Lee University’s Dr. Kevin Brown had his book, “Bringing the Kingdom: Progress Reflections on Scripture,” published by Wipf and Stock.
“Bringing the Kingdom” examines Jesus’ teachings, with support from a wide variety of other parts of the Bible, to illustrate how ideas of social justice and true liberation run throughout God’s message to humanity.
He examines lectionary readings to show how Jesus’ life and message consistently subvert structures of power and privilege. According to Dr. Brown, by doing so, he hopes to remind readers of Jesus’ message of radical inclusivity that consistently pushed against the religious leaders of his day.
“In reading a number of similar books, I was constantly disappointed at how they didn’t go far enough in pointing out how inclusive Jesus was and is,” said Dr. Brown. “While religious leaders of Jesus’ day—and even today, unfortunately—focus on division and deciding who is in and who is out, Jesus consistently breaks down barriers through unconditional love and acceptance.”
In addition to his book, Dr. Brown’s poems, “54 Pictures” and “Dental Hygiene,” were published in “Number One.” In these poems, Dr. Brown writes about the death of his father.
A third poem was published in “Celestial Musings: Poems Inspired by the Night Sky,” an anthology that raises funds for the Charles W. Brown Planetarium at Ball State University.
Dr. Brown, a professor of English, received his Doctor of Philosophy in English from the University of Mississippi, his Master of Arts in English from East Tennessee State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Milligan College. He also earned a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Alabama and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Murray State University.
He has authored three books of poetry, a memoir, a book of scholarship, and has also had critical articles published on John Barth, Tony Earley, David Mitchell, and Kurt Vonnegut, among others.
Dr. Brown is the only member of Lee’s faculty to be awarded each of three major faculty awards: Excellence in Advising (‘10), Excellence in Scholarship (‘11), and Excellence in Teaching (‘12).
“Bringing the Kingdom: Progress Reflections on Scripture” is available for purchase on Amazon.