Donald Fairbairn (born August 31, 1963) is a scholar specializing in patristic soteriology and Cyril of Alexandria who currently teaches at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

In 1999 Fairbairn was awarded the Ph.D. in Patristics from the University of Cambridge, where he completed a dissertation titledGrace and Christology in Cyril of Alexandria and John Cassian under Lionel Wickham.

While still a PhD student at Cambridge he was teaching multiple courses and provided academic leadership at Donetsk Christian University in Donetsk (Ukraine), during the institution's formative years, and he continued there as a visiting professor of theology later on.

He also teaches part-time as a professor of Historical Theology at Evangelische Theologische Faculteit in Leuven.

He is currently the Robert E. Cooley Professor of Early Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina (where he also serves as the Academic Dean[4]) and previously taught full-time at Erskine Theological Seminary.