The Rev. Dr. Raymond E. Brown PSS
Born	(1928-05-22)May 22, 1928 New York City, U.S.
Died	August 8, 1998(1998-08-08) (aged 70) Menlo Park, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Biblical scholar,Catholic priest inSociety of Saint-Sulpice
Years active	1955–1998
Known for	First tenured Catholic scholar atUnion Theological Seminary
Academic background
Alma mater	St. Mary's University, Baltimore
Thesis	TheSensus Plenior of Sacred Scripture (1955)
Academic work
Institutions	Union Theological Seminary (UTS)

Raymond Edward BrownPSS (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an AmericanSulpician priest and prominentbiblical scholar. He was a specialist on the hypotheticalJohannine community, which he speculated contributed to the authorship of theGospel of John, and he also wrote studies on the birth and death ofJesus.

Brown was professor emeritus atUnion Theological Seminary (UTS) inNew York City, where he taught for 29 years. He was the firstCatholic professor to gain tenure there, where he earned a reputation as a superior lecturer.^[1]

Born inNew York City, the son of Robert H. and Loretta Brown, Raymond studied at theCatholic University of America inWashington, D.C., where he received abachelor's degree in 1948 and aMaster of Arts degree in 1949 as aBasselin scholar. In 1953, he wasordained aCatholic priest for theDiocese of St. Augustine. In 1955, he joined theSociety of Saint-Sulpice following his reception of adoctorate in Sacred Theology fromSt. Mary's Seminary inBaltimore. He earned a second doctorate inSemitic languages in 1958 fromJohns Hopkins University, where one of his advisors wasWilliam F. Albright.^[2]

Following his studies, Brown taught at hisalma mater, St. Mary's Seminary, until 1971. During this period, he was aresearch fellow at theAmerican Schools of Oriental Research inJerusalem, where he worked on aconcordance of theDead Sea Scrolls. In 1963, he served as an expert adviser, known as aperitus, toJoseph P. Hurley, the Bishop of St. Augustine, at theSecond Vatican Council.^[2]

Brown was appointed in 1972 to thePontifical Biblical Commission and again in 1996. He was the Auburn Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies at theUnion Theological Seminary in New York City, where he taught from 1971 until 1990, when he retired with the title ofprofessor emeritus. He served as the President of theCatholic Biblical Association, theSociety of Biblical Literature (1976–77), and theSociety of New Testament Studies (1986–87). Brown was awarded 24 honorary doctoral degrees by universities in the United States and Europe, including many fromProtestant institutions.^[1][3]

Brown died atSaint Patrick's Seminary and University inMenlo Park, California. TheArchbishop of Los Angeles,CardinalRoger Mahony hailed him as "the most distinguished and renowned Catholic biblical scholar to emerge in this country ever" and his death, the cardinal said, was "a great loss to the Church."^[4]

Brown was one of the first Catholic scholars in the United States to use thehistorical-critical method to study the Bible.^[2]

In 1943, reversing the approach that had existed sincePope Leo XIII's encyclicalProvidentissimus Deus 50 years earlier,Pope Pius XII's encyclicalDivino afflante Spiritu expressed approval of historical-critical methods.^[5] For Brown, this was a "Magna Carta for biblical progress."^[6] In 1965, at theSecond Vatican Council, the Church moved further in this direction, adopting theDogmatic constitution on Divine Revelation, known asDei verbum, which superseded the conservative schema, "On the Sources of Revelation", that originally had been submitted. While it stated that Scripture teaches "solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation,"^[7] Brown pointed out the ambiguity of this statement, which opened the way for a new interpretation of inerrancy by shifting from a literal interpretation of the text towards a focus on "the extent to which it conforms to the salvific purpose of God." Brown saw this as the Catholic Church "turning the corner" on inerrancy, saying, "the Roman Catholic Church does not change her official stance in a blunt way. Past statements are not rejected but are requoted with praise and then reinterpreted at the same time....What was really going on was an attempt gracefully to retain what was salvageable from the past and to move in a new direction at the same time."^[8]

In a detailed 1965 article in the journalTheological Studies examining whether Jesus was ever called "God" in the New Testament, Brown wrote, "Even the fourth Gospel never portrays Jesus as saying specifically that he is God" and "there is no reason to think that Jesus was called God in the earliest layers of New Testament tradition." He wrote that, "Gradually, in the development of Christian thought God was understood to be a broader term. It was seen that God had revealed so much of Himself in Jesus that God had to be able to include both Father and Son."^[9]

Thirty years later, Brown revisited the issue in an introductory text for the general public, writing, "three reasonably clear instances in the NT (Hebrews 1:8–9, John 1:1, 20:28) and in five instances that have probability, Jesus is called God," a usage Brown regarded as a natural development of early references to Jesus as "Lord".^[10]

Brown analyzed theGospel of John and divided it into two sections, which he labelled theBook of Signs and theBook of Glory. The Book of Signs recounts Jesus' public miracles, which are called signs. The Book of Glory features Jesus' private teachings to his disciples, his crucifixion, and his resurrection.

Brown identified three layers of text in John: 1) an initial version Brown considers based on personal experience of Jesus; 2) a structured literary creation by the evangelist which draws upon additional sources; and 3) the edited version that readers of the Bible know today.^[11]

Brown has been described as "the premier Johannine scholar in the English-speaking world."^[12] Terrence T. Prendergast stated that “for nearly 40 years Father Brown caught the entire church up into the excitement and new possibilities of scriptural scholarship."^[13] Much of Brown's work was given anihil obstat and animprimatur. Thenihil obstat is a statement by an official reviewer, appointed by a bishop, that "nothing stands in the way" of a book being given an imprimatur; theimprimatur, which must normally be issued by a bishop of the diocese of publication, is the official endorsement "let it be printed" that a book contains nothing damaging to Catholic faith and morals.^[14] Brown was the expert appointed to review and provide thenihil obstat forThe Jerome Biblical Commentary andThe New Jerome Biblical Commentary, the standard basic reference book for Catholic Biblical studies, and he served as one of its editors and authors along with dozens of other Catholic scholars.^[15]

Joseph Ratzinger, laterPope Benedict XVI, complimented Brown saying that he "would be very happy if we had many exegetes like Father Brown".^[16]Later on however, Ratzinger would critique the overuse of historical criticism and parts of Brown's scholarship, saying that "we need a self-criticism of the historical method".^[17][18]

Brown's scholarship was controversial for questioning theinerrancy of the whole of scripture and casting doubt on the historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith.^[19] He was regarded as occupying the center ground in the field of biblical studies,^[20] opposing literalism found among manyfundamentalist Christians but not carrying his conclusions as far as many other scholars. His critics included CardinalLawrence Shehan, FatherRichard W. Gilsdorf, and George A. Kelly. Gilsdorf defined Brown's work as "a major contribution to the befogged wasteland of an 'American Church' progressively alienated from its divinely constituted center."^[4] George A. Kelly found fault with Brown's questioning of whether the Virgin birth of Jesus could be proven historically.^[19]

Other writers, critical of historical Christian claims about Jesus, criticized Brown for excessive caution, arguing that he was unwilling to acknowledge the radical implications of the critical methods he was using. Literary criticFrank Kermode, in his review ofThe Birth of the Messiah, accused Brown of being too eager to secure theimprimatur of the Catholic Church.^[21] The Hebraic Jesus scholarGéza Vermes, speaking of theNativity narratives, has described Brown's coverage as "the primary example of the position ofhaving your cake and eating it."^[22] In his obituary forThe New York Times, Gustav Niebuhr wrote: "Father Brown was regarded as a centrist, with a reputation as a man of the church and a rigorous, exacting scholar whose work had to be reckoned with."^[1]

• Brown, Raymond E. (1955).TheSensus Plenior of Sacred Scripture (Ph.D.). Baltimore, MD: St. Mary's University. – This was his dissertation in partial fulfillment of hisdoctorate in Sacred Theology. Brown did much to define the termsensus plenior and had an enormous influence on the twentieth-century debate concerning the term.

His total of 25 books on biblical subjects include:

• ——— (1965).New Testament Essays. Milwaukee: Bruce Pub. Co.OCLC 6530571.
• ——— (1966).The Gospel According to John: Chapters 1-12: translated, with introduction, notes, and commentary. Anchor Bible. Vol. 29. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385015172.OCLC 350246.
• ——— (1970).The Gospel According to John: Chapters 13–21: translated, with introduction, notes, and commentary. Anchor Bible. Vol. 29A. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385037617.OCLC 350246.
• ——— (1977).The Birth of the Messiah: a commentary on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385059077.OCLC 2967987.
• ——— (1979).The Community of the Beloved Disciple. New York: Paulist Press.ISBN 978-0809121748.OCLC 4944691.
• ——— (1981).The Critical Meaning of the Bible. New York: Paulist Press.ISBN 978-0809124060.OCLC 8020578.
• ——— (1982).The Epistles of John: translated, with introduction, notes, and commentary. Anchor Bible. Vol. 30. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385056861.OCLC 7925227.
• ——— (1985).Biblical Exegesis and Church Doctrine. New York: Paulist Press.ISBN 978-0809103683.OCLC 13076569.
• ——— (1990).Responses to 101 Questions on the Bible. New York: Paulist Press.ISBN 978-0809104437.OCLC 21483229.^[23]
• ——— (1993).The Birth of the Messiah: a commentary on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke.Anchor Bible Reference Library (Revised ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385494472.OCLC 1000840333. – with a reappraisal of theinfancy gospels.
• ——— (1994).The Death of the Messiah: from Gethsemane to the grave : a commentary on the Passion narratives in the four Gospels - in 2 Vols.Anchor Bible Reference Library. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385193962.OCLC 27432279.
• ——— (1997).An Introduction to the New Testament.Anchor Bible Reference Library. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0385247672.OCLC 35990175.^{[24][25][26][27]}
• ——— (2003).An Introduction to the Gospel of John. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0300140156.

• ———;Bea, Augustin Cardinal;Fitzmyer, Joseph A.;Murphy, Roland E., eds. (1968).Jerome Biblical Commentary – in 2 Vols. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.ISBN 978-0135096123.OCLC 355447.
• ———;Donfried, Karl P.;Reumann, John Henry Paul, eds. (1973).Peter in the New Testament : a collaborative assessment by Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Pub. House.ISBN 978-0806614014.OCLC 750095.
• ———;Achtemeier, Paul J., eds. (1978).Mary and the New Testament. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.ISBN 978-0800613457.OCLC 4004724.
• ———;Bea, Augustin;Fitzmyer, Joseph A.;Murphy, Roland E., eds. (1990).New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Revision of Jerome Biblical Commentary ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.ISBN 978-0136149347.OCLC 19388491.

• John Shelby Spong#Criticism
• Catholic modernism

• Biblical Theology Bulletin obituary notice
• A Wayward Turn in Biblical Theory Msgr. George A. Kelly, (1999). Critical article from the traditionalist point of view.
• Felix Corley, "Obituary: The Rev Raymond E. Brown",The Independent, London, 19 August 1998
• Quotables from R.E. Brown, S.S.

• 1928 births
• 1998 deaths
• 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests
• American biblical scholars
• Bible commentators
• Catholic University of America alumni
• Christologists
• Clergy from New York City
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Johns Hopkins University alumni
• New Testament scholars
• Participants in the Second Vatican Council
• Pontifical Biblical Commission
• St. Mary's Seminary and University faculty
• Roman Catholic biblical scholars
• St. Mary's Seminary and University alumni
• Sulpicians
• Union Theological Seminary faculty
• Biblical criticism
• 20th-century biblical scholars

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