Luther E. Smith, Jr.

Dr. Luther E. Smith Jr.’s current research focuses on the writings and correspondence of Howard Thurman, advocacy on behalf of children, and a spirituality of hope. Smith is an ordained elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. He retired from Candler in 2014.

In 2009, Smith received the Phillips School of Theology “Bishops Thomas Hoyt and Paul Stewart Institutional Ministry Award for Outstanding Service to the Ministry of Academics.” In 2010, he was the recipient of Emory University’s “2010 Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award,” which is given “in recognition of the important role of classroom teaching in classroom teaching in collegiate and graduate education.”

Author, Hope is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community, Westminster John Knox, 2023

Contributor, “Howard Thurman (1899-1981): Jesus and the Disinherited,” in Christian Spirituality: The Classics, Routledge, 2010

Contributor, “When Celebrating Children is not Enough,” in Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World, Chalice Press, 2008

Editor and Author of Introduction, Howard Thurman: Essential Writings, Orbis Books, 2006

Contributor, “To Be Untrammelled and Free: The Urban Ministry Work of the C.M.E. Church, 1944-1990),” in Churches, Cities, and Human Community: Urban Ministry in the United States, Eerdmans, 1996

Author, Intimacy and Mission: Intentional Community as Crucible for Radical Discipleship, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1994

Author, Pan-Methodist Social Witness Resource Book, African Methodist Episcopal Church Publishing House, 1991

Author, Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet, Orbis Books, 1981

Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, Emory University, given in recognition of the important role of classroom teaching in classroom teaching in collegiate and graduate education

Big Voice for Georgia’s Children Award, Voices for Georgia’s Children, Inc.

Phillips School of Theology (at the Interdenominational Theological Center) Bishops Thomas Hoyt and Paul Stewart Institutional Ministry Award for Outstanding Service to the Ministry of Academics

“On Eagle’s Wings” Award for Excellence in Teaching, Candler School of Theology

Distinguished Volunteer Award, Prevent Child Abuse Georgia

“On Eagle’s Wings” Award for Excellence in Teaching, Candler School of Theology

Breveted rank of Captain, Capt. Charlton Hunt Tandy’s St. Louis Guard

Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars, Morehouse College

Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society

Distinguished Preacher for the Interdenominational Theological Center’s Distinguished Preachers Series

International Society of Theta Phi, an honor society for theological students, scholars in the field of religion, and outstanding religious leaders

Distinguished Service Award, Mid St. Louis County Jaycees

Distinguished Service Award, St. Louis Jaycees