S. Kent Brown

Scott Kent Brown is a scholar of ancient scripture, author, executive producer, and professor.

Brown was born in 1940. He earned his BA degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in classical Greek with a minor in Near Eastern Studies. He received his PhD in religious studies from Brown University with an emphasis in New Testament and Early Christian studies. He joined the faculty at Brigham Young University in 1971, where he was a professor of ancient scripture and Near Eastern studies until his retirement in 2009. During his tenure he served as director of the BYU Jerusalem Center (1993–1996, and associate director from 2009 to August 2010) and department chair of Ancient Scripture. He served as director of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies and the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies. He was a fellow of the American Research Center in Egypt (1978–1979) and a fellow of the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU.

He is considered a world expert on early Christian literature and history, especially Coptic Christianity. Most of his work has been dedicated to helping members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand their faith. Brown is a member of the LDS Church.

His list of articles and books is lengthy, including Beholding Salvation: The Life of Christ in Word and Image (written with Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Dawn C. Pheysey) and The Lost 500 Years: What Happened between the Old and New Testaments (written with Richard Neitzel Holzapfel). He was an editor of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. In 2014 he co-wrote Divinity of Women with his daughter Heather B. Moore.

While at BYU, Brown conceived, co-wrote, and coproduced four documentary films: Golden Road (on the fabled incense trail that ran from southern Arabia into the Mediterranean region, 2005); Journey of Faith (on the journey of Lehi and Sariah from Jerusalem to the New World, 2005); Journey of Faith: The New World (on the Lehi and Sariah’s posterity in the New World, 2007); and Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God (a seven-part documentary on Jesus Christ, 2010).[1] He was a consultant on the Dreamworks film The Prince of Egypt and the “The Life of Jesus Christ” Bible videos produced by The Church of Jesus Christ and available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Brown and his wife, the former Gayle Oblad, are the parents of five children and grandparents to sixteen grandchildren.