First Post

2004-12-31T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is a first post for those interested in the life of radical Episcopal Bishop William Montgomery Brown (1855-1937). Born to poor but industrious parents in Ohio, he was orphaned at the age of seven and was put into the care of harsh foster parents. In 1870 neighbors complained about his treatment and county officials put him in the care of Jacob Gardner. Brown lived with the Gardner family to 1873 when he went to Omaha, Nebraska and worked for Judge Clinton Briggs. He returned to Ohio in 1877 and worked for Mary Scranton Bradford, a wealthy benefactor for those who studied for the ministry in the Episcopal Church.

She sponsored him, and in 1883 he finished his studies. Subsequently, he was posted to Grace Church in Galion, Ohio. In 1885 he married his benefactor's adopted daughter, Ella Scranton Bradford. He rose to the position of Archbishop for Missionary Work in the diocese of Ohio. In 1895 he published his most well known work, The Church for Americans. That book brought him to the attention of Bishop Henry Niles Pierce of Arkansas and the latter worked to get Brown chosen his successor. Brown served Arkansas as bishop from 1899 to 1911 when he was forced to leave for his increasingly radical views. In 1907 he wrote The Crucial Race Question and got southern support for his heinous racial views. In 1910 he wrote The Level Plan of Church Union that repudiated much of what he had said in 1895 in his first book and brought down the anger of many in the church on his head. Thus, he was forced to return to Galion, Ohio, where his mother in law had built a mansion for him and his wife in 1887.

Brown spent 1911 to 1920 thinking about religion and underwent a major transformation. He read the works of the London Rationalist Society and became a thorough materialist and rejected all supernaturalism of the church. In 1917 he became a communist. In 1920 he published his most famous work, Communism and Christianism: Banish Gods from Skies and Capitalists from Earth. Church authorities disliked his book but took four years to charge him with heresy and try him. He was convicted of heresy in Cleveland in May 1924, and in January 1925 the church confirmed the conviction in a Review Court. The House of Bishops formally deposed him in October 1925.

Subsequently, he got himself made a bishop in the Old Catholic Church and set out to write more than twenty books to challenge capitalism and to convince the House of Bishops to let him return to the Episcopal Church. He went on an extensive speaking tour around the nation in 1925 through 1931. He spoke at communist gatherings. He slowed his pace in 1932 and settled down at home in Galion. His wife Ella died in 1935, and he died two years later at the age of 82.

Anyone with questions on his ideas and why he came to them or who know of his ideas are invited to comment.