Timothy L. Smith

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Timothy Lawrence Smith (1924–1997) was a noted historian and educator, known as the first American evangelical historian to gain notability in research and higher education.

Early life and education

Smith was born April 13, 1924[1] in Central, South Carolina,[2] the son of Nazarene ministers.[3] He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees[4] from the University of Virginia, where he was a Thomas Jefferson Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa student, and his doctoral degree in history from Harvard University[2] under Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr.[5][6]

Career

He has been described as "the first evangelical historian in the U.S. to make it in the secular research university."[7]

Smith began his teaching career at the Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) in 1949 and left in 1954 to take a position at East Texas State University.[8] During his time at ENC, he was the first director of Quincy School Department-sponsored College Courses, Inc., after which fellow Eastern Nazarene history professor Charles W. Akers transformed it into Quincy Junior College and served as its first full-time director.[8] He later went on the teach at the University of Minnesota before becoming director of the American Religious History doctoral program[9] and Chair of the Education Department at the Johns Hopkins University,[7][10] where he taught for 25 years.[7]

Smith received numerous awards and honors, and served as president of both the American Society of Church History,[4] and the Society of Religious Historians.[2] He was also an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, and pastored churches in Massachusetts, Maine, and Colorado.[7]

Published works

A prolific author who published in nearly every historical journal, Smith's best-known and most-praised work is his 1957 book Revivalism and Social Reform,[11] formed from his dissertation from Harvard,[5] which received the Brewer prize from the American Society of Church History.[2] Smith also wrote a history of the Church of the Nazarene, Called Unto Holiness, which Smith considered his most outstanding accomplishment.[7]

Legacy

Smith retired to Burke, Virginia but died at age 72 in West Palm Beach, Florida on January 20, 1997 after several strokes.[2]

The Wesleyan Theological Society at Northwest Nazarene University established a book award in honor of Smith and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop in 1999, and presents an award annually.[12] The 2008 recipient of the award, Randall J. Stephens, currently teaches at the Eastern Nazarene College, as well.[13]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Legacy.com Obituaries
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Washington Post: Obituaries, January 24, 1997
  3. ↑ Nazarene.org: Timothy Smith and the Recovery of the Nazarene Vision
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wipf and Stock Publishers: Author Timothy L. Smith
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Librarything.com: Timothy L. Smith
  6. ↑ Wesley Center for Applied Theology: "THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE WESLEYAN/HOLINESS TRADITION" by David Bundy
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Christianity Today: "Obituary: Historian Smith, 72, Dies" posted 4/07/1997 12:00AM
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 James R. Cameron Center: History of the History Department at Eastern Nazarene College
  9. ↑ Wesley Center for Applied Theology: SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE by Timothy L. Smith
  10. ↑ University of Notre Dame: The story of Notre Dame, the Restless Christian College Conference, October 10, 1968, James Burtchaell, C.S.C, Chair
  11. ↑ James R. Cameron Center at Eastern Nazarene College: Contemporary reviews of Revivalism and Social Reform
  12. ↑ Wesley Theological Society: Timothy L. Smith and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop Book Award
  13. ↑ Harvard University Press: The Fire Spreads" by Randall J. Stephens, 2008 Smith-Wynkoop Book Award

External links

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