Dr Cynthia Bennett Brown
BA, MCS, PhD (QUB), PGCHET (QUB), FHEA
Lecturer in Systematic and Historical Theology
Cindy joined the staff at BBC in 2011 as Lecturer in Systematic and Historical Theology, having completed a PhD on the theological methodology of Emil Brunner at Queen’s University Belfast. She is originally from the United States, though since 1995 she has worked and studied in France, Canada, and Northern Ireland.
Along with lecturing, Cindy is also the Advisor of Studies for the Cumbria at BBC. She is a member of the Society for the Study of Theology (UK) and serves on the Religious Studies Research Forum steering group at Queen’s University Belfast.
Cindy is interested in taking on research students in the area of systematics, historical theology, modern theology, and public theology.
Undergraduate
Thinking Theologically
Christian Doctrine
The Church through the Ages
Jesus through the Centuries
Ethics
Postgraduate
The Church in the Public Square
Jesus as Teacher
Identity and Spiritual Formation
Transformation Project
What can we learn from the early church?
Cindy's particular research interests revolve around modern theology, including trends, themes, and methodology since the nineteenth century. She is also interested in broad themes of systematic theology and their articulation and application in contemporary church and society.
She has supervised or second-supervised MTh and PhD research in the areas of:
• the impact of doctrine for contemporary church practice
• dispensationalism
• atonement theology
• German Confessing Church as the body of Christ
• theatrical exploration of the doctrine of providence
• non-violent atonement theology
• Helmut Thielicke's theological thought from the standpoint of eschatology
• Cardinal Ratzinger and ecumenical rapprochement
Books
Believing Thinking, Bounded Theology: The Theological Methodology of Emil Brunner. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2015.
Articles
Brown, Cynthia Bennett. (book review) Theology in Scotland, Vol 22. No. 2, Autumn 2015: David Andrew Gilland, Law and Gospel in Emil Brunner’s Earlier Dialectical Theology (T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology, v 22, London: Bloomsbury, 2013).
'The Personal Imperative of Revelation: Emil Brunner, Dogmatics and Theological Existence', Scottish Journal of Theology / Volume 65 / Issue 04 / November 2012, pp 421 – 434.
Academic Papers
‘Reformational Relevance? Christian Faith for a Post-Christian Generation’: Rutherford House Dogmatics Conference, Edinburgh, August 2017 http://rutherfordhouse.co.uk/events/17th-edinburgh-dogmatics-conference/cynthia-brown/
‘A Theological Framing of Gender’: Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s Being Human lecture series, November 2016 https://www.presbyterianireland.org/Blog/October-2016/On-being-Human%E2%80%A6-A-Theological-Framing-of-Gender.aspx
(forthcoming) ‘Reformational Relevance: Christian Faith for a Post-Christian Generation’ at Rutherford House Dogmatics Conference, August 29-31, 2017, Edinburgh
2015: Society for the Study of Theology conference (Nottingham), seminar paper: "Arcana spiritus operatio: Brunner on the Spirit and the Church"
2013: QUB Institute of Theology Post-graduate Seminar: "Emil Brunner, dogmatics and theological existence"
2011: Society for the Study of Theology conference (York), seminar paper: "Does scripture's personal correspondence necessitate theology's personal commitment?"
2009: Society for the Study of Theology conference (the Netherlands): "Emil Brunner and the limits of the doctrine of the trinity"
2009: QUB Institute of Theology Postgraduate Seminar: "The impact of Søren Kierkegaard's existentialism on Emil Brunner's theology"
Before moving to Northern Ireland Cindy worked for ten years with a mission agency in France and a number of countries in Europe. This work afforded her a deep appreciation for cross-cultural life and work, as well as an acute awareness of the needs of the church in a post-Christian context. She believes strongly about the role the local church should play, does play, and must play in the work of God in the world. She is an elder and active member of Fisherwick Presbyterian Church.
Cindy’s specific ministry roles outside of higher education have included preaching, evangelism, and Christian education; being a parish assistant, university chaplain, and youth worker; teaching at a mission Bible school, leading short-term mission trips, and mission promotion.