Mitzi J. Smith facts for kids

Mitzi J. Smith is an important American scholar. She studies the Bible, especially the New Testament. She is a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary. She made history as the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in New Testament from Harvard University.

Dr. Smith writes a lot about a field called womanist biblical hermeneutics. This means she looks at how race, gender, and social class connect with Bible studies. She believes her work helps bring attention to groups who are often treated unfairly. She sees it as a way to work for social justice.

Growing Up and Learning

Mitzi J. Smith grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Her parents were Flora Carson Smith and Fred Smith, Sr.

She went to college and earned several degrees. She got a Bachelor's degree in Theology from Columbia Union College. She then earned a Master of Divinity from Howard University School of Divinity. This degree focused on Biblical Studies. She also received a Master's degree in Black Studies from Ohio State University.

In 2006, she earned her PhD from Harvard University. Her main teacher for her PhD was François Bovon.

Her Career and Work

Dr. Smith has been preaching in Christian churches since 1982. She is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 2006, she became an assistant professor at Ashland Theological Seminary. She taught about the New Testament. Later, she became an Associate Professor and then a full Professor there.

She has mentioned several scholars who influenced her work at Harvard. These include François Bovon, Allen Callahan, Cain Hope Felder, Katie Cannon, emilie townes, Clarice Martin, and Renita Weems.

Her Writings

The Literary Construction of the Other in the Acts of the Apostles

One of Mitzi Smith's important books is The Literary Construction of the Other in the Acts of the Apostles. In this book, she looks at how the Bible's book of Acts describes certain groups. She says that the author of Acts makes charismatics (people with spiritual gifts), Jews, and women seem "other" or different from the male apostles.

She explains that by making these groups seem "other," the book of Acts helps to build up the importance and authority of the male apostles. This also helped keep the early church's leaders in charge. It also supported the idea that men were in charge within the early Christian community.

Dr. Smith points out that Acts often shows the apostles as being "filled with the Spirit" and having special authority. But charismatics and Jews are shown as not having these qualities. This makes it seem like the church is better than them. She calls these "external others." They are close to the apostles in some ways but are shown as being against them.

Women in the early Christian movement were either not described as having the Spirit, or their roles were made to seem less important. For example, their roles were often shown as being less than Peter and Paul's. Dr. Smith calls these "internal others." These are people who are part of the Christian community but are still treated as less important.

Ultimately, Dr. Smith believes that showing these "others" in Acts helped to create a clear identity for the apostles. It showed who was in charge and who was not.

She says that reading Acts this way helps us see how texts can sometimes make certain groups seem "other." This can happen even in texts that people consider very important. When a text is seen as perfect, it's easy to think that its descriptions of "others" are how things should be in real life. Dr. Smith encourages readers to use sacred texts like Acts to understand this process of "othering." She wants people to resist treating others in the same way.