Details

Coleman Barr Brown was professor of philosophy and religion and university chaplain at Colgate University for nearly three decades. A beloved teacher, minister, and mentor to generations of students and a scholar of social ethics, American religion, personal counseling methods and theory, theology, and preaching, Brown graduated
<i>magna cum laude</i> from Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary. He apprenticed in the East Harlem Protestant Parish and pastored an inner-city church in Chicago, where he worked with the Chicago Freedom Movement, tenant action organizing collaboratives, and the anti-war movement. Brown was deeply committed to racial and social justice in the United States. His prophetic wisdom lives on through his many students and these writings.

“Coleman Brown, a descendant of the abolitionist John Brown, brought to the pulpit the same prophetic fire and passion for justice as his martyred ancestor.”&#xa0;
<br>
<br> —Cornel West, Harvard University
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “Does Christianity speak to us, seekers and doubters and believers, in our condition of modernity? It does in these sermons of intellectual heft, literary grace, and spiritual depth. This is Christian witness and existential acuity regarding disappointment and anticipation, fear and courage, sorrow and rejoicing, brokenness and strengthening, embarrassment and faith. Coleman Brown’s words call us to self-clarification and decision-making, to the cross and the resurrection.”
<br>
<br> —Christopher Vecsey, Colgate University
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “This beautifully edited and orchestrated collection of sermons is a gift. Coleman Brown, beloved late chaplain and teacher at Colgate University, speaks here with pentecostal fire and a humility that is both miraculously honest and unsentimentally in favor of life. Brown reminds us, with unassuming wisdom, that great things are staked in the most ordinary of hearts.”
<br>
<br> —James Wetzel, Villanova University
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “I didn’t think it was possible to capture the breadth and depth of Coleman Brown’s words—how they moved and troubled the soul—but this collection does just that. Taking in his words again, as for the first time during my Colgate years, brought me to the tears Coleman welcomed as a sign of being shaken from slumber to invite a Kierkegaardian ‘fear and trembling’ so necessary to respond to a suffering world. This is a collection to be cherished, not only for his students, but for all who strive to ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God’ (Mic 6:8).”
<br>
<br> —Teresa Delgado, Iona College
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “These writings and sermons are a bountiful gift to the world. They are the clear and uplifting observations of a bright soul; the offerings of a wise man who was given tongue and pen to sustain with fitting words, all of us in need of spiritual strength, guidance, and encouragement for the journey.”
<br>
<br> —Lorna Goodison, University of Michigan; Poet Laureate, Jamaica
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “These sermons and writings summon the man—his humanity, his deep humility, his fierce yet gentle witness—no less than his wisdom into the inescapable struggles and possibilities of life. They make clear why I—and I dare say why so many others who heard his sermons or studied with him, believers and nonbelievers alike—will say without embarrassment or exaggeration, ‘Coleman Brown saved my life.’”
<br>
<br> —Ralph Hamilton, author of
<i>Teaching a Man to Unstick His Tail</i>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “This perceptive book contains sermons and other writings by the late Coleman B. Brown that reveal his exemplary spirit, rhetorical wisdom, and extraordinary skills as a memorable teacher and mentor. Readers will discover here three of Coleman’s former students along with his son and a colleague offering testimonies that they graciously pass on to others with the hope that they will discern and embrace many new insights pertaining to our common life.”
<br>
<br> —Peter J. Paris, Princeton Theological Seminary
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “Coleman Brown’s thought and presence are incisive and restless, drilling down for signs of divine justice and the way to unmerited reconciliation. Be careful! His meditations are likely to lead you into a restless, ceaseless search for what is true and just, until you finally rest in the audacious humility of the fulfillment of God’s love.”
<br>
<br> —Jeff McArn, Hamilton College
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> “Each morning that I enter my office as Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Colgate University, I am greeted by a photo of my teacher, Coleman Brown, standing in front of a chalkboard illustrating the words, ‘Audacity and Humility. How to hold them together?’ With these words and his image, Coleman Brown lives in my daily life reminding me of the wisdom he embodied; the compassion he demonstrated; and the integrity that defined his true life and character. Coleman Brown’s spirit endures through his writings and sermons and his words impart lessons to us always from a true intellectual and moral Ancestor.”
<br>
<br> —Tracey E. Hucks, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Colgate University