Bill Brown
A Spiritual Field Guide to Creation

July 13 - 19, 2008 

Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister described spirituality as “theology walking.” Long ago, a retreat director remarked that spirituality is the “lived experience of our beliefs.” In this session, Bill Brown addresses a central issue: How does our “theology” or “beliefs” about Creation direct our “walking” and shape our “lived experience”? Deepening our spirituality of creation is perhaps even more essential today as we respond to the threats of global warming and creation’s degradation. —Carl Koch

Bill Brown’s session is rooted in his germinal book The Ethos of the Cosmos (Eerdmans) and his profound grasp of the biblical understanding of creation.

This groundbreaking work investigates how the various pictures of creation found in Scripture helped shape the ancient faith community’s moral character.

This interdisciplinary work demonstrates how certain creation traditions of the Old and New Testaments were developed from the community’s moral imagination for the purpose of forming and preserving both Israel’s and the early church’s identity in the world. [It] ends by recommending the formative power of creation for the contemporary church.

Michael Welker of the University of Heidelberg says, “A seminal and very constructive book. It shows how Jewish and Christian imaginations of the cosmic order give shape to the ethos of communities and to visions of an ecology of community. Brown . . . shows how a constructive rereading of canonical traditions can provide orientation for those who feel deep concern for our cultural environments.”

Two other books by Bill Brown are related to this session’s topic –

In Character in Crisis, William P. Brown helps to break the impasse by demonstrating that the aim of the Bible’s wisdom literature is the formation of the moral character—both for individuals and for the community.

Brown traces the theme of moral identity and conduct throughout the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, with a concluding reflection on the Epistle of James in the New Testament, and explores a range of issues that includes literary characterization, moral discourse, worldview, and the theology of the ancient sages.

He examines the ways in which central characters such as God, wisdom, and human beings are profiled in the wisdom books and shows how their characterizations impart ethical meaning to the reading community, both ancient and modern.

Reviews

Brown takes a much-needed look at the wisdom literature of the Old Testament and explains what they teach about character…. Offers intriguing insights as to the intended purpose of each of the wisdom books. A fresh approach indeed, also original and perceptive… This is a truly exciting and illuminating study of OT wisdom, and it is well written…. It is a relief and a joy to read so balanced a work which reaches into the heart of wisdom.
—Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Brown's analysis teems with insights into character development in wisdom literature.
—Interpretation

A thoughtful study of the wisdom literature that distances itself from the individualism that has eviscerated our moral discourse…. Because Brown illuminates biblical wisdom in "fresh" ways, his book would make a provocative introductory work for college and seminary students and for pastors.
—Princeton Seminary Bulletin

A welcome contribution both to the growing body of work on wisdom literature and to the contemporary debate on ethics. Pastors, students, and interested lay people will all find this book a delightful and informative read.
—Word & World

Other Reviews

From Carleen Mandolfo in the Journal of Biblical Literature – “His impressive knowledge . . . vastly enriches our ability to read the depth and breadth of metaphors employed in the psalms. It opens up avenues that are otherwise shut down by temporal and cultural distance.”

Walter Brueggemann wrote: “The book is fresh and accessible and is an important contribution to our common reading and the prayers our readings permit.”

Bill Brown is currently engaged in a study of ecological hermeneutics, funded by the Henry Luce III Foundation, entitled “The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder.”

In this project, Bill draws from his previous work in creation theology and takes it up a notch by asking the question that few biblical scholars are asking: How am I to understand the ancient traditions of Scripture in the light of scientific understanding and the ecological needs of our world? That question has taken Bill into new areas of discourse and practice that, as a biblical scholar, he had never considered before.

Bill treats the study of Scripture as a pilgrimage, a journey of discovery of the world, God, and oneself. And he has found that the journey is never taken alone. He teaches Sunday School on a regular basis and is currently involved in Earth Covenant Ministry, a grass-roots movement among Presbyterian churches in the Atlanta area committed to educating and supporting churches in the ministry of creation care.

He and his wife, Gail, along with their two teenage daughters, look forward to enjoying God’s good creation at Ring Lake Ranch this summer.