Publications

by Dr. Michael Joseph Brown

Latest Book Publications

Praise for The Lord’s Prayer through North African Eyes: A Window into Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2005)

“The Lord’s Prayer through North African Eyes is an original and important contribution to scholarship on early Christian prayer.  Brown’s thorough reconstruction of the social context of early Christian teachers like Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian of Carthage, as well as of their distinct appreciations of the Lord’s Prayer, is a model of scholarly precision and imagination.” — Luke Timothy Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Emory University

“Michael Brown is one of the most creative scholars of early Christian studies around.  His book The Lord’s Prayer through North African Eyes opens new and profound perspectives on the most famous Christian prayer.” — Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale University Divinity School

“Exceptional!” — Today’s Books, May 2005

“Through his careful and detailed historical and hermeneutical scholarship, Brown assists us to understand how we have come to the kinds of interpretations of the Lord’s Prayer that dominate our churches.” — Gerald West, Director of the Institute for the Study of the Bible and Professor in the School of Theology, University of KwaZulu-Natal

“The book is fascinating...It has extensive notes and excellent bibliography which the reader would find very helpful for further research into the topic.” — Elsie Maxwell, ANVIL, Vol 32, No 2

To order this book, click here.

Praise for Blackening of the Bible: The Aims of African American Biblical Scholarship (Trinity, 2004)

“Michael J. Brown’s Blackening of the Bible has the privilege of being the first text to critically assess and evaluate some of the leading voices and differing perspectives within the emerging field of black biblical hermeneutics.  While this text is not intended to be exhaustive, it does present to the reader a lucid and engaging introduction to the primary aims of the young discipline.  This book could easily serve as a main textbook or as a supplementary text for the increasing number of courses being offered in colleges and seminaries that seek to address and include marginalized voices and perspectives within biblical studies.  I highly recommend it.” — Demetrius K. Williams, Director, Religious Studies Program, Tulane University

“This book ably fulfills its mission of providing an introduction to African American biblical interpretation.  Dr. Brown presents a useful digest of African American scholarly engagements with Scripture.  The assemblage of diverse perspectives in one volume invites persons from many cultural backgrounds to investigate the expanding discipline of African American biblical hermeneutics.” — Brad R. Braxton, Associate Professor of Homiletics and New Testament, Vanderbilt University

“Brown is to be commended for his careful summation and critique of their contributions.  Those concerned with the implications of cultural context in the interpretive task will surely appreciate this work.  Brown’s overview challenges readers to consider how their own socioreligious, educational, and cultural backgrounds have influenced their approach to scripture.  Given its emphasis on interpretation theory, this work can be of use in seminary classrooms and congregational settings.  Its detailed analysis of various interpretive strategies welcomes even the non-specialist to glean from the methodologically diverse procedures outlined therein.” — Larry L. Enis, St. Paul’s Baptist Church, Richmond, VA

“More than a bare introductory text, Brown peppers his analysis with insightful, though sympathetic, criticisms of black hermeneutical approaches (e.g. the hasty attempts to use race as a tool for encouraging people to look again at the biblical world).  To this reader his most percipient observation is the extent to which Afrocentric interpretation has been monopolized by an academic discourse: ‘true liberation is rarely, if ever, accomplished by the few on behalf of the many’ (p. 160).  This book would be an excellent text for courses on biblical interpretation, especially those that seek to introduce perspectives from the margin.” — Angus Paddison

“This book’s critical edge will stimulate discussion and make it a thought-provoking text for students exploring liberationist readings.” — H. S. Pyper