Jonathan Z. Smith : A Pioneering Thinker in the Study of Religion

Jonathan Z. Smith

Introduction

Jonathan Zittell Smith (1938–2017), widely known as Jonathan Z. Smith, was one of the most influential scholars in the academic study of religion. Born in Brooklyn, he developed an early fascination with ideas, symbolism, and the ways cultures explain the world around them. His education at Haverford College and later at Yale Divinity School shaped his sharp, analytical mind, and by the time he completed his PhD in 1969, he had already begun generating new ways of thinking about religious systems. Smith joined the University of Chicago in 1968 and became one of its seminal intellectual voices, eventually serving as the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor of the Humanities. His teaching style—intense, humorous, and intellectually demanding—became legendary among students. Averse to modern technology, Smith preferred writing by hand or on a typewriter, building essays from his meticulously crafted lectures. He passed away on December 30, 2017, leaving behind an academic legacy that continues to reshape how scholars approach myth, ritual, and the very category of “religion.”

Area of Expertise

Jonathan Z. Smith’s expertise lay in the methodological and theoretical foundations of religious studies, rather than in any single religious tradition. He argued that “religion” is not a universal essence but a scholarly concept constructed for analytical use. This idea shaped much of his work and placed him at the center of debates about the nature of comparative religion.

He examined a remarkable range of topics, from Christian origins and Hellenistic traditions to Māori religious movements and the events surrounding the Jonestown tragedy. His interest was not only in the phenomena themselves but in what these case studies revealed about how scholars compare cultures. Influenced by thinkers like Ernst Cassirer, Émile Durkheim, and Claude Lévi-Strauss, Smith believed comparison required careful justification and intellectual discipline. He championed ideas such as “redescription” and “generalization,” insisting that scholars must reformulate the material they study before drawing comparisons.

Smith also made important contributions to discussions of myth, ritual, classification, and scholarly categories. His view that religions act like “funhouse mirrors”—distorting and reshaping elements of everyday life—became one of his defining metaphors.

Books & Publications

Jonathan Z. Smith’s writings remain central to university courses around the world. His works often began as lectures that evolved into highly polished essays, each offering a precise, thought-provoking perspective on how religion is studied.

His first major book, Map Is Not Territory (1975), challenged assumptions about religious categories by arguing that scholars create conceptual “maps” that never perfectly match the complexity of the cultural “territories” they seek to describe. This theme continued in Imagining Religion (1982), where Smith argued that religion is not an inherent feature of societies but something scholars construct as part of their analytical framework.

In To Take Place (1987), he focused on ritual and the importance of space, showing how religious communities assign meaning to particular places. Drudgery Divine (1990) sharply critiqued attempts to compare early Christianity with pagan religions using outdated or biased assumptions. His later collection, Relating Religion (2004), brought together some of his most influential essays, while On Teaching Religion (2012) reflected his lifelong dedication to undergraduate education.

Smith also served as editor-in-chief of The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion (1995), a monumental reference work. After his death, Reading J. Z. Smith (2018) gathered important interviews and essays that highlighted his intellectual evolution.

Research & Contributions

Jonathan Z. Smith transformed the study of religion by insisting that scholarship must be self-aware, precise, and theoretically grounded. He rejected simplistic comparisons between cultures and instead urged scholars to critically examine their own assumptions before drawing parallels. His critique of James Frazer’s The Golden Bough became a landmark example of how comparisons could go wrong if not rigorously framed.

Smith’s work on ritual questioned traditional explanations that relied solely on symbolism or function. Instead, he explored how rituals create meaning through their spatial and performative dimensions. His interest in locality versus utopia revealed how religions construct both deeply rooted sacred spaces and idealized, universal visions.

He also brought clarity to discussions of myth, arguing that myths do not reveal timeless truths but serve as cultural tools for organizing experience. His analyses of Jonestown, Māori movements, and ancient Mediterranean religions illustrated how contemporary and historical events alike can illuminate broader theoretical issues.

Beyond research, Smith was one of the most celebrated teachers at the University of Chicago. His lectures—dense with insight, humor, and precision—became the foundation for many of his published works, and his influence as a mentor shaped countless careers across religious studies, anthropology, and comparative mythology.

Awards & Recognitions

Throughout his career, Jonathan Z. Smith received numerous honors that reflected his standing as a leading intellectual figure. He was awarded the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1986, one of the most prestigious teaching awards at the University of Chicago. In 2000, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, acknowledging his far-reaching contributions to the humanities. The International Association for the History of Religions named him an honorary lifetime member in 2013, recognizing his methodological impact on the field. He also served as president of both the Society of Biblical Literature and the North American Association for the Study of Religion. Yale University honored him with the Wilbur Cross Medal in 2015, emphasizing the depth of his contributions to scholarship. Today, the Jonathan Z. Smith Award for Original Research in Religious Studies continues to celebrate his legacy.

Social Media Profiles

Jonathan Z. Smith belonged to a generation of scholars who preferred traditional academic engagement to digital communication. True to his nature, he avoided computers, email, and mobile phones, focusing instead on direct interaction, lectures, and handwritten work. As a result, he left no personal social media presence. However, his ideas continue to circulate widely across academic blogs, Twitter/X threads by scholars, digital libraries, and university archives. Even without participating in online platforms, his work remains deeply embedded in today’s digital academic conversations.

Sources

University of Chicago News. (2018, January 5). Jonathan Z. Smith, celebrated historian of religion, 1938-2017. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/jonathan-z-smith-celebrated-historian-religion-1938-2017​

Wikipedia contributors. (2024). Jonathan Z. Smith. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Z._Smith​

University of Chicago Press. (n.d.). Relating religion: Essays in the study of religion. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo3629013.html​

American Academy of Religion. (2018). In memoriam: Jonathan Z. Smith (1938–2017). https://aarweb.org/news/in-memoriam-jonathan-z-smith-1938-2017/​

University of Chicago Press. (n.d.). Jonathan Z. Smith. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/S/J/au5470724.html​

Chicago Maroon. (2008, June 1). Full J. Z. Smith interview. https://chicagomaroon.com/12580/grey-city/full-j-z-smith-interview/​

University of Chicago Divinity School. (2025, June 12). 2024-2025 academic year awards and prizes. https://divinity.uchicago.edu/news/2024-2025-academic-year-awards-and-prizes​

Grimes, R. L. (1999). Jonathan Z. Smith’s theory of ritual space. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048721X98901622​