Ninian Smart
Encyclopedia
Professor Roderick Ninian Smart (May 6, 1927 – January 9, 2001) was a Scottish
writer and university educator. He was a pioneer in the field of secular religious studies
. In 1967 he established the first department of Religious Studies in the United Kingdom at the new University of Lancaster where he was also Pro-Vice Chancellor, having already chaired one of the largest and most prestigious departments of Theology in Britain at the University of Birmingham
. In 1976, he became the first J.F. Rowny Professor in the Comparative Study of Religions at University of California at Santa Barbara, U.S.
Smart presented the Gifford Lectures
in 1979-80. In 1996, he was named the Academic Senate’s Research Professor, the highest professorial rank at Santa Barbara. In 2000, he was elected President of the American Academy of Religion
, while simultaneously retaining his status as President of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace. Smart held both titles at the time of his death.
Smart became widely known outside the academy, at least in Britain, when he was editorial consultant for the major BBC
television series, The Long Search (1977) while his The World’s Religions (1989) also reached a popular readership. His defense of religious studies as a secular discipline helped the formation of departments in many public universities, especially in the United States. He distanced religious studies from traditional theology
in that evaluating truth claims and apology have no role but regarded investigation into the "truth and worth" of religion
per se as a valid academic enterprise in the public arena of state funded education.
, where his father, William Marshall Smart
(1889–1975) was the John Couch Adams Astronomer
in the University of Cambridge
. His mother was Isabel (née Carswell). W. M Smart, who died in 1975, also served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society
(1950).
Both parents were Scottish. They moved to Glasgow in 1937, when W. M. Smart became Regius Professor of Astronomy
(retiring in 1959).
Ninian was one of three brothers, all of whom became professors: Jack
(born 1920) became a professor of philosophy; Alastair (1922–1992) was Professor of Art History at Nottingham University. Ninian Smart attended the Glasgow Academy before joining the military in 1945, serving until 1948, in the British Army Intelligence Corps where he learned Chinese
(via Confucian texts) mainly at the London School of Oriental and African Studies and had his first extended contact with Sri Lanka
n Buddhism
. It was this experience that roused him from what he called his "Western slumber with the call of diverse and noble cultures." Leaving the army – as a Captain – with a scholarship to Queen’s College, University of Oxford
, he reverted to his Glasgow major, Classics and Philosophy, mainly because Chinese and Oriental studies in those days had "pathetic curricula." However, for his B.Phil. work he returned to world religions, writing what he later described as "the first dissertation in Oxford on philosophy of religion after World War II."
from 1952 until 1955, he spent a year as a visiting lecturer at Yale University
, where he also studied Sanskrit
and Pali
, the language of the Buddhist scriptures. In 1956, he was appointed Lecturer in the University of London
, then in 1961 at the very young age of 34 – extraordinarily young for a full chair in the British system – he became the first H.G. Wood Professor of Theology at the Birmingham
– one of the largest departments of theology, where he also served as head of department. By now author of several publications, including Reasons and Faiths (1958), based on his B.Phil work and World Religions: A Dialogue (1960), Smart was a rising star in the newly developing field of Religious Studies, rather than in Theology, despite the name of the chair he occupied. Already known internationally, he received several offers to take up positions in North America, including as Chair of the Columbia and Pennsylvania Departments, and an invitation to apply for a chair at Oxford. However, he was already involved in a consultative capacity in forming the first major department of Religious Studies at the new Lancaster
, and found himself "cajoled from being adviser to being candidate" for the Chair.
Despite the attraction of prestigious posts elsewhere, he chose Lancaster because it represented a "tabula rasa
, a new field" where he could practice his ideas. He took up appointment in 1967, as Foundation Professor of Religious Studies. His tenure at Birmingham had also done much to shift the department from an exclusive focus on Christianity
to encompass world religions. His successor at Birmingham, John Hick
, would emerge as the most well-known exponent of a pluralist theology of religions. Between 1969 and 1972, he was also Pro-Vice Chancellor at Lancaster. In 1977, Smart started to divide his time between Lancaster and another new venture, the Religious studies department at the University of California, Santa Barbara
(1976–98) where he became the first J.F. Rowny Professor in the Comparative Study of Religions at Santa Barbara, from 1988 (he was a professor from 1976). As at Birmingham and Lancaster, he was again also department chair. He spent six months each year at both campuses. In 1996, he was named Research Professor at Santa Barbara, the highest academic honor. Toward the end of his career, he was elected President of the American Academy of Religion. Proud of his Scottish identity, he often wore his kilt on campus at Santa Barbara, where he was renowned for riding his bicycle very slowly, for "his bow ties and the ever-present flower in his lapel, and most of all the twinkle in his eye."
, Wisconsin
, Princeton
, Queensland
, and the respected Religious Studies department at Lampeter
, in Hong Kong
and elsewhere. Lectures delivered in Delhi were published as The Yogi and the Devotee (1968). In 1967, he presented the Heslington Lectures at the University of York
, in which he set out his ideas about secular Religious Studies subsequently published as Secular Education and the Logic of Religion (1967), further developing these in his inaugural lecture at Lancaster, published as Concept and Empathy (1986). In 1979-80, he presented the prestigious Gifford Lectures., published as Beyond Ideology (1981).
, founder of the Unification movement
and served as President of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace. In 1999, he was co-convener of the First Assembly of the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace, established by Moon. Smart reiterated his conviction that without improved understanding of the religious and cultural Other, peace in the world would remain elusive. His concept of religions as worldviews, and his value-free approach to religious studies – that is, refraining from elevating a single understanding of "truth" as some sort of evaluative criterion of religious authenticity-opened up for him the study of non-religious ideologies or worldviews (he preferred this term because it does not imply that theism is an essential element) as well as of new religious movements, which he saw as one result of globalization. He also wrote the foreword for the Unification publication, World Scripture, edited by Andrew Wilson, in which he stated that, "it is obvious that as we move toward a world civilization, in which so many cultures and spiritual traditions will impinge on one another, all of us should understand one another." Smart was also a member of the International Board of the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, an educational, non-profit NGO dedicated to increasing global ethical responsibility.
(1999). He was made a Life Member of the International Association for the History of Religion (1995).
In 1994, the volume Aspects of Religion, edited by Peter Masefield and Donald Wiebe, was published in his honor.
, where he died in 2001 from a massive stroke, aged 73.
. At the time, it was only just beginning to earn academic recognition and Smart was a pivotal figure in this process and, as Cunningham comments, "it is difficult not to recall that the emergence of Religious Studies as a higher education subject was then controversial."
Smart’s early work involved linguistic analysis, in which he had trained at Oxford. Later, he said that this came close to "cross-cultural study" but had stopped short, since he was still too captive to "our language" and "various assumptions of our culture." However, when he came to publish this he included later conceptual ideas, expanding his dissertation. Interested in Rudolf Otto
’s concept of the Holy as a key to understanding religion, he found this too restrictive, since Buddhism is non-theistic. Instead, he suggested that religious experience can be either numinous or mystical. He was also influenced by R.C. Zaehner’s interest in mysticism, having consulted him at Oxford. He then examined what he took as key religious concepts, such as revelation, faith, conversion and knowledge and analyzed what these meant in Christianity
, Hinduism
, and Buddhism without evaluating any belief in terms of truth or falsity. He was consciously attempting to break out of captivity to Western modes of thought so that for example theism is not taken as an essential component of religion, thus such ideas as theophany or a single ultimate focus or sacrifice do not necessarily translate from the Christian into other religious contexts. "She who knows but one religion knows none," said Smart. Western concern for doctrine overlooked the importance of religious experience. Early in his career, he insisted that an ideology such as Marxism as well as nationalism and rationalism could be considered religious, because they resemble religious traditions in how they function, and therefore properly belong to Religious Studies, the subject matter of which was "non-finite."
He situated Religious Studies in contrast to theology as agnostic on the truth of religious claims but he was critical of Peter Berger
for "assuming the non-existence of God." Religious Studies is, however, interested in why people believe that their religious statements or experience is true, thus description, although vital, must "transcend the informative" and engage in dialogue with "the para-historical claims of religions and anti-religious outlooks." It need not be hostile to the type of committed approach pursued in theology "provided it is open, and does not artificially restrict understanding and choice." It is not concerned with evangelizing but with elucidating understanding, or meaning. Religious Studies, too, has a vital role to play in combating tribalism, that is, human captivity to its own cultures. Religious Studies as a non-confessional, methodologically agnostic discipline takes its place in the secular academy, where it draw heavily on anthropology
, sociology
, psychology
, history
, archeology, and other disciplines. At bottom, it has a place in the public or state sector because, as an aspect of human experience, it is also the study of people – of what they believe, why they believe and act as they do, both individually and within society. It is a constantly changing field because religions change as religious people adapt to new circumstances. Religious Studies is never exclusively interested in what might be termed orthodoxy—however a religion itself might enforce or police conformity to an official version – but with religion as it is lived, with "religion on the ground," a term he first used in 1978. Responses to modernity, to globalization, as well as trends towards religious eclecticism, properly concern Religious Studies. Smart did not anticipate a single, eclectic religion emerging but that religions would increasingly borrow from one another and that a global consensus on the value of religion in society would evolve. In interview with Scott London, he said:
Smart’s sevenfold scheme of study:
Note: Smart categorized 1-3 as para-historical and 4-6 as historical.
Lubushka was originally from Lake Como, Italy
, where Smart regularly spent his summer vacations at his family home. Ninian and Lubushka were the first from the Western academy to have their marriage blessed by Sun Myung Moon and Mrs. Moon in August 1992.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
writer and university educator. He was a pioneer in the field of secular religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
. In 1967 he established the first department of Religious Studies in the United Kingdom at the new University of Lancaster where he was also Pro-Vice Chancellor, having already chaired one of the largest and most prestigious departments of Theology in Britain at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
. In 1976, he became the first J.F. Rowny Professor in the Comparative Study of Religions at University of California at Santa Barbara, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Smart presented the Gifford Lectures
Gifford Lectures
The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...
in 1979-80. In 1996, he was named the Academic Senate’s Research Professor, the highest professorial rank at Santa Barbara. In 2000, he was elected President of the American Academy of Religion
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,...
, while simultaneously retaining his status as President of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace. Smart held both titles at the time of his death.
Smart became widely known outside the academy, at least in Britain, when he was editorial consultant for the major BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series, The Long Search (1977) while his The World’s Religions (1989) also reached a popular readership. His defense of religious studies as a secular discipline helped the formation of departments in many public universities, especially in the United States. He distanced religious studies from traditional theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in that evaluating truth claims and apology have no role but regarded investigation into the "truth and worth" of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
per se as a valid academic enterprise in the public arena of state funded education.
Early life
Ninian Smart was born in Cambridge, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where his father, William Marshall Smart
William Marshall Smart
William Marshall Smart was a Scottish astronomer.He was born in Doune to Peter Fernie Smart and Isabella Marshall Harrower. He was educated at the McLaren High School, in Callander, and graduated MA fom Glasgow University in 1910 in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy...
(1889–1975) was the John Couch Adams Astronomer
John Couch Adams
John Couch Adams was a British mathematician and astronomer. Adams was born in Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, and died in Cambridge. The Cornish name Couch is pronounced "cooch"....
in the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. His mother was Isabel (née Carswell). W. M Smart, who died in 1975, also served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
(1950).
Both parents were Scottish. They moved to Glasgow in 1937, when W. M. Smart became Regius Professor of Astronomy
Regius Professor of Astronomy, Glasgow
The Regius Chair of Astronomy is a Regius Professorship in the University of Glasgow.Founded in 1760 with the title Practical Astronomy the title was changed in 1893.-History:...
(retiring in 1959).
Ninian was one of three brothers, all of whom became professors: Jack
J. J. C. Smart
John Jamieson Carswell "Jack" Smart AC is an Australian philosopher and academic who is currently Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Monash University, Australia...
(born 1920) became a professor of philosophy; Alastair (1922–1992) was Professor of Art History at Nottingham University. Ninian Smart attended the Glasgow Academy before joining the military in 1945, serving until 1948, in the British Army Intelligence Corps where he learned Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
(via Confucian texts) mainly at the London School of Oriental and African Studies and had his first extended contact with Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. It was this experience that roused him from what he called his "Western slumber with the call of diverse and noble cultures." Leaving the army – as a Captain – with a scholarship to Queen’s College, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, he reverted to his Glasgow major, Classics and Philosophy, mainly because Chinese and Oriental studies in those days had "pathetic curricula." However, for his B.Phil. work he returned to world religions, writing what he later described as "the first dissertation in Oxford on philosophy of religion after World War II."
Career
After teaching in the University of WalesUniversity of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
from 1952 until 1955, he spent a year as a visiting lecturer at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he also studied Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
, the language of the Buddhist scriptures. In 1956, he was appointed Lecturer in the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, then in 1961 at the very young age of 34 – extraordinarily young for a full chair in the British system – he became the first H.G. Wood Professor of Theology at the Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
– one of the largest departments of theology, where he also served as head of department. By now author of several publications, including Reasons and Faiths (1958), based on his B.Phil work and World Religions: A Dialogue (1960), Smart was a rising star in the newly developing field of Religious Studies, rather than in Theology, despite the name of the chair he occupied. Already known internationally, he received several offers to take up positions in North America, including as Chair of the Columbia and Pennsylvania Departments, and an invitation to apply for a chair at Oxford. However, he was already involved in a consultative capacity in forming the first major department of Religious Studies at the new Lancaster
Lancaster University
Lancaster University, officially The University of Lancaster, is a leading research-intensive British university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established by Royal Charter in 1964 and initially based in St Leonard's Gate until moving to a purpose-built 300 acre campus at...
, and found himself "cajoled from being adviser to being candidate" for the Chair.
Despite the attraction of prestigious posts elsewhere, he chose Lancaster because it represented a "tabula rasa
Tabula rasa
Tabula rasa is the epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. Generally proponents of the tabula rasa thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects...
, a new field" where he could practice his ideas. He took up appointment in 1967, as Foundation Professor of Religious Studies. His tenure at Birmingham had also done much to shift the department from an exclusive focus on Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
to encompass world religions. His successor at Birmingham, John Hick
John Hick
Professor John Harwood Hick is a philosopher of religion and theologian. In philosophical theology, he has made contributions in the areas of theodicy, eschatology, and Christology, and in the philosophy of religion he has contributed to the areas of epistemology of religion and religious...
, would emerge as the most well-known exponent of a pluralist theology of religions. Between 1969 and 1972, he was also Pro-Vice Chancellor at Lancaster. In 1977, Smart started to divide his time between Lancaster and another new venture, the Religious studies department at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
(1976–98) where he became the first J.F. Rowny Professor in the Comparative Study of Religions at Santa Barbara, from 1988 (he was a professor from 1976). As at Birmingham and Lancaster, he was again also department chair. He spent six months each year at both campuses. In 1996, he was named Research Professor at Santa Barbara, the highest academic honor. Toward the end of his career, he was elected President of the American Academy of Religion. Proud of his Scottish identity, he often wore his kilt on campus at Santa Barbara, where he was renowned for riding his bicycle very slowly, for "his bow ties and the ever-present flower in his lapel, and most of all the twinkle in his eye."
Visiting professorships and lectures
He was also visiting professor at Varanasi in India, YaleYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, and the respected Religious Studies department at Lampeter
University of Wales, Lampeter
University of Wales, Lampeter is a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822 by royal charter, it is the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales and may be the third oldest in England and Wales after Oxford and Cambridge...
, in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and elsewhere. Lectures delivered in Delhi were published as The Yogi and the Devotee (1968). In 1967, he presented the Heslington Lectures at the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
, in which he set out his ideas about secular Religious Studies subsequently published as Secular Education and the Logic of Religion (1967), further developing these in his inaugural lecture at Lancaster, published as Concept and Empathy (1986). In 1979-80, he presented the prestigious Gifford Lectures., published as Beyond Ideology (1981).
Activism
In addition to teaching, research, and writing, Smart was something of an activist in promoting improved cross-cultural understanding. In the 1970s, he was involved in several initiatives in Britain to broaden the public religious education curriculum, previously purely Christian, to include the range of world religions. He also served on the National Schools Council advising on broadening the religious education curriculum. The teaching of religion in the state school system in the United Kingdom, which is mandatory, distinguishes teaching about religion from faith-nurture, which is not properly part of the task. Smart was involved in the Assembly of the World's Religions series of meetings (1985, 1990, 1992) sponsored by Sun Myung MoonSun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
, founder of the Unification movement
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
and served as President of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace. In 1999, he was co-convener of the First Assembly of the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace, established by Moon. Smart reiterated his conviction that without improved understanding of the religious and cultural Other, peace in the world would remain elusive. His concept of religions as worldviews, and his value-free approach to religious studies – that is, refraining from elevating a single understanding of "truth" as some sort of evaluative criterion of religious authenticity-opened up for him the study of non-religious ideologies or worldviews (he preferred this term because it does not imply that theism is an essential element) as well as of new religious movements, which he saw as one result of globalization. He also wrote the foreword for the Unification publication, World Scripture, edited by Andrew Wilson, in which he stated that, "it is obvious that as we move toward a world civilization, in which so many cultures and spiritual traditions will impinge on one another, all of us should understand one another." Smart was also a member of the International Board of the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, an educational, non-profit NGO dedicated to increasing global ethical responsibility.
Academic honors
Smart received honorary doctorates from Loyola (1970), Glasgow (1984), Stirling (1986) University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (1991), Lancaster (1995) and an Honorary Fellowship from the Queen's College, OxfordThe Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
(1999). He was made a Life Member of the International Association for the History of Religion (1995).
In 1994, the volume Aspects of Religion, edited by Peter Masefield and Donald Wiebe, was published in his honor.
Retirement and death
Smart officially retired from Lancaster in 1982 (he was Honorary Professor from 1982 to 1989, then Professor Emeritus) and from Santa Barbara in 1998, but remained active as a professor emeritus in both universities, living mainly in LancasterLancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
, where he died in 2001 from a massive stroke, aged 73.
Scholarly contribution
Smart is mainly noted for his contribution in the area of methodology, although he saw his contribution as conceptual as well as methodological, commenting that while expertise in languages was not to be dismissed, it should not be "rated above conceptual insight." Secular Religious Studies dates from the mid-1960s, when new departments were established, several in state universities in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At the time, it was only just beginning to earn academic recognition and Smart was a pivotal figure in this process and, as Cunningham comments, "it is difficult not to recall that the emergence of Religious Studies as a higher education subject was then controversial."
Smart’s early work involved linguistic analysis, in which he had trained at Oxford. Later, he said that this came close to "cross-cultural study" but had stopped short, since he was still too captive to "our language" and "various assumptions of our culture." However, when he came to publish this he included later conceptual ideas, expanding his dissertation. Interested in Rudolf Otto
Rudolf Otto
Rudolf Otto was an eminent German Lutheran theologian and scholar of comparative religion.-Life:Born in Peine near Hanover, Otto attended the Gymnasium Andreanum in Hildesheim and studied at the universities of Erlangen and Göttingen, where he wrote his dissertation on Martin Luther's...
’s concept of the Holy as a key to understanding religion, he found this too restrictive, since Buddhism is non-theistic. Instead, he suggested that religious experience can be either numinous or mystical. He was also influenced by R.C. Zaehner’s interest in mysticism, having consulted him at Oxford. He then examined what he took as key religious concepts, such as revelation, faith, conversion and knowledge and analyzed what these meant in Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, and Buddhism without evaluating any belief in terms of truth or falsity. He was consciously attempting to break out of captivity to Western modes of thought so that for example theism is not taken as an essential component of religion, thus such ideas as theophany or a single ultimate focus or sacrifice do not necessarily translate from the Christian into other religious contexts. "She who knows but one religion knows none," said Smart. Western concern for doctrine overlooked the importance of religious experience. Early in his career, he insisted that an ideology such as Marxism as well as nationalism and rationalism could be considered religious, because they resemble religious traditions in how they function, and therefore properly belong to Religious Studies, the subject matter of which was "non-finite."
He situated Religious Studies in contrast to theology as agnostic on the truth of religious claims but he was critical of Peter Berger
Peter L. Berger
Peter Ludwig Berger is an Austrian-born American sociologist well known for his work, co-authored with Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge .-Biography:...
for "assuming the non-existence of God." Religious Studies is, however, interested in why people believe that their religious statements or experience is true, thus description, although vital, must "transcend the informative" and engage in dialogue with "the para-historical claims of religions and anti-religious outlooks." It need not be hostile to the type of committed approach pursued in theology "provided it is open, and does not artificially restrict understanding and choice." It is not concerned with evangelizing but with elucidating understanding, or meaning. Religious Studies, too, has a vital role to play in combating tribalism, that is, human captivity to its own cultures. Religious Studies as a non-confessional, methodologically agnostic discipline takes its place in the secular academy, where it draw heavily on anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, archeology, and other disciplines. At bottom, it has a place in the public or state sector because, as an aspect of human experience, it is also the study of people – of what they believe, why they believe and act as they do, both individually and within society. It is a constantly changing field because religions change as religious people adapt to new circumstances. Religious Studies is never exclusively interested in what might be termed orthodoxy—however a religion itself might enforce or police conformity to an official version – but with religion as it is lived, with "religion on the ground," a term he first used in 1978. Responses to modernity, to globalization, as well as trends towards religious eclecticism, properly concern Religious Studies. Smart did not anticipate a single, eclectic religion emerging but that religions would increasingly borrow from one another and that a global consensus on the value of religion in society would evolve. In interview with Scott London, he said:
I … believe we are moving toward a global ideology that has a place for religion and recognizes the contributions of the different traditions. Hopefully, it will have an overarching view as to how we can work together for the promotion of human values and spirituality.
Dimensions of religion
Smart is widely known for his seven-part definition of religion, or rather scheme of study; as this approach avoids the problem of defining altogether. Whatever else religion may or may not be – whether theistic or non-theistic, religions possess certain recognizable elements, which can be studied. These dimensions vary in importance but are almost always present. Smart divided these into "historical" and "para-historical," meaning by the latter those dimensions that take the investigation into the experience, or inner lives, or religious people. The "historical" can be studied empirically, the para-historical takes the student into the realm of belief and concepts and requires dialogue and participation; "since the study of man is in an important sense participatory – for one has to enter into men’s intentions, beliefs, myths, desires, in order to understand why they act as they do – it is fatal if cultures including our own are described merely externally, without entering into dialogue with them."Smart’s sevenfold scheme of study:
- Doctrinal
- Mythological
- Ethical
- Ritual
- Experiential
- Institutional
- Material (added in his 1998 text)
Note: Smart categorized 1-3 as para-historical and 4-6 as historical.
Legacy
Smart’s contribution to Religious Studies continues to influence curricula, syllabi and methodology. In particular, his "dimensions of religion," a framework for comparing religions, has been influential within the academy. His willingness to take seriously what others saw as "illegitimate," such as ideologies and new religious movements, did much to allow Religious Studies to distinguish itself from theology and from any charge of privileging any particular faith or version of a faith. Hecht commented that, "When the definitive history of the study of religion in the 20th century is written..." Ninian Smart "will certainly be seen as a giant among his peers" since Smart's "many books opened religion to scholar and layperson alike." The Ninian Smart Annual Memorial Lecture, created in his honor, alternates between Lancaster and Santa Barbara. At Loyola, he is honored by the Ninian Smart Award for Excellence in Religious Studies. In April 2001, the Santa Barbara Templeton Research Lecture series was dedicated to the memory of Smart, and a commemorative plaque was presented to the Smart family. He had been due to deliver a Templeton lecture himself.Personal life
Smart married Lubushka Baruffaldi in 1954. Their children were Roderick, Luisabelle, and Caroline. Smart had eight grandchildren at the time of his death.Lubushka was originally from Lake Como, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where Smart regularly spent his summer vacations at his family home. Ninian and Lubushka were the first from the Western academy to have their marriage blessed by Sun Myung Moon and Mrs. Moon in August 1992.
Selected writings
- Reasons and Faiths: An Investigation of Religious Discourse, Christian and non-Christian London: Routledge, 1958. ISBN 0-415-22564-7
- World Religions: A Dialogue. Baltimore: Penguin, 1960.
- Secular Education and the Logic of Religion. New York: Humanities Press, 1968.
- Historical Selections In the Philosophy of Religion. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.
- The Yogi and the Devotee. London: Allen & Unwin, 1968.
- The Religious Experience of Mankind. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1969. ISBN 0-02-412141-X
- Philosophy of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-19-520138-8
- Background to the Long Search. London: BBC, 1977. ISBN 9780563127796
- In Search of Christianity. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. ISBN 0-06-067401-6
- The phenomenon of Christianity. Collins, 1979. ISBN 0002151154
- Beyond Ideology: Religion and the Future of Western Civilization (Gifford lectures). Harper & Row, 1981. ISBN 0-06-067402-4
- Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Belief. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1981. ISBN 0-13-020980-5
- Religion and the Western Mind. State University of New York Press, 1987. ISBN 0-88706-383-7
- The World's Religions: Old Traditions and Modern Transformations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-521-63748-1
- Buddhism and Christianity: Rivals and Allies. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8248-1520-3
- Religions of the West. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993. ISBN 0-13-156811-6
- Choosing a Faith. New York : Marion Boyars Publishers, 1995. ISBN 0-7145-2982-6
- Dimensions of the Sacred: An Anatomy of the World's Beliefs. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0-520-21960-0
- World Philosophies. New York: Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0-415-22852-2
- Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs. New York: Scribner, 1999. ISBN 9780684178110
External links
- Scott London, "The Future of Religion: An Interview With Ninian Smart" (April, 1999).
- University of Alabama Bio of Ninian Smart
- Richard Hecht. "In Memoriam" (The University of California at Santa Barbara Obituary of Ninian Smart in 2001).