On Teaching Religion

For more than thirty years, Jonathan Z. Smith has been perhaps the most important voice of critical reflection within the academic study of religion. His essays are cited constantly, his books used in undergraduate and graduate classes. Smith has also produced a significant corpus of essays and lectures on teaching and on the essential role of academic scholarship on religion in matters of education and public policy. Many of these articles appeared in education journals, which unfortunately most academic scholars do not read; others are collected in specialist volumes of conference proceedings on Judaic Studies, for example. Many were originally delivered as keynote speeches to the AAR and other major scholarly organizations, and although scholars reminisce about hearing Smith deliver them, the works themselves are not readily available. Education is not a side issue for Smith, and his essays continually shed light on fundamental questions. What differentiates college from high