Huston Smith
Huston Smith | |
---|---|
PhD) | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Religious studies, philosophy |
Institutions | University of Denver Washington University in St. Louis Massachusetts Institute of Technology Syracuse University University of California, Berkeley |
Website | hustonsmith.net |
Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was a scholar of religious studies in the United States,[1][2][3][4][5] He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, The World's Religions (originally titled The Religions of Man) sold over three million copies as of 2017.[5][6][7][8]
Born and raised in
Early life
On May 31, 1919, Huston Cummings Smith was born in
Upon emigrating to the United States to complete his education, he received a
While at Chicago, he married Eleanor Wieman, the daughter of Henry Nelson Wieman, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School.[1][12] She later changed her name to Kendra.[13] They had three daughters, Karen, Gael, and Kimberly Smith.[1][14]
Academic career
Smith taught at the University of Denver from 1945 to 1947, and then at Washington University, for the next 10 years.[1][9]
In 1958, Smith was appointed professor of philosophy at the
In 1973, Smith moved to Syracuse University, where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until he took emeritus status in 1983.[9] That year, Smith moved to Berkeley, California, where he remained a visiting professor of religious studies at the University of California, Berkeley until his death.[1][9][10] In 1997, Smith entered into an agreement with the Syracuse University Archives to donate his papers, resulting in a large collection of published books, articles, reviews, or endorsements.[20]
Religious practice
During his career, Smith studied
As a young man, Smith suddenly turned from traditional Methodist Christianity to
.Due to his connection with Heard and Huxley, Smith went on to meet Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), and others at the Center for Personality Research, where Leary was research professor. The group began experimenting with psychedelics and what Smith later called "empirical metaphysics".[26] The experience and history of the group are described in Smith's book Cleansing the Doors of Perception. During this period, Smith was also part of the Harvard Psilocybin Project, an attempt to raise spiritual awareness through entheogenic plants. However, he gave voice to the contrast between himself and Leary when he reminisced about encountering the exile Tim Leary in Switzerland, years later (early 1970s): “he was still a fugitive from lawful society—kicked out of it as he had been kicked out of West Point, Harvard University, and Zihuatanejo.”[27]
During his tenure at Syracuse University, he was informed by leaders of the
Smith was a practicing Christian, with a Vedantic understanding, who credited his faith to his missionary parents who had "instilled in me a Christianity that was able to withstand the dominating secular culture of modernity".[29]
Public activities
Television and film
While at Washington University, Smith was the host of two National Educational Television series (NET – the forerunner of PBS): The Religions of Man and Search for America.[30]
In 1996, Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS special to Smith's life and work, The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith. Smith produced three series for public television: The Religions of Man, The Search for America, and (with Arthur Compton) Science and Human Responsibility. His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals.
- The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith: A Bill Moyers Special: A Personal Philosophy, 1996, PBS, DVD
- The Roots of Fundamentalism: A Conversation with Huston Smith and Phil Cousineau, 2006, GemsTone, DVD[31]
- Death and Transformation: The Personal Reflections of Huston Smith, 2007, Fons Vitae, DVD
- The Arc of Life: Huston Smith on Life, Death & Beyond, Huston interviewed by Ken Dychtwald, on his life and career 2012, GemsTone, DVD[32]
- The Official Huston Smith Archive[33] includes both complete NET television series episodes of The Religions of Man[34] and Search for America[35]
Community engagement
Throughout his career, Smith made himself available to the communities where he resided. Toward the end of his life, while living in Berkeley, California, he participated in the Pacific Coast Theological Society at the Graduate Theological Union. He also attended local churches, including Trinity United Methodist, First Congregational Church, and Epworth United Methodist. On the occasion of publishing Tales of Wonder, in 2009 he co-convened "community conversations" at Epworth, during which he responded to questions about his life and work.[36][37]
Awards and honors
For his lifelong commitment to bringing the world's religions together to promote understanding, social justice and peace, Smith received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.[38]
Smith was named to be one of the first recipients of the Order of Universal Interfaith and Universal Order of Sannyasa's Interfaith-Interspiritual Sage Award in January 2010. He received the award at his home on February 23, 2010.[39]
The Pacific Coast Theological Society celebrated "the lifetime of achievements of Professor Emeritus Huston Smith by considering the relationship between theology, mythology, and science" in a special session in 2012.[40] In 2015, the society presented Smith with their Codron Prize for The World's Religions.[41]
Legacy
Quotes
- "If we take the world's enduring religions at their best, we discover the distilled wisdom of the human race."[42]
- "Institutions are not pretty. Show me a pretty government. Healing is wonderful, but the American Medical Association? Learning is wonderful, but universities? The same is true for religion... religion is institutionalized spirituality."[43]
- "The goal of spiritual life is not altered states, but altered traits."[44]: 97
Publications
- ISBN 0-06-250811-3[45]
- Great Religions of the World, with Joseph M. Kitagawa, Oliver Statler, Herbert Weiner, John P. Whalen, and Elie Wiesel, 1971, National Geographic Society.
- Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World's Religions, 1976, reprint ed. 1992, HarperOne, ISBN 0-06-250787-7[46]
- Beyond the Postmodern Mind, 1982, reprint ed. 1989, ISBN 0-8356-0647-3
- The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions, 1995, HarperOne, ISBN 0-06-067440-7[47]
- Smith, Huston; ISBN 9780940666719.
- Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, 2000, Tarcher/Putnam, ISBN 1-59181-008-6[48]
- Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief, 2001, HarperOne, 1st ed.:ISBN 0-06-067102-5[49]
- Islam: A Concise Introduction, HarperOne, 2001, ISBN 0-06-166018-3[50]
- The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life, 2003, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24489-3 (paper) Edited and with a Preface by Phil Cousineau
- Buddhism: A Concise Introduction, with ISBN 0-06-073067-6[51]
- The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition, 2005, HarperOne, 1st ed. ISBN 0-06-079478-X[52]
- A Seat at the Table: Huston Smith in Conversation with Native Americans on Religious Freedom, 2006, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24439-7 (cloth) edited and with a Preface by Phil Cousineau
- Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine, (autobiography), 2009, HarperOne, ISBN 0-06-1154261
- And Live Rejoicing: Chapters from a Charmed Life—Personal Encounters with Spiritual Mavericks, Remarkable Seekers, and the World's Great Religious Leaders, 2012, With contributions from Phil Cousineau
See also
- Ananda Coomaraswamy
- René Guénon
- Martin Lings
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr
- Perennial philosophy
- Frithjof Schuon
- Ninian Smart
References
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ Rourke, Mary (5 January 2017). "Huston Smith, pioneering teacher of world religions, dies at 97". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ John Blake (2 January 2017). "Huston Smith's painful spiritual odyssey". CNN. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ The Way Things Are. University of California Press. 2003.
- ^ a b Bill, Williams (July 27, 2009). "Religion scholar stresses events over emotions". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ Martin, Douglas; Hevesi, Dennis (January 2017). "Huston Smith, Author of 'The World's Religions,' Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ "Review of PBS Bill Moyers' interview of Huston Smith" Archived 2013-01-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Knowing Huston Smith". The Interfaith Observer. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Huston Smith Papers An inventory of his papers at the Syracuse University Archives". library.syr.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ a b Siow, Fionce; Staff (2017-01-05). "UC Berkeley visiting professor of religious studies Huston Smith dies at 97". The Daily Californian. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ Smith, Huston; Why Religion Matters, Harper-Collins: San Francisco, 2001.
- ^ "Henry Nelson Wieman". uudb.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-03. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
- ^ "Huston Smith, pioneering teacher of world religions, dies at 97". Los Angeles Times. 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
- ^ "Huston Smith Homepage". www.hustonsmith.net. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
- YouTube
- ^ Allmusic.com listing
- ^ NPR story of recording and MIT analysis
- ^ Official Website of Recording
- ISBN 9780520952355.
- ^ "Donor Profile: Huston Cummings Smith". ACCESS. Vol. 9, no. 2. Fall 2010. p. 6. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1891785-290.
- ^ "Huston Smith: About the Author: HarperCollins Publishers". www.harpercollins.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-07.
- ^ "Huxley on Huxley". Archived from the original on 2014-11-08. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ISBN 978-1891785-290.
- ^ "Description by Smith of meeting Heard". Geraldheard.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Ralph Metzner (2005-04-18). "The Ecstatic Adventure – Chapter 5". Psychedelic-library.org. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Forte, Robert 1999 Timothy Leary: Outside Looking In. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press. p. 267 ISBN 9780892817863
- ^ Review of One Nation Under God
- ISBN 978-0-06-079478-1.
- ^ "Biography of Smith". Harpercollins.com. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ [1] Official Roots Website
- ^ [2]Official Arc Website
- ^ [3]Official Huston Smith Archive Website
- ^ [4] Official Religions of Man Archive Website
- ^ [5] Official Search for America Archive Website
- ^ Huston Smith and Brandon Williamscraig July 5, 2009 Introduction
- ^ ABC - Conversations with Huston Smith
- ^ "The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List". Peaceabbey.org. 2005-11-20. Archived from the original on 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ "OUnI Ordination and Sage Award". Ouni.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ "Pacific Coast Theological Society".
- ^ Brandon Williamscraig accepts the Codron Prize for Huston Smith
- ^ Sinclair Community College Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mother Jones, November/December 1997.
- ISBN 9780520238169
- ^ "Browse Books at HarperCollins Publishers". Harpercollins.com. 2010-03-24. Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Smith, Huston. "Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World's Religions by Huston Smith". Harpercollins.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Smith, Huston. "The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions by Huston Smith". Harpercollins.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ "Council on Spiritual Practices – Cleansing the Doors of Perception". Csp.org. Archived from the original on 2010-10-19. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Smith, Huston. "Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief by Huston Smith". Harpercollins.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Smith, Huston. "Islam: A Concise Introduction by Huston Smith". Harpercollins.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Smith, Huston; Philip Novak. "Buddhism: A Concise Introduction". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Smith, Huston. "The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition by Huston Smith". Harpercollins.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
External links
- Huston Smith official website
- Huston Smith at IMDb
- The Religions of Man (part 1 of 17-video playlist) (YouTube) of the 1950s St. Louis-based television series which evolved into Smith's book The World's Religions.
- "Huston Smith Papers: An inventory of his papers at the Syracuse University Archives" (Smith biography and collection overview). Syracuse: Syracuse University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center, retrieved June 24, 2018.