Robert McAfee Brown
Robert McAfee Brown (28 May 1920 Carthage, Illinois – 4 September 2001 Greenfield, Massachusetts) was an American theologian and activist.[1]
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[edit] Life
He was the son of a Presbyterian minister. Brown earned a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1943 and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, in 1944. Brown earned a bachelor of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1945, and served as a United States Navy chaplain from 1945 to 1946. The recipient of a Fulbright program grant, Brown studied at University of Oxford before completing a doctorate in the philosophy of religion at Columbia University in 1951. He married Sydney Thomson, and had four children.
Brown taught initially at his alma mater Union Theological Seminary before accepting an appointment as Professor of Religion at Stanford University in 1962. There he became an international leader in civil rights, ecumenical and social justice causes. Brown campaigned against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and was a co-founder of the group Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. He was also a Protestant observer at the Second Vatican Council.[2]
He left Stanford, in 1975, to return to Union as Professor of World Christianity and Ecumenism, but quickly found his new post unfulfilling. He resigned and moved back to the Bay Area, where he taught at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley until his retirement in 1984. Brown was the author of 29 books. He died on September 4, 2001, being survived by his wife. A lecture series is named for him.[3] His papers are held at the Graduate Theological Union.[4]
[edit] Published works
- P. T. Forsyth: Prophet for Today (1952)
- The Bible Speaks to You (1955, new ed. 1985)
- Observer in Rome: A Protestant Report on the Vatican Council (1964)
- The collect'd writings of St. Hereticus (1964)
- The Ecumenical Revolution: An Interpretation of the Catholic-Protestant Dialogue (1973)
- Religion and Violence: A Primer for White Americans (1973)
- Is Faith Obsolete? (1974)
- Frontiers for the Church Today (1974)
- Theology in a New Key: Responding to Liberation Theology (1978)
- The Hereticus papers: (being Volume II of "The collect'd writings of St. Hereticus") (1979)
- Gustavo Gutierrez: An Introduction to Liberation Theology (1980)
- Making Peace in the Global Village (1981)
- Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes (1984)
- Saying Yes and Saying No: On Rendering to God and Caesar (1986)
- Spirituality and Liberation: Overcoming the Great Fallacy (1988)
- Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All Humanity (1989)
- Persuade Us to Rejoice: The Liberating Power of Fiction (1992)
- Liberation Theology: An Introductory Guide (1993)
- Dark the Night, Wild the Sea (1998)
- Reflections Over The Long Haul: A Memoir (2005)
[edit] References
- ^ Dennis McLellan (September 08, 2001). "Robert Brown, 81; Championed Liberation Theology". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/08/local/me-43580.
- ^ Barbara Palmer (September 7, 2001). "Activist theologian Robert McAfee Brown dead at 81". Stanford Report. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2001/september19/brownobit919.html.
- ^ http://www.fprespa.org/lecture.htm
- ^ http://www.gtuarchives.org/rmb-overview.html
