Raymond E. Brown, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Raymond E. Brown

American biblical scholar

Date of Birth: 22-May-1928

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, United States

Date of Death: 08-Aug-1998

Profession: scientist, presbyter

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About Raymond E. Brown

  • Raymond Edward Brown (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Catholic priest, a member of the Sulpician Fathers and a prominent biblical scholar.
  • He was regarded as a specialist concerning the hypothetical "Johannine community", which he speculated contributed to the authorship of the Gospel of John, and he also wrote influential studies on the birth and death of Jesus.
  • Brown was professor emeritus at Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in New York where he taught for 29 years.
  • He was the first Catholic professor to gain tenure there, where he earned a reputation as a superior lecturer.Brown was one of the first Catholic scholars in America to apply historical-critical analysis to the Bible.
  • As biblical criticism developed in the 19th century, the Catholic Church opposed this scholarship and essentially forbade it in 1893.
  • In 1943, however, the Church issued the papal encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, which authorised Catholic scholars to investigate the Bible historically.
  • Brown called this encyclical the "Magna Carta of biblical progress." The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) further supported the method of higher criticism, which, Brown felt, vindicated his approach. Brown remains controversial among traditionalist Catholics because of their claim that he denied the inerrancy of the whole of scripture and cast doubt on the historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith.
  • Some traditionalists criticized his questioning of whether the virginal conception of Jesus could be proven historically.
  • He was regarded as occupying the center ground in the field of biblical studies, opposing the literalism found among many fundamentalist Christians while not carrying his conclusions as far as many other scholars.

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