Raymond Brown was born in New York City, the son of Robert H. and Loretta Brown, Raymond studied at The Catholic University of America where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1948 and a Master of Arts degree in 1949 as a Basselin scholar. In 1951 he joined the scholarly Society of Saint-Sulpice following his graduation from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1953 he was ordained a Catholic priest for the Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida. He earned the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary in 1955 and a second doctorate in Semitic languages in 1958 from The Johns Hopkins University, where one of his advisors was William F. Albright. Following his studies, Brown taught at his alma mater, St. Mary’s Seminary, until 1971. During this period he was invited to work as a research fellow at the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, where he worked on a concordance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1963 he served as a peritus (expert adviser) to the Bishop of St. Augustine, Joseph P. Hurley, at the Second Vatican Council.

Raymond Brown was appointed in 1972 to the Pontifical Biblical Commission and again in 1996. He was the Auburn Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies at the Protestant Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he taught from 1971 to 1990, when he retired with the title of Professor Emeritus. He served as the President of the Catholic Biblical Association, the Society of Biblical Literature (1976-7) and the Society of New Testament Studies (1986-7). He was a Roman Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland.[citation needed] Widely regarded as one of America’s preeminent biblical scholars, Brown was awarded 24 honorary doctoral degrees by universities in the United States and Europe—many from Protestant institutions. Raymond Brown died at Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California. The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, hailed him as “the most distinguished and renowned Catholic biblical scholar to emerge in this country ever” and his death, the cardinal said, was “a great loss to the Church.”