Gavin Brown is a lecturer at Yarra Theological Union within the University of Divinity, where he has taught sacramental theology and liturgical history since 2014.

Gavin completed his PhD in Church history with an APA scholarship at the University of Melbourne in 2004 on the history of the Eucharist in pre-Vatican II Australian Catholic culture. He later undertook a Masters of Theology by coursework between 2010 and 2012 at Yarra, graduating as the Vice-Chancellor’s Scholar in 2014. With a BA(Hons) and a Graduate Diploma of Education, Gavin also teaches Religious Education within the Catholic secondary school sector in Melbourne.

Gavin’s research is particularly driven by an interest in liturgy and worship, and how this informs the tenuous and creative relationship between Roman Catholicism and modernity, often using Australian Catholic history as a “case study” of these broader and overarching themes. He is presently seeking publication of a major monograph entitled The Coming Reign of Metaphor: A History of Christ’s Body in the Modern Catholic Tradition.

As an author with Garratt Publishing, Gavin is also active in writing and publishing educational and popular works on Australian Catholic history and theology more broadly. In 2020, he published an online resource for Catholic schools, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Unpacking the History of the Catholic Church in Australia. In 2023, he published the third book in Garratt’s Faith Today series, Authentic Christian Living: Rediscovering the Sacramental Imagination.

University Appointments

Lecturer (Yarra Theological Union)