Faith and the Academy, Faulkner University. Feb 5, 2016.
  • “The End of the Ending: Social Anxieties and Narrative Abruption.” Professor Profile Series, Gus Nichols Library. October 28, 2015.
  • “’A Time to Plant’: Growing Faith and Liberating Learning in the Christian University.” Association of Christian Educator Preparation Programs. October 15-17, 2015.
  • “Harry and the Theologians: Medieval Representations of Evil in the Harry Potter Series.” 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University. May 8-11, 2014 (with Maegan Detlefs).
  • “Writing the Apocalypse: A Survey of Medieval Eschatological Literature.” Research Day, Faulkner University. April 18, 2014.
  • “Adorning the Past: The King James Bible as Art, Artifact, and Argument.” “To Make a Good One Better”: Symposium on the 500th Anniversary of the KJV, York College. November 8, 2011.
  • “Glorious Gods: The Eschatology of Camelot.” 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University. May 13-16, 2010.
  • “Literary Strategies: Battle Tactics in Maldon and Sir Orfeo.” 44th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University. May 7-10, 2009.
  • “The Politics of Arthur: Malory’s Apocalyptic Vision.” Northeastern Modern Language Association 2009 Convention, Boston. February 26-March 1, 2009.
  • “The Sword and the Crown: The Use of Violence in Barbour’s Bruce and Hary’s Wallace.” Medieval-Renaissance Conference XXII: University of Virginia, Wise. September 18-20, 2008.

Topics

  • Shakespeare
  • Medieval and Early Modern Literature
  • Arthuriana
  • Apocalyptic Literature
  • Poetry and Poetics
  • Integration of Faith and Learning

 

Courses

  • Humanities 
  • English Composition