H. Shelton Smith

Hilrie Shelton Smith (1893–1987) was a scholar of Christianity and professor at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He received his graduate training at Yale University and went on to serve as Associate Professor of Religious Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and Associate Professor of Religious Education at Yale University. Three years later, he was named Professor of Religious Education at Duke Divinity School, where he served from 1931 to 1963. In 1953 he was named James B. Duke Professor at Duke Divinity School. Smith was known as a critic of liberal Christian trends that engaged in "a little deification of humanity." He was also known for his advocacy for civil rights for African-Americans.

Publications His published books include

Smith, H. Shelton. (1941). Faith and Nurture. New York: Charles Scribner%27s Sons. Smith, H. Shelton. (1955). Changing conceptions of original sin: A study in American theology since 1750. New York: Charles Scribner%27s Sons. Smith, H. Shelton, Handy, Robert L., & Loetscher, Lefferts A. (Eds.). (1960–63). American Christianity (Vols. 1-6). New York: Charles Charles Scribner%27s Sons. Smith, H. Shelton. (1965). Horace Bushnell. New York: Oxford University Press. Smith, H. Shelton. (1972). In His image, but...racism in southern religion, 1780–1910. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Books and articles about H. Shelton Smith include

Cully, Kendig Brubaker. (1959). Two decades of thinking concerning Christian nurture. Religious Education, 54, 481-489. Henry, Stuart C. (1963). A miscellany of American Christianity: Essays in honor of H. Shelton Smith. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. Kinoshita, Carol Krichi. (1965). Two theologies of evangelism and nurture: A study of the function of the church in the thought of Horace Bushnell and H. Shelton Smith. Unpublished master's thesis, Golden Gate Baptist Theological School. Steward, David S. (1968). Patterns of conversion: An interpretation of the recent work of Christian education theorists. Religious Education, 63, 259-269. Miller, Randolph Crump. (1982). Religious education and theology. Birmingham, Ala.: Religious Education Press. Thistlethwaite, Susan Brooks. (1982). H. Shelton Smith: Critic of the theological perspective of progressive religious education, 1934–1950. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Duke Divinity School. Zikmund, Barbara Brown. (1990). H. Shelton Smith: Contagious Christian. Christian Century, 107F7-14, 151-152.