Dear PCUM family,

At the time of Father Raymond Brown's death, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, called him "the most distinguished and renowned Catholic biblical scholar to emerge in this country, ever." Raymond Brown (1928-1998) was twice named to the Pontifical Biblical Commission (advising the Pope on scriptural matters), was an advisor to the Second Vatican Council, and was the first tenured Catholic scholar and later professor emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1971 to 1990. He earned two doctorates and was awarded 24 honorary doctorates, many from Protestant institutions. Yet he presided at Catholic mass for the few parishioners and homeless neighbors who dropped in every weekday morning at 6:00 am across the street from the seminary at Corpus Christi Church. He was beloved and controversial, a man of deep Christian faith who believed that the Catholic faith, like Christianity as a whole, benefitted from a rigorous, honest look at God's Word that prioritizes spiritual truths over literary inerrancy.

In his final year at Union, I was fortunate to have Raymond Brown as a professor. He was an amazing, warm, humble lecturer--always wearing a plaid shirt and big black glasses. Among his hundreds of books, the most famous are his two-volume commentary on the Gospel of John, The Community of the Beloved Disciple, The Church the Apostles Left Behind, The Birth of the Messiah, and The Death of the Messiah. Here are few quotes from Father Brown:

“Instead of reading the Bible to assure ourselves that we are right, we would be better to read it to discover where we have not been listening."

- Raymond E. Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind

"Truth is always complicated by the human envelope in which it is enclosed. It's not only an intellectual problem, but one at the heart of the gospel itself. It was not sinners who turned Jesus off; it was the righteous religious types who felt they had all the answers."

- Raymond E. Brown quoted in an obituary by Myrna Oliver, Los Angeles Times, August 12, 1998

“[Jesus] speaks of heaven and hell, but rarely and without detail. His concern is the knowing and loving and serving God in this life – the things we can do. … The Son became incarnate to teach [us] how to live a life in this world and not primarily to unveil the secrets of the next.” 

-Raymond E. Brown, New Testament Essays, 99

In Christ's peace,

Pastor Greg