Mitzi J. Smith facts for kids

Mitzi J. Smith is an American biblical scholar who is J. Davison Philips Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. She is the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in New Testament from Harvard. She has written extensively in the field of womanist biblical hermeneutics, particularly on the intersection between race, gender, class, and biblical studies. She considers her work a form of social justice activism that brings attention to unequal treatment of marginalized groups.

Early life and education

Smith grew up in the west side of Columbus, Ohio. She was born to Flora Carson Smith and Fred Smith, Sr. Smith earned a master's degree in Divinity at Howard University School of Divinity with an emphasis on Biblical Studies; a Masters in Black Studies from Ohio State University, and a BA in Theology from Columbia Union College. She was awarded her PhD in 2006. Her supervisor was François Bovon.

Career

Smith has been preaching in the Christian ministry since 1982, and she is an ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2006, Smith was appointed as assistant professor of New Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary's Detroit Center, where she was promoted to Associate Professor and finally to tenured full Professor. Smith has cited those who have influenced her scholarship at Harvard, including Francois Bovon, Allen Callahan, Cain Hope Felder, Katie Cannon, emilie townes, Clarice Martin, and Renita Weems.

Works

The Literary Construction of the Other in the Acts of the Apostles: Charismatics, the Jews, and Women

In The Literary Construction of the Other in the Acts of the Apostles, Mitzi Smith argues the author of the book of Acts constructs charismatics, the Jews, and women as "other" to the male apostles of the early Jesus movement. In turn, the "othering" of these marginalized groups constructs the self-identity and authority of the male apostles. This process of identity construction maintained the early church's hierarchal relationship above charismatics and Jews and validated the patriarchal system within the early Christian community.

According to Smith, Acts consistently props up the apostles by characterizing them as "filled with the Spirit" and possessing unique authority. Charismatics and Jews are described as lacking these qualities which suggests Acts makes charismatics and Jews "external others" and portrays the church as superior. For Smith, "external others" are those in Acts who are close in "religious and functional proximity" to the apostles but are portrayed as the antagonistic characters of that relationship. Women in the early Jesus movement were either not described as "filled with the Spirit," or their roles within the community were minimized by how Acts portrays them as subordinate to Peter and Paul. These contrasts suggest women in Acts function as "internal others" which maintains the patriarchal hierarchy within the early Jesus movement itself. According to Smith, "internal others" in Acts are those who are members of the early Christian community but are "in some way marginalized." Ultimately, the purpose of the external and internal others in Acts is to form the "self-identity for the apostles and other approved intermediaries" through contrast.

For Smith, re-reading Acts in this way helps challenge the tendency of being blind to the polemical and political "othering" in texts that are considered sacred and infallible. When a text achieves such a status, it becomes easy for its readers to perceive its treatment and description of "others" as "paradigmatic models for and prescriptive for social practice." Smith encourages her readers to use sacred texts, like Acts, as a way to become conscious of the "othering" process and to resist the temptation to do the same.