Contact Information

Biography

Dr. Smith’s research focuses on biblical theology, historical Jesus studies, and liberation theologies. His interests also include interreligious and non-religious spiritualities and creation spirituality. His recent doctoral dissertation, Covenant Apocalyptic Soteriology (Duquesne University, 2022) develops a theory of atonement in accordance with N. T. Wright’s covenant-apocalyptic interpretation of the ministry and message of the historical Jesus.

 

Dr. Smith is also the Director of Spiritual Formation at First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh. And he teaches theology and ethics in the Correctional Education Program of Ashland University.

Education

  • Ph.D., Duquesne University
  • M.A., University of Nottingham
  • B.A., Eastern University

 

School

  • Global and Cultural Perspective
  • Biblical and Historical Perspectives
  • Divine Comedy: Theology Through Stand-up
  • Theological Ethics
  • Introduction to Ethical Reasoning
  • Healthcare Ethics: Theology
  • Can Religion Heal Us?
  • Introduction to Ethical Reasoning

Covenant-Apocalyptic Soteriology: N. T. Wright’s Apocalyptic Jesus in Conversation with the Liberationist Critique of Atonement (doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University, 2022), https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/2073.

This dissertation develops a theory of atonement in accordance with N. T. Wright’s covenant-apocalyptic interpretation of the ministry and message of the historical Jesus. A covenant-apocalyptic atonement theory, in opposition to the trajectory of contemporary soteriology, prioritizes divine causality in the means of salvation, because, as is generally expected from an apocalyptic hermeneutic, it peers behind systems of violence and oppression to the intangible powers that underlie them. Unlike other strands of apocalyptic theology, though, a covenant-apocalyptic soteriology can stand up to a liberationist critique of the escapism and the divine sadism of a certain popular form of Christian soteriology, because it understands salvation as an intrahistorical reality and acknowledges the religiopolitical causes of Jesus’ execution.