Mark Stratton John Matthew Smith (born December 6, 1956) is an American biblical scholar, anthropologist, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Early life and education

Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to Donald Eugene Smith and Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Reichert, Smith grew up in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

with his six sisters and two brothers. For elementary school, he attended Blessed Sacrament School. For grades 7–12, he went to St. Anselm's Abbey School. Smith began his university studies at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

receiving his B.A. in English in 1976. He received his Masters in theology at Catholic University of America in 1978. He received a Masters of Theological Studies, concentrating in biblical studies, at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

, in 1981. At Harvard, Smith studied with

Frank Moore Cross Frank Moore Cross Jr. (1921–2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 ''magnum opus'' ''Canaanite Myth and ...

, Thomas Lambdin, William Moran, and

Michael D. Coogan Michael D. Coogan is lecturer on Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School, Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum, editor-in-chief of Oxford Biblical Studies Online, and professor emeritus of religious studies at Ston ...

. Primarily studying

West Semitic languages The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of ancient Semitic languages. The term was first coined in 1883 by Fritz Hommel.Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. His advisor and director of his dissertation on

Kothar-wa-Khasis Kothar-wa-Khasis ( uga, 𐎋𐎘𐎗𐎆𐎃𐎒𐎒, Kothar-wa-Khasis) is an Ugaritic god whose name means "Skillful-and-Wise" or "Adroit-and-Perceptive" or "Deft-and-Clever". Another of his names, ''Hayyan hrs yd'' means "Deft-with-both-hands" ...

, the

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologist ...

craftsman god, was Marvin H. Pope, author of works on Ugaritic and biblical religion, including two commentaries in the Anchor Bible series on the Song of Songs and Job. At Yale, Smith also studied with

Franz Rosenthal Franz Rosenthal (August 31, 1914 – April 8, 2003) was the Louis M. Rabinowitz professor of Semitic languages at Yale from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 1967 to 1985 ...

Brevard Childs Brevard Springs Childs (September 2, 1923 – June 23, 2007) was an American Old Testament scholar and Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 (and Sterling Professor after 1992), who is considered one of the most infl ...

Robert R. Wilson Robert Rathbun Wilson (March 4, 1914 – January 16, 2000) was an American physicist known for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, as a sculptor, and as an architect of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), ...

, and W. W. Hallo. While writing his dissertation, he studied at the Hebrew University for a year (1984–1985) under Jonas C. Greenfield.

Career

After graduate school, Smith focused on the history of

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

and ancient

Near Eastern The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

religion. He also began to explore the representation of deities and divinity in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

to the Greco-Roman period. For several summers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he also studied Dead Sea Scrolls with

John Strugnell John Strugnell (May 25, 1930, Barnet, Hertfordshire, England – November 30, 2007, Boston, Massachusetts) became, at 23, the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux, formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jeru ...

at the Ecole Biblique. This work issued in the publications of four manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Smith was the chair of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, and then came to be professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis at

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

. Smith made many contributions to the study of the Hebrew Bible and

Northwest Semitic Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. It emerged from Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite in the Middle Bronze A ...

texts as well as

literature and religion.Oriental Institute Research Archives - A Bibliography of Ugaritic Grammar and Biblical Hebrew Grammar in the Twentieth Century
/ref>

Personal life

Smith has been married since 1983 to the archaeologist Elizabeth M. Bloch-Smith, author of ''Judahite Burials and Beliefs about the Dead''. They have 3 children named Benjamin, Rachel, and Shulamit. Smith is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Fellowships and honors

*Golden Dozen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, New York University, 2007 *Frank Moore Cross Publications Award, American Schools of Oriental Research, 2005 *Golden Dozen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, New York University, 2001 *Fellow, Center for Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1998 *Faculty Merit Award for Research, Saint Joseph's University, 1995 *Morse Fellow, Yale University, 1993 *Dorot Dead Sea Scrolls Fellow (summer), W. F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, 1990 *Mellon Faculty Fellowship Leave (spring term), Yale University 1989 *Recipient of the Mitchell Dahood Memorial Prize 1988, 1990 *Post-doctoral fellow W. F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, 1988 *Annual Professor, W. F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, 1987 *Mary Cady Tew prize for best first-year graduate student, Yale University, 1982

Additional positions

*Member, Catholic Biblical Association of America, Society of Biblical Literature, Colloquium for Biblical Research, Old Testament Colloquium, and Association for Jewish Studies *Chairperson, Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series *Co-editor, Forschungen zum Alten Testament Series, published by Mohr Siebeck

Publications

; Books * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

NYU > Hebrew & Judaic > Mark S. Smith
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Mark S. American biblical scholars Johns Hopkins University alumni Catholic University of America alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni New York University faculty Living people Austin College faculty 1956 births 20th-century Roman Catholics Old Testament scholars People from Washington, D.C. Princeton Theological Seminary faculty