Huston Cummings Smith was a religious studies scholar in the United States.
His book The World’s Religions has sold over two million copies and remains a popular introduction to comparative religion. He was a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion at Syracuse University.
Smith studied at Central Methodist University and the University of Chicago. He taught at the University of Denver, then at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for the next ten years. He was appointed Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at MIT for 15 years. He then moved to Syracuse University, where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and current emeritus status. At University of California, Berkeley he was visiting professor of religious studies.
For his life long commitment to bringing the world’s religions together to promote understanding, social justice and peace, Smith received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts. Smith was named to be one of the first recipients of the Order of Universal Interfaith and Universal Order of Sannyasa’s “Interfaith-Interspiritual Sage Award” in January 2010.
