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Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., is a large, Gothic Revival-style church built in 1870 and located at Park and Lafayette Avenues in the city's Bolton Hill section. Named in memory of a Baltimore financier, the ornate church is noted for its exquisite stained glass windows by renowned artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, soaring vaulted ceiling, and the prominent persons associated with its history. Maltbie Babcock, who was the church's pastor 1887–1900, wrote the familiar hymn, ''This is My Father's World''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=cyberhymnal )〕 Storied virtuoso concert performer Virgil Fox was organist at Brown Memorial early in his career (1936–1946). Called "one of the most significant buildings in this city, a treasure of art and architecture" by ''Baltimore Magazine'', the church underwent a $1.8 million restoration between 2001–2003. It is part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination. ==History== The Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church building was dedicated on December 4, 1870, in memory of George Brown, chairman of the Baltimore-based investment firm, Alex. Brown & Sons, and one of the founders of the pioneering Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1827. Construction was funded by a gift of $150,000 from his widow, Isabella McLanahan Brown, an amount equivalent to more than $4 million in 2009.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church )〕 George Brown was described by a Baltimore historian as a successful businessman and civic leader who "regarded religion as preeminent above all other things and loved his church with all the ardor of his noble nature".〔George M. Howard, ''Monumental City – Its Past History and Present resources''.〕 John Sparhawk Jones was the church's first pastor, serving from 1870 to 1884. Several of his collected sermons were later published in such books as ''Seeing Darkly'', ''The Invisible Things'', and ''Saved by Hope''. The church's pastor between 1887–1900 was Maltbie Babcock, who was formally installed on September 28, 1887. His biography in a 1910 encyclopedia described him as "a fluent speaker, with a marvelous personal magnetism which appealed to all classes of people, and the influence of which became in a sense national. His theology was broad and deep ... he reached people in countless ways and exerted everywhere a remarkable personal magnetism ... () an unusually brilliant intellect and stirring oratorical powers that commanded admiration".〔(Maltbie Davenport Babcock ), ''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'', Supplement I. New York: James T. White (1910 edition).〕 While at Brown, he led fund-raising efforts to assist Jewish refugees from Russia who were victims of an anti-Jewish pogrom.〔Memorial service (PDF), Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Md., June 2, 1901.〕 He was also a popular speaker with students at Johns Hopkins University. Under Babcock, the church acquired additional property at North and Madison Avenues for a chapel and Sunday School complex. When Babcock was called to New York City's Brick Presbyterian Church in 1900, many prominent Baltimoreans, including the faculty of Johns Hopkins University, unsuccessfully implored Babcock to remain at Brown instead of accepting the call to Brick Church. Babcock resigned on January 17, 1900, to pastor the Manhattan church but died suddenly the following year at age 42. At his New York funeral, the presiding clergyman eulogized him, "We do not need a candle to show a sunbeam...The work our brother has done – the life he lived speaks for him." A memorial service for the esteemed former pastor was held at Brown Memorial on May 22, described as "impressive" by the ''New York Times''.〔 So inspired was former U.S. Postmaster General James Albert Gary, a member of Brown Memorial, that he chaired a committee to raise $50,000 (the equivalent of $1.4 million in 2009) for construction of a new church in memory of the beloved former pastor.〔〔 More than half of that amount was raised the first day from the wealthy congregation, the ''New York Times'' reported, and the new Babcock Memorial Presbyterian Church was soon constructed on Brown Memorial Church's North Avenue property.〔 Babcock's successor as minister of Brown Memorial, John Timothy Stone, also presided over a large memorial gathering in Baltimore on June 2, 1901, choosing as the text for his address to the throng: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21). Babcock was eulogized at the Baltimore service by various prominent educators, including Daniel C. Gilman, the first president of Johns Hopkins University, John F. Goucher, the founder of Goucher College, and Francis L. Patton, president of Princeton University.〔 A poem by Babcock was published posthumously the following year by his wife as the familiar hymn, ''This is My Father's World''.〔 The sanctuary was enlarged in 1905 with the addition of a transept and several Tiffany windows while Stone was minister.〔 Further significant development occurred in 1931 under T. Guthrie Speers, with the addition of the current chancel designed by notable architect Ralph Adams Cram and the installation of the present 4-manual pipe organ by Ernest M. Skinner.〔Jane T. Swope, ''A History of Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church 1870–1995'', Baltimore, Maryland, 1995.〕 Speers had a popular ministry at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church from 1928 to 1957. He began an outreach program to Baltimore's Jewish community, occasionally exchanging pulpits with local rabbis. After Speers' retirement in 1957, John Middaugh was minister from 1958 to 1968. Middaugh was a regular panelist for ten years on the weekly television program ''To Promote Goodwill'', an interfaith discussion of social and religious issues produced by WBAL-TV and broadcast worldwide on the Voice of America.〔Thomas H. O'Connor, ''Baltimore Broadcasting from A to Z'', Baltimore, Md. (1985)〕 He was also in the forefront of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Along with William Sloan Coffin and dozens of other clergymen and civil rights activists, Middaugh was arrested in a clash with police at Baltimore's Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in July 1963 over efforts to desegregate the popular attraction. Membership peaked at 1,336 in 1952 but subsequently declined in the late 1950s as much of the city's population migrated to the suburbs. In response, a portion of the congregation decided in 1956 to build a church in the suburban Woodbrook area north of Baltimore. Other members wished to remain at the Bolton Hill location, prompting a decision to operate one church at two locations, with a shared ministerial staff. In the early 1970s, the church began a tutoring program for neighborhood children and a "Meals on Wheels" service under then-ministers Iain Wilson, pastor, and Clinton C. Glenn Jr., assistant minister. In 1980, the congregations of the two churches voted for separation. The original Bolton Hill church was subsequently constituted as "Brown Memorial Park Avenue", to distinguish it from "Brown Memorial Woodbrook", when the separation was completed in October, 1980.〔 The immediate past minister of the church is Roger J. Gench, pastor from 1990 to 2002, who is now pastor of historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. The full list of senior ministers from 1870 to present is: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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