Egbert Ethelred Brown: the pastor as public intellectual

Delroy A. Reid-Salmon, Contributor

I read with much interest and great delight the article on 'The Reverend Ethelred Brown: he mixed religion and politics'. I concur with the writer that Rev Brown is one of our many unsung heroes. He should definitely be honoured by our Government for the role he played not only in Jamaica obtaining Independence, building of nationhood and progressive politics, but in the nascent Jamaican diaspora movement.

His life and work in New York are considered as formative to the origins and development both of the Jamaican diaspora and the Caribbean diaspora church in the USA.

The historic significance of Brown's thought and work is rooted in his faith and reflected a breath of intellect as expressed through his eloquent discourses on independence, freedom, justice, equality and dignity. Rev Brown also played a pivotal role in the Harlem Renaissance and was a contemporary of Marcus Garvey, although he was one of Garvey's critics.

Well documented

Interestingly, there is a growing academic interest in the thought of and work of Ethelred Brown. These works include Juan M. Floyd-Thomas' The Origins of Black Humanism in America: Reverend Ethelred Brown; Mark D. Morrison-Reed's Black Pioneers in White Denomination; two chapters in my own book, Home Away From Home: The Caribbean Diasporan Church in the Black Atlantic Tradition; as well as my work in progress, Caribbean Diaspora Church and Politics: The Reverend Egbert Ethelred Brown as a Public Intellectual.

One of the ideas this latter work advances is that Brown is a pioneer of the Caribbean Diasporan Intellectual Tradition. Moreover, this perspective of Brown emphasises the scope - national and international - of his intellectual influence. It is in this sense then that I depart from Ken Jones' perspective of Brown as "mixing religion with politics".

Differences on perspectives about Brown, however, is not the issue. The issue is that the legacy of Brown must not be forgotten, or taken for granted, but should be remembered, celebrated and honoured. Brown is unique among most of his clergy colleagues of his time. They expressed very little interest in, and made no intentional commitment for, active involvement of the Church in radical politics.

Beyond religious mandate

But in the case of Brown, he advocated racial and social justice by employing religious ideas to facilitate political discourse with the intent to create a just and equitable society. An additional significance of Brown is that he was one of the first religious leaders of his time to address racism as a theological problem, and thereby laid the crucial foundation, delineated the essential framework and provided the unstoppable impetus to the development of black liberation theology.

As Jamaica celebrates 50 years of Independence, it would not only be a corrective to the 'sin of omission', but a contribution to history and a confirmation of the nobility of giving one's life to the cause of justice, freedom and truth for national development and human advancement.

In this regard, the Reverend Egbert Ethelred Brown is both a resounding example and one deserving of such of honour.

Delroy Reid, PhD, is pastor of Grace Baptist Chapel and research fellow of Oxford Centre for Christianity & Culture. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and Delroy.reid-salmon@regents.ox.ac.uk.