Solar visible light spectrum So the visible light from stars can be used to identify the elements in that star by looking at the spectral emission lines and comparing those lines to emission lines of various elements (and their isotopes) here on earth.  These well-known line wavelengths can also be used to determine the relative motion of that star to the earth by looking at the red (or blue) shift of wavelengths of those spectral lines.  It would then be reasonable to assume that our own sun emits those same well-defined spectral lines, which should show up at specific wavelengths (based on the elements in the sun).  

However, sunlight appears (mostly) white, and using a prism shows a rather consistent rainbow of color across the visible spectrum, rather than what one would expect to see (based on analysis of emission spectrum from other stars) of spikes at specific wavelengths.  So, what is causing the full-spectrum light from the sun to appear at the surface of the earth if what I'm assuming is specific spectral lines being generated from fusion on the sun itself?   

I'm sure I'm missing something in my understanding, but I'm not sure what it is.  I understand (from this question: How deep is the &quot;A&quot; Fraunhofer line in the solar spectrum? Is it from the Sun&#39;s or Earth&#39;s atmosphere?) that the earth's atmosphere absorbs specific wavelengths of light, but why would the sun's light be consistent across its visible spectrum if the typical star light is generated at specific spectrum wavelengths?
When we look at spectral lines in a star's spectrum, we're actually looking for absorption lines, not emission lines. A star's spectrum usually resembles that of a black body, continuous and smooth. However, there are elements in the star's atmosphere that absorb some of the emitted light; these create characteristic absorption lines in the spectrum we observe.

There's a reason that a star's spectrum closely resembles that of a black body. H- opacity means that some of the solar photosphere is optically thick for a wide range of frequencies. This in turn means that the emission no longer comes from just a few frequencies corresponding to a few elements. This spectrum appears continuous, and therefore like a black body.