J. Lawrence Brasher

Larry Brasher, a native of New Jersey, is the Denson N. Franklin Professor of Religion Emeritus at Birmingham-Southern College. Educated at Duke University and Yale University, he has published books and articles on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century religion in America, Revolutionary War history, folklore, oral history, American music, American decorative arts, environmental history and ethics, and botanical history and field studies.

He has taught at Duke University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and at Catawba College, Salisbury, North Carolina, where he directed a professional ethics center for attorneys, physicians, clergy, business leaders, teachers, and a multi-ethnic group convened to discuss issues of race and diversity. At Birmingham-Southern College, he received the Omicron Delta Kappa Award for Excellence in Teaching.

A baritone soloist in the Yale Russian Chorus, he continues to sing anniversary concerts with the chorus. An avid botanist, he has published articles on Andre Michaux, an eighteenth-century French botanist/explorer of eastern North America, and articles on rare botanical species of the southern Appalachians. He has led hikes interpreting the flora of the Smoky Mountains on the annual Wildflower Pilgrimage in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. He spearheaded efforts creating two Nature Conservancy preserves in Alabama and New Jersey. He was named Preservationist of the Year by the Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club. He is past president of the Alabama Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, the leading science organization in restoring a blight-resistant American chestnut to eastern forests. A recipient of a Templeton Foundation Award to teach courses in science and religion, Larry has special interest in how science and religion can enhance each other. He is a member of the Washington Association of New Jersey and several New Jersey Historical Societies. He and his wife have one adult son.