About Michael Joseph Brown, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins
Michael Joseph Brown is the son of the late Rev. R. Edgar Brown and Gloria Louise McCain-Brown, currently residing in Cincinnati, OH. His father served as pastor of several African Methodist Episcopal churches in Ohio and Pennsylvania. His mother currently teaches for the Cincinnati Public Schools. Dr. Brown was born in Clarksburg, WV, and spent his formative years in Cincinnati, OH.
Michael Joseph Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies and Classics from Vanderbilt University. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago. In addition, Dr. Brown has done some additional study at Columbia University in the city of New York on the material culture of Roman Egypt, which serves as a central focus of his scholarship.
Michael Joseph Brown was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1988, and was later ordained an Itinerant Elder in 1990. He has served several churches including, Greater Bethel AME (Nashville, TN), First AME (Gary, IN), Greater Institutional AME (Chicago, IL), Ebenezer AME (Evanston, IL), Allen Chapel AME (Indianapolis, IN), St. John AME (Atlanta, GA), and New Bethel AME (Atlanta, GA). He was the pastor of Bethel AME in Lafayette, IN, where he also served on the Indiana Annual Conference Board of Examiners as well as its Finance Committee.
Dr. Brown continues to preach and teach in churches across the country, and has published various essays for the African Methodist Episcopal Review, the Christian Century, Sojourners, and the African Methodist Christian Recorder. He recently served on the colloquy on excellence in ministry for the Pulpit and Pew project at Duke Divinity School, and continues to work with such organizations as the Fund for Theological Education, the Youth Theological Initiative, and recently the Perkins Youth School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
Michael Joseph Brown is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, where he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Biblical Literature as well as on several committees. He is a member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion. In addition, he serves on the editorial board for “Out in Scripture” sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign.
At Emory, Dr. Brown chairs the Curriculum Implementation Task Force, the Woodruff Selection Committee, and the Biblical Studies area. He is Associate Director of the Graduate Division of Religion. He also serves on the Academic Review Board, the Library, Media, and Technology Committee, the Personnel and Policy Committee, and the President’s Commission on LGBT Concerns.
Michael Joseph Brown is Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology and the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Prior to his arrival at Emory, Dr. Brown taught in the department of philosophy and religion at Wabash College. Dr. Brown has also taught courses for Spring Hill College. He lectures frequently, and has delivered presentations at both of his alma maters, Vanderbilt and the University of Chicago.
This page last updated on: August 5, 2007.