Father Raymond E. Brown (died August 8, 1998), a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1972 and in 1996 and professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, was one of America's preeminent biblical scholars. He was a member of the scholarly Society of Saint Sulpice and a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. His approach to Scripture is premised on the belief that it may contain error in matters not pertaining to salvation; this is a relatively modern stance. The traditional approach to Scripture is that it contains no error, and that all of it is in some way related to salvation. This shift in belief is at the root of the conclusion of some who consider his scholarship open-minded and measured. The more permissive stance in relation to Scripture is appealing to skeptics and Christians alike, and his books enjoy wide success.
He was an expert on the Johannine community and authored volumes in the New Anchor Bible Commentary .
He died at St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, California.
His books include:
- Birth of the Messiah 1998, with a reappraisal of the Infancy Gospels
- Death of the Messiah
- New Jerome Biblical Commentary, (editor), 1990
- Mary and the New Testament
- Peter in the New Testament
- The Community of the Beloved Disciple, New York: Paulist Press, 1979
- The Gospel According to John, 1966 and 1970 (Anchor Bible)
- An Introduction to the New Testament, 1996
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