NEW YORK (ABP) — One of the most prominent churches in mainline Protestantism has tapped a former Wake Forest Divinity School professor to fill its historic pulpit.
Brad Braxton
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The pastor-search committee of Riverside Church, a landmark on the Upper West Side of Manhattan since 1929, has recommended Brad Braxton to become the congregation's senior minister. The recommendation, reportedly unanimous, was announced during Riverside's morning worship service Aug. 3.
The 39-year-old Braxton has been an associate professor of homiletics and New Testament at Vanderbilt University Divinity School since 2004. He previously taught at Wake Forest University Divinity School and has served also as pastor of the interdenominational Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore.
If approved by the Riverside congregation in a Sept. 14 vote, Braxton would become the 2,400-member church's sixth senior pastor. He would assume a pulpit once occupied by famed preachers Harry Emerson Fosdick and William Sloane Coffin.
Braxton would replace James Forbes, 71, who retired last year after 18 years at Riverside. Forbes was the church's first African-American pastor. Some members grew disgruntled with his leadership for several reasons, including what they perceived as a lessening of the church's historic commitment to social justice.
Riverside's roots are in the former Park Avenue Baptist Church and a series of other progressive Baptist congregations in Manhattan. The church is now dually aligned with the American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ.
In the past, Riverside leaders have publicly opposed the United States' involvement in the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Church leaders were also early and outspoken Christian voices in favor of racial integration and the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of Christian communities.
Braxton, who is also an African American, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Aug. 5, but told the New York Times that he would continue Riverside's commitment to social engagement. "Part of what religious communities do in their best moments is to seek after the truth with a sense of humility and a sense of openness for the sake of the common good," he said. "So I certainly would hope to continue in that marvelous legacy of congregational care internally, and bold, courageous, prophetic action externally, for which the Riverside Church has been known now for so many years."
Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest Divinity School, said by telephone Aug. 5 he was "delighted" that his former colleague would be recommended to Riverside.
"He was a fine colleague for us for four years and is not only an excellent preacher, but he is an excellent teacher of preaching," he said. "I'm just very, very delighted for him and his family and for Riverside Church; it's a great moment."
Braxton, the son of a Baptist minister, grew up in Salem, Va. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he earned the prestigious Jefferson Scholarship. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he received a master's degree, and earned a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Emory University.
He and his wife, Lazetta, have a three-year-old daughter, Karis.
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