www.metalog.org/files/cv.html

THOMAS PATERSON BROWN (2002)

paterson @ metalog.org
(omit blank spaces)

Education

• 1960: BA in Philosophy, Amherst College, Massachusetts (USA); honors thesis under the direction of Kai Nielsen: The Factual Status of Theism— an analysis of the possible empiricism of theological propositions, with reference to ‘Some star never burns out’ as a paradigm case of an unverifiable and unfalsifiable factual claim.

• 1963: PhD in Philosophy, University of London (University College), doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Stuart Hampshire, The Logic of ‘God’— an analysis of divinity as an essentially evaluative rather than a descriptive or theoretical concept; with reference to Hans Reichenbach's analysis of ‘co-ordinative definitions’ in the metrics of space & time as paradigmatic non-analytic/non-empirical stipulative standards; together with a detailed examination of the specifically Biblical/Qur'anic criteria of divinity: eternity, omnicreativity, omniscience, omnipotence, supreme moral authority, etc.

Publications (the underlined works are available online)

• 1. ‘Professor Malcolm on Anselm's Ontological Arguments’, Analysis (England), 1961— that neither ‘everlasting’ nor ‘atemporal’ entails ‘actual’, re Anselm's proofs of the existence of God.

• 2. ‘Religious Morality’, Mind (England), 1963— that a morality of divine commands can be analyzed by distinguishing between (a) the defined meanings of, and (b) the stipulative criteria for, moral terms.

• 3. ‘St. Thomas' Doctrine of Necessary Being’, Philosophical Review (USA), 1964— that ‘necessary being’ means ‘incorruptible being’ in Aristotelian metaphysics, re the medieval Arabic and Scholastic arguments for the existence of God.

• 4. ‘Infinite Causal Regression’, Philosophical Review (USA), 1967— that ‘essential’ causal regressions are transitive, and logically similar to a serial attribution of legal responsibility, in the context of the medieval arguments for the existence of God.

• 5. ‘God and the Good’, Religious Studies (England), 1967— that the apparent paradox of salvation's presupposing an evil from which to be saved, is resolved via #2 & 6.

• 6. ‘Religious Morality: a Reply to Flew and Campbell’, Mind (England), 1964— that all moralities, religious or secular, necessarily employ stipulative criteria which can be explained causally but not proven either inductively or deductively.

• 7. ‘Logical Mysticism’, paper, annual meetings of the American Philosophical Society, St. Louis, Missouri (USA), 1968— that an infinite regress of truth-functions is impossible, as per Russell's Theory of Descriptions and Wittgenstin's Tractatus 2.0201-2.0211, and the ontological implications thereof re the transcendental Namer.

• 8. ‘Paterson's Song (Riverrun)’, included on David Lannan's album Street Singer (1970) and San Francisco Sampler 1970; harmony and good vibes during recording around the San Francisco Bay Area, 1969.

• 9. The Gospel (annotated translation from the Greek to English of the four Gospels of the New Testament, together with an eclectic version of the texts of Thomas, Philip & Truth; illustration), Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA): Christ Brotherhood, 2 editions 1976 & 1978.

• 10. The Gospel of Thomas (pocket edition mailed to over 20,000 convicts in US prisons; illustration), Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA): Christ Brotherhood, 1979.

• 11. Philosopher of the Heart: Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas, Eugene, Oregon (USA): Messianic Publishers, 1982.

• 12. ‘The Brotherhood Band at the Oregon State Penitentiary’, 90-minute music video, Christ Brotherhood, Eugene, Oregon (USA), 1984.

• 13. Baptized in Light: Commentary on the Gospel of Philip, Eugene, Oregon (USA): Messianic Publishers, 1985.

• 14. ‘The Sabbath and the Week in Thomas 27’, Novum Testamentum (The Netherlands), 1992— that ‘sabbath’ in Hebrew can designate either the seventh day or the entire week of seven days, re the permanence of repose enjoined in logion 27 of the Thomas Gospel.

• 15. ‘The Paul Paradox’ (Spanish ‘La Paradoja de Pablo’), unsolicited paper delivered to the members of the Society of Biblical Literature at their annual meetings, Kansas City, Missouri (USA), 1992— that there appear to be a number of insurmountable logical contradictions between Paul and the Evangelists, which has been widely noted as well as widely ignored across the centuries.

• 16. Metagospels: Thomas & Philip & Valentine (annotated translation from the Coptic to English), Athens: Ecumenical Coptic Project, numerous editions 1992 ff.

• 17. Metaevangelios: Tomás & Felipe & Valentín (traducción anotada del copto al castellano), Atenas: Proyecto Copto Ecuménico, ediciones numerosas 1996 en adelante.

• 18. Evangelios de Nag Hammadi: Tomás, Felipe, Valentín (traducción anotada del copto al castellano, con análisis preliminar por el Prof. Higinio Alas Gómez), Heredia, Costa Rica: Escuela Ecuménica de la Universidad Nacional, 1998.

• 19. ‘The Filioque Controversy’, Athens News Sunday Edition, October 31, 1999— that the feminine gender of ‘spirit’ in the Semitic languages resolves the Orthodox-Catholic controversy of 1054 A.D. over the processional relationships within the Trinity.

• 20. ‘Seven Haiku’, Poetry Greece (Greece), Spring 2000; I have placed these and others of my recent haiku meditations online.

• 21. Online hypertext interlinear of the Gospel of Philip, 2005 (revised 2007).

• 22. Hypertext and MSWord editions (English and Spanish) of J.M. Plumley's Introductory Coptic Grammar, 2007.

• 23. Online hypertext interlinear of the Gospel of Thomas, 2008.

Activities

• 1938: Born and circumcised in the Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri; baptized in the Methodist Church (with water brought from the Jordan River by a missionary friend of Sally's); parents: Lyle Brown (BA Kansas 1925, Bell Telephone executive, ragtime pianist, baritone, outdoorsman) & Sally Crosby (classical pianist [as an adolescent performed privately for both Paderewski and Rachmaniov] and watercolor artist).

• 1946-57: Annual family camping trips thruout the US and Canada.

• 1952: Eagle Scout, Sedalia, Missouri (Henry Sutton, scoutmaster).

• 1955: St. Louis County half-mile record, track and field, junior division (Emil Wiggins, coach).

• 1958: Studies and participation in the student bus strike, University of Mexico (UNAM); travels in Mexico.

• 1959: Travels in Mexico, Guatemala (including Tikal), Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia (up the Río Magdalena) and Ecuador.

• 1959-60: Co-editor (with Bill Forgie), The Amherst Review.

• 1959-60: President of Amherst College chapter, Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

• 1960: Ranch-hand, Currant Creek Ranch, Rock Springs, Wyoming (USA).

• 1960-63: Studies in London; travels in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

• 1961: Aldermaston March, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, London (England).

• 1962: Residence at the L'Abri Fellowship (founded by Francis Schaeffer), Huémoz (Switzerland).

• 1963: Conscientious Objector application, denied by local military draft board; avoided conscription by continuing studies at St. Louis University and Washington University (St. Louis).

• 1963: Systems analyst, Pet Milk Company, St. Louis, Missouri; computer analysis of a linear transportation problem (the result doubled their net annual profits overnight).

• 1963: Lived on Zuñi Indian Reservation, New Mexico.

• 1963-67: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York (Binghamton).

• 1965: Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

• 1966: Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Alberta, Calgary (Canada).

• 1967: Retired from university teaching, renounced all possessions and social involvements.

• 1967: The Summer of Love, St. Mark's Place, New York City.

• 1967: Camp counselor, New York City Vacation Camp for the Blind, Spring Valley, New York.

• 1967: October March on the Pentagon, Washington DC.

• 1967: A poem I wrote that autumn after the Pentagon March: ‘Autumn Flight’, as well as the words to some songs that I wrote 1967-73: Songs.

• 1968: Motorcycling in Missouri and across the southern route to New York; travels in México and California.

• 1968-73: Intermittently hitch-hiked up and down the West Coast between Eugene and Laguna Beach; played a lot of music, smoked a lot of Mother Nature with many Brothers & Sisters, stayed in countless communes, went to one concert or festival or spiritual pow-wow after another, demonstrated against the war, studied the Eastern Scriptures, lived completely possessionless, had many visions/revelations/epiphanies.

• 1969: Began studies of the Nag Hammadi Library, via the Coptic/English edition of the Gospel of Thomas by Guillaumont et alia (Biblio.6).

• 1969-73: Volunteer work and in-house musician at the Odyssey Coffee House and Theater, Eugene, Oregon (founded by Bill & Cindy Wooten).

• 1970-85: Helped organize Christ Brotherhood's open houses for whomsoever, with free food and lodging, bathing and clothes-washing facilities, together with outlying wilderness camps: Fifth Street House (Eugene), Washington Street House (Eugene), La Hermandad de Cristo (Santa Fe), Santa Fe Hostel, Santa Fe Hospice, Free Inn (Boulder), Christmas Lodge (Missoula), Casablanca (Eugene) and Christic Kibbutz (Eugene).

• 1970: Vortex Festival, McIver State Park, Oregon; the original inspiration for the first Rainbow Gathering two years later.

• 1971: Lived on Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Oregon.

• 1972+73: Advance liaison team, first & second annual Rainbow Gatherings at Strawberry Lake, Colorado & Wind River, Wyoming; in '73 a small group of us were consequently charged in US Federal Court in Cheyenne, with (1) illegal cutting of tree limbs in the National Forest and (2) trespassing on Indian lands, the latter of which 19th century law had never previously been enforced— with a combined possible sentence of 18 months in Federal prison— but the case was graciously dismissed by Justice Alan Johnson.

• 1973: Lived on Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming; two-month solitary retreat in a wilderness camp in the autumn, Upper Green River Lake, Wind River Mountain Range, Wyoming; studied Adolph Knoch's exhaustive analysis of the Greek New Testament (Biblio.17).

• 1976-78: Original concept (in 1976, with Tom Dolle) of a computerized clarification of the Shroud of Turin image, and subsequent presence during the extensive scientific testing of the Shroud, Turin, Italy, October 1978.¹

• 1978: Residence at the Ittoen Spiritual Community, Kyoto, Japan; and at the old Epworth Mission, Almora UP, India; travels in Israel, Sinai and Europe.

• 1982-85: A lengthy series of musical concerts by the Brotherhood Band in institutions (prisons, veterans hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, orphanages and shelters for the homeless) in California, Oregon, Washington and Montana; some recordings from 1983 Brotherhood Band prison concerts are online (wma format).

• 1983: Helped edit the Planet Crescendo (underground newspaper), Portland, Oregon.

• 1983-84: Picking cones, planting trees and burning slash, Oregon Coast Range.

• 1985-86: Residence in Spain and the Canary Islands; travels in Morocco.

• 1986: A series of 30 musical concerts in the prisons of Spain, with the Brotherhood Band.

• 1986-88: Travels in Israel, Sinai, Lower Egypt and Greece.

• 1988: After almost two decades of searching, finally obtained the necessary resources— Coptic dictionary, grammar and the Coptic texts themselves— for translating the three Coptic Gospels: Ecumenical Coptic Project.

• 1990-91: Custodian at a hospital for cattle, Willamette Valley, Oregon; completed first draft of English translation of the Coptic Gospels.

• 1992-3: Translated the Coptic Gospels edition into Spanish.

• 1992+94: Presentations re the Nag Hammadi Library, I & II Congresos Panamericanos de Humanidades, San José (Costa Rica) & Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala).

• 1995: Travels in Russia and the Ukraine.

• 1992-2007: Numerous extensive lecture tours, among Central and South American universities and seminaries, regarding the Coptic Gospels.

• 1998-2000: Residence in Spain and Greece, travels in Southern France and Italy.

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¹ See Kenneth Weaver, ‘The Mystery of the Shroud’, National Geographic Magazine (June 1980); Robert K. Wilcox, ‘El Sudario de Cristo’, GeoMundo (octubre 1978); and Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin (2nd edition 1988); photo of the scientific planning conference for the Shroud tests, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1977; photo of planning session, Turin, Italy, October 1978.