Henry Preserved Smith

1847-1927. OT scholar. Born in Troy, Ohio, of Puritan descent, he was educated at Amherst College, Lane Theological Seminary, and the University of Berlin. He taught at Lane from 1874 (apart from a year at Leipzig, 1876- 77), was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and until about 1882 companied with conservatives. But already his mind was changing, for in that year an article on Wellhausen in the Presbyterian Review carried his observation that textual corruption of the Bible implied noninfallibility. It was not, however, until he defended C.A. Briggs* that he too was tried for heresy by the Cincinnati presbytery (1892), suspended from the ministry, denied appeal by the general assembly (1894), and forced to give up his Lane professorship and his home in Cincinnati. Subsequently he taught at Amherst (1898-1907), Meadville (Pennsylvania) Theological School (1907-13), and Union Theological Seminary (1913-25). His books included The Religion of Israel (1914), Essays in Biblical Interpretation (1921), and his autobiographical Heretic's Defense (1926).