Dr. Timothy Brown '73 has been named to the office of General Synod Professor of Theology of the Reformed Church in America (RCA).
Dr. Timothy Brown '73 has been named to the office of General Synod Professor of Theology of the Reformed Church in America (RCA).
He was elected on Tuesday, June 12, during the General Synod meeting in Pella, Iowa.
Dr. Brown is Dean of the Chapel at Hope and the Henry Bast Professor of Preaching at Western Theological Seminary.
Qualifications for the General Synod professorship include being a Reformed Church minister who has spent at least three years as a full-time associate or full professor at one of the seminaries of the Reformed Church. According to the RCA, the professor of theology "shall be a minister in good standing, sound in the faith, possessed of ability to teach, have the confidence of the churches, and shall have made recognized contributions to the church."
Dr. Brown was nominated by the seminary's Board of Trustees. Accomplishments highlighted in the formal nomination included his "great effectiveness in teaching"; his significant contributions "to the creation of a caring, collegial, and fertile learning environment at Western Seminary"; and his service as "a highly effective liaison between the seminary and the churches of the Reformed Church in America."
Dr. Brown has been serving as interim dean of the chapel at Hope since the beginning of the spring semester, and has been a member of the Western Theological Seminary faculty since 1995. He will become the Hinga-Boersma Dean of the Chapel on July 1, in a historic first-ever joint appointment by Hope and Western, which are sister institutions of the RCA.
From 1983 to 1995, he was pastor of Christ Memorial Church in Holland. He has also served the First Reformed Church of South Holland, Ill., from 1980 to 1983, and Fellowship Reformed Church in Hudsonville from 1976 to 1980.
Dr. Brown delivered the college's Baccalaureate sermon in 1992. He has written several articles for The Church Herald, The Reformed Review and Perspectives magazine.
He holds an M.Div. and a D.Min. from Western Theological Seminary.
His wife is Nancy Johnson '71 Brown. They have three children, all of whom attended Hope: Sarah '96, Jonathan '99 and Rebekah '00.