John  Howard  Smith,  Ph.D.

Department of History

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Ferguson Social Sciences Building 117

903.886.5219

john_smith@tamu-commerce.edu

 

Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Jefferson (1800)
The White House, Washington, D.C.

 

“History by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.”

            --Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1781), Query 14
 
 
“Nothing so inoculates a person against reality than the hold of ideology.”
 
            --Hannah Arendt

 

“[God's] power we allow [is] infinite: Whatever he wills is executed: But neither man nor any other animal are happy: Therefore he does not will their happiness.  His wisdom is infinite: He is never mistaken in choosing the means to any end: But the course of nature tends not to human or animal felicity: Therefore it is not established for that purpose.  Through the whole compass of human knowledge, there are no inferences more certain and infallible than these.  In what respect, then, do his benevolence and mercy resemble the mercy and benevolence of men?”

            --David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779)

 

 
 
Research and Pedagogical Interests:
    My primary work is in the field of colonial and revolutionary American intellectual and social history, specializing in the interrelationships between religion, politics, and society.  My secondary interest is in the history and sociology of religion and theology, mainly of Christianity, and particularly the phenomenon of millenarianism and apocalypticism.  In addition to my regular teaching duties, I also teach courses in the history and cultures of the North American Indians, and the history of African-American slavery.
 
 

 

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