Ronald B. Flowers Papers

Dr. Ronald B. Flowers was born January 11, 1935 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of firefighter J. Paul and homemaker Clara Mae. He earned a bachelor’s degree from TCU in 1957. From there he went on to Vanderbilt University, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology in 1960 and 1961, respectively. He completed a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in 1967.

Dr. Flowers ministered briefly at a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Crofton Kentucky in the early 1960s. He began his teaching career in the religion department at Texas Christian University in 1966 and retired in 2002. He served as department chair for nine years. During his time at TCU, he received numerous teaching awards, including the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1998. Dr. Flowers was a highly productive scholar, and established himself as a major authority on U. S. Supreme Court church-state cases. He authored Toward Benevolent Neutrality: Church, State, and the Supreme Court and To Defend the Constitution: Religion, Conscientious Objection, Naturalization, and the Supreme Court, among other books, articles, and book reviews.

Dr. Flowers married Leah King in 1959. They had three children, Jennifer, Philip, and Ronald. They were married 53 years until her death in 2013. Dr. Ronald Flowers died June 27, 2021.