Harold O.J. Brown Archives

Rosaria Butterfield Speaking @RTSCharlotte

February 19, 2018

On Feb 20th, RTS Charlotte is excited to welcome Rosaria Butterfield as our guest speaker for our annual Harold O.J. Brown lecture series.

As most people know, Rosaria has an incredible testimony. She was a tenured professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University and living as a homosexual when God saved her in 1999 in what she describes as a “train wreck conversion.”

Her memoir, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, chronicles that difficult journey, and her second book, Openness Unhindered, furthers the conversation about sexual identity and union with Christ. Rosaria is married to Kent, a Reformed Presbyterian pastor in North Carolina, and is a homeschool mother, author, and speaker.

Rosaria will be sharing her story at 10AM, Feb 20th, followed by extended Q&A. Due to the size of the event, it is being hosted by Christ Covenant Church. Tickets must be purchased in advance–no admission is allowed at the door. For more details, see here. [Read more…]

Check Out This Video of Russell Moore @drmoore speaking on Pro-Life and Adoption Ministry @RTSCharlotte

March 18, 2016

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dr. Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention recently spoke at RTS Charlotte for the annual Harold O.J. Brown Lectures.

He gave two lectures, the first on pro-life ministry and the second on adoption ministry. This was followed by an extended (and very interesting) Q&A time.

Enjoy the video:

Dr. Russell Moore at RTS Charlotte (HOJB Lecture Series 2016) from Reformed Theological Seminary on Vimeo.

Russell Moore @drmoore Speaking March 8th at @RTSCharlotte on Pro-Life and Adoption Ministries

March 7, 2016

Tomorrow March 8th, 11AM-2PM, the RTS Charlotte campus is pleased to welcome Dr. Russell Moore to our campus. Dr. Moore will be delivering our annual Harold O.J. Brown Lectures.

Lecture one (11AM) will be on the topic of “Pro-Life Ministry in the Local Church.” Lecture two (1PM), will be on the topic of “Adoption Ministry in the Local Church.” There will be a catered lunch in between the two lectures.

Russell Moore serves as the eighth president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. A widely-sought cultural commentator, Dr. Moore has been recognized by a number of influential organizations. The Wall Street Journal has called him “vigorous, cheerful and fiercely articulate” while The Gospel Coalition has referred to him as “one of the most astute ethicists in contemporary evangelicalism.”

An ethicist and theologian by background, Dr. Moore is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister and the author of several books including Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel. He blogs frequently at his website, russellmoore.com, and hosts a program called Questions & Ethics—a wide-ranging podcast addressing listener-generated questions on the difficult moral and ethical issues of the day. A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons.

As for the background to the lecture series, Dr. Harold O.J. Brown served as John R. Richardson Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary from 1998 to 2007. Dr. Brown was a leading evangelical voice in the pro-life movement immediately after Roe v. Wade, co-founding the Christian Action Council (now Care Net) with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

Dr. Brown was a distinguished evangelical scholar during his professional life, writing books, essays and articles in the areas of culture, science, theology and politics. His books include: The Protest of a Troubled Protestant (1969), Christianity and the Class Struggle (1970), Death Before Birth (1977), The Reconstruction of the Republic (1977), Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present (1984), and Sensate Culture (1996).

Dr. Brown was much beloved by his colleagues and students at RTS who honor the memory of their dear friend with an annual lecture series at RTS-Charlotte.

If you are in the area, I hope you can come out for the lectures! You can register here.

Mark Dever Giving the Harold O.J. Brown Lectures at RTS Charlotte

January 29, 2014

Two years ago we began our annual Harold O.J. Brown lecture series here at RTS Charlotte. This lecture series honors Dr. Brown not only because he was a faculty member here in Charlotte for the final decade of his career (and much loved by the students), but because of his larger and wider impact one evangelicalism in the United States. In addition to publishing many important books, Dr. Brown (along with C. Everett Koop) had a tremendous influence on the pro-life movement in the United States.

When Dr. Brown passed away in 2007, I gave an interview to Christianity Today about his career and legacy. See here for that interview which summarizes his wonderful impact on modern evangelicalism.

For this year’s installment of the HOJB Lecture Series, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Mark Dever from Capital Hill Baptist. Mark has had his own positive impact on the Reformed and evangelical world, particularly through the 9 Marks ministry he founded.

He will be giving two lectures on the topic of sanctification (which is a hot topic in the Reformed world today). The overall title is “Being and Doing: Christian Discipleship.” The lectures will be 11AM and 1PM on Feb 11th, with a lunch and Q&A session provided in between.

For more information, or to register, see here.

RTS-Charlotte Announces the Harold O.J. Brown Lecture Series

January 16, 2013

If one were to name the most influential evangelical voices of the 20^th century, Harold O.J. Brown would certainly have to be on that list.

Dr. Brown was a towering intellect, with four degrees from Harvard University and author of numerous books including, The Protest of a Troubled Protestant (1969), Christianity and the Class Struggle (1970), Death Before Birth (1977), The Reconstruction of the Republic (1977), Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present (1984), and Sensate Culture (1996).

But, even with his brilliant mind, Dr. Brown’s most profound achievements were not in the classroom. Dr. Brown was one of the founders of the modern pro-life movement in the United States, often travelling around the country to present a vigorous and intellectual defense of the unborn. Along with the former surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, he founded the Christian Action Council (now Care Net) which mobilized Christians all over the nations to stand up for truth.

After serving many years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dr. Brown served as the John R. Richardson Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary from 1998 to 2007. For five years, I had the privilege to serve alongside Dr. Brown and was always encouraged by his incredible mind, his nearly supernatural proficiency in foreign languages, his keen sense of humor, and his love for Christ and his word.

Even during the nearly ten years that Dr. Brown spent in Charlotte, it was hard to comprehend how incredibly influential he continued to be. I distinctively remember one instance when Dr. Brown was absent from a faculty meeting and I inquired about where he was. Someone said that he was meeting with the president. “The President of RTS?” I asked. “No,” they replied, “the President of the United States.” Dr. Brown had been invited to the White House to meet with George W. Bush. And most of us had no idea.

It is for these reasons that RTS has recently announced the Harold O.J. Brown lecture series, established in honor of our dear friend and colleague. It is our hope to bring in some of the leading Christian voices in our world today, to speak on topics relevant for the church and for ministry.

The first of the Harold O.J. Brown Lectures, Feb 26^th on the RTS-Charlotte campus, will be taught by Dr. Derek Thomas, professor of systematic and historical theology at the RTS/Atlanta campus, and minister of preaching and teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC. Dr. Thomas is the editorial director for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, and author or editor of over 15 books, including the award-winning commentary on Acts in the Reformed Expository Commentary series (P&R, 2011). His topic will be expository preaching.

If you are in the area on Feb 26^th, we hope you can come and join us as we hear from Derek Thomas and honor Harold O.J. Brown.