Robert McAfee Brown | |
|---|---|
 Brown in 1973 | |
| Born | (1920-05-28)May 28, 1920 |
| Died | September 4, 2001(2001-09-04) (aged 81) |
| Spouse | |
| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Religion | Christianity (Presbyterian) |
| Church | United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America |
| Ordained | 1944 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Doctoral advisor | John C. Bennett |
| Influences | Reinhold Niebuhr[1] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Theology |
| School or tradition | Liberal Christianity |
| Institutions | |
Robert McAfee Brown (1920–2001) was an AmericanPresbyterian minister,theologian, andactivist.[2]
Born on May 28, 1920, inCarthage,Illinois, Brown was the son of aPresbyterian minister and the grandson of theologian and Presbyterian ministerCleland Boyd McAfee. He earned abachelor's degree fromAmherst College in 1943 and wasordained aPresbyterian minister in 1944. Brown earned aBachelor of Divinity degree fromUnion Theological Seminary in 1945, and served as aUnited States Navy chaplain from 1945 to 1946. The recipient of aFulbright grant, Brown studied at theUniversity of Oxford before completing a doctorate in the philosophy of religion atColumbia University in 1951. He married Sydney Thomson, and had four children.
Initially, Brown taught at his alma mater,Union Theological Seminary, before accepting an appointment as Professor of Religion atStanford University in 1962. There he became an international leader incivil rights, ecumenical and social justice causes. Brown campaigned againstUS involvement in the Vietnam War and was a co-founder of the groupClergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. He was also a Protestant observer at theSecond Vatican Council.[3]
Brown leftStanford in 1975 to return to Union as Professor of World Christianity and Ecumenism, but soon resigned and moved back to the Bay Area, where he taught at thePacific School of Religion inBerkeley,California, until his retirement in 1984. Brown was the author of 29 books, and his papers are now held at theGraduate Theological Union.[4] Brown died on September 4, 2001, inGreenfield,Massachusetts, survived by his wife Sydney Thomson Brown, three sons, Peter, Mark and Tom and a daughter, Alison Ehara-Brown.[5] A lecture series is named in his honor.[6]
