Narative Resumé of Brian Arthur Brown

Born and educated in the Canadian Maritimes, Brian Arthur Brown was ordained to the ministry of the United Church of Canada in 1966. After a degree in Classics from Dalhousie University in Halifax, he received theological training at McGill University in Montreal, where in 1964 he married Jenny Gosine, whose family roots are in India and Trinidad, giving a world perspective to their activities.  Brian and Jenny have two married adult children in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and six grandchildren in high school, university and the professions - all of whom are engaged as critics and technical contributors to Brian's current writing activities.  

In his Quebec years he was associated with Rene Levesque who subsequently, as premier, persuaded Brown to write Separatism in 1976, articulating French Quebec’s aspirations to English Canada.  Levesque contributed an impressive foreword, regarded by many as the definitive statement on “Sovereignty-Association.” In this, Brown’s writing career began with an initial focus on national unity, elaborating on the character of Canada as a con-federation as opposed to a federation.

During a lengthy ministry in Western Canada, Brian wrote on Canadian issues from the perspective of northern natives, prairie populism and western alienation: The Burning Bush, The Canadian Challenge and The New Confederation, the latter with a foreword by Premier Bennett of British Columbia, as a reply to Levesque. While in Dawson Creek, he headed a Royal Commission on Northern Education, founded a 4-campus community college, and developed a northern educational philosophy later adopted by the University of Northern British Columbia. In Moose Jaw, he broadcast 1000 national unity radio editorials across the country and telecast Canada’s first televised church services from the cathedral setting of St. Andrew’s United Church.

His more recent Ontario ministry included an attempt to establish a Christian Ashram in Owen Sound, a book on Canada’s role in peacekeeping with a foreword by HRH Princess Anne, and another with economist John Kenneth Galbraith on Canada’s relations with the USA. A brief stint in multicultural ministry in Toronto led to more concentrated writing in the Niagara Falls area since 2003. There, "tapering into retirement" he briefly led
 two small congregation through a happy period of growth and redevelopment in which one doubled its membership the other built a new church sanctuay, continuing today through renewal and expansion.

Interest in Jewish, Christian and Muslim relationships began earlier during Middle East media junkets and study programs. More frequently involved in the Middle East than in Europe, Brown’s American exposure has also been significant, including doctoral studies at the San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), consulting on congregational visions for the Detroit Methodist Union, and both preaching and programing for The Riverside Church in New York City (United Church of Christ / American Baptist). Recent endeavors have included the architectural concept for the new sanctuary and art gallery at St. John’s Stevensville United Church south of Niagara Falls, and sacred sculptures for that facility: The Inukshuk Cross and The Table Rock altar. 

A recent graduate of post-doctoral studies at Harvard University, Dr. Brown is a member of the Oxford Round Table at Oxford University, and in 2015 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. Brian is currently Scholar-in-Residence at First Baptist Church in Niagara Falls, New York, just ten minutes from his home which is within earshot of the thunderous Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls, NY, provided the venue for the 2015 professional premiere of his three act drama, Three Testaments: Shalom, Peace, Salam. His most recent books, the popular Noah’s Other Son: Bridging the Gap Between the Bible and the Qur’an, and the more academic Forensic Scriptures: What the Quran Reveals About the Bible, serve as prequils to Dr. Brown's best known work, the two volume compendium Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel and Quran (2012), and Four Testaments: Tao te Ching, Analects, Dhammapada, Bhagavad Gita (2016), which critics have described as the magnum opus of Brown's career.

Detailed CV of (Rev.) Dr. Brian Arthur Brown, FRSA

Personal

See Resume

 

Recent Education prior to Oxford Univ.

2006 -

Seminars at National Office of United Church on new United Church Song of Faith statement.
  2005 - Analysis of Religion in Canadian Census reports, University of Lethbridge, Alberta
  2003 - Study of Age in relation to Work - Matthew Fox Lectures, University of Toronto
  2000 - Presenter/Lecturer at Harvard University Summer Leadership Institute, Boston
  1995 - Norman Vincent Peale Centre, The Power of Positive Preaching, New York
  1991 - Officer Chaplain Training in Conflict Management, C.F. B. Borden
  1973 - Doctor of Ministry, San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian)
 
Ecclesiastical appointments prior to First Baptist in NY as Scholar-in-Residence

2009 - 2013

2008-2007

2004-07

Carleton United Church, St. Catharines

St. Andrew's Theological College, (Presbyterian) Trinidad

First United, Sherkston & St. John’s Stevensville- 2   independent congregations

  1997-04 Lansing United Church, Toronto, Ontario (English, Russian, Korean, Iranian)
  1986 -97 Division St. United Church, Owen Sound, Ontario (National leader in M&S)
  1978 -86 St. Andrew’s United Church, Moose Jaw, Sask. (The Cathedral of the Prairies)
  1973 -78 South Peace United Church, Dawson Creek, B.C. (Adult Education emphasis)
  1969–73 Westminster United Church, Medicine Hat, Alberta (Youth emphasis)
  1966–69 St. Paul United Church, Northern Alberta (Multi-cultural emphasis)
  1962–66 Student mission fields and internships in Alberta and Quebec
 
Professional 2004–11 Faith & Order Chair (Theology), Niagara Presbytery
  2002 - Wrote Foreword for United Church Multicultural Manual for Toronto Conference
  1999-03 Church Growth Consultant, UC and Anglican, United Methodist Church, USA
  1970-90 Positive Preaching Missions: Western Canada, Yukon, USA & West Indies
  1988- 89 Chair of Grey Presbytery
  1988- 89 Toronto Conference Executive
  1984- 86 Board of Regents, St. Andrew’s Seminary, Saskatoon
     
Community Outreach 2002  Co-ordinator for “Afghan Aid” mega concert at Toronto Centre of the Arts
  1985- 95 Chaplain to Grey & Simcoe Forrester Regiment (with rank of Captain)
  1969- 15 14 books on Christian & Canadian themes and US-Canada relations
  1977- 85 Produced Canada’s first weekly worship telecasts
  1977- 85 Led five Middle East expeditions in Biblical archaeology
  1977- 85 1,000 daily national radio editorials on social, moral and political questions
  1976- 78 British Columbia Academic Council (Set University and College Budgets)
  1975- 78 Chair of Joint Boards of Governors - 4 Northern BC Community Colleges
  1973–75 Chair BC Royal Commission, Northern Post Secondary Education Needs
   

Publications

Dr. Brian Arthur Brown is one of Canada’s more prolific authors. Writing is a hobby that has never overshadowed his professional ministry, and sometimes contributed to it. He has done contract publications for the United Church of Canada, the Public School Board and the Canadian Military, as well as successful trade publications, most famously, Separatism, with a 17 page foreword by Rene Levesque, a 1977 Canadian Bestseller. Most recently (1997) Your Neighbor As Yourself, (Race, Religion and Region in North America Into the Twenty First Century) was published by CrossRoads Books at Notre Dame University, with a foreword by John Kenneth Galbraith.

With a book about every five years, April, 2007, saw the worldwide release of his book, Noah’s Other Son: Bridging the Gap Between the Bible and the Qur'an, published by T&T Clark of London and the Continuum Group in New York. His next book, Forensic Scriptures: What the Quran Reveals About the Bible was published by Wipf & Stock in 2009 as a more academic prequel to Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel and Quran, from Rowman & Littlefield in  2012, itself followed by Three Testaments Companion, the play Three Testaments: Shalom, Peace, Salam (available on YouTube and DVD as well as Amazon scripts) and Four Testaments: Tao te Ching, Analects, Dhammapada, Bhagavad Gita in 2016. Brown wrote the 2017 souvenir book, True North, Strong and Free for Canada's sesquicentennial celebrations and has begun work toward the centennial history of the United Church of Canada for release in 2023, a project in progress with the working title, The Untied Church of Canada.

 

Download a copy of Dr. Brown's Resume