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Rev. Dr. Christopher R. Smith

The Rev. Dr. Christopher Smith is Pastor of the University Baptist Church of East Lansing, Michigan (American Baptist). He has a Ph.D. in theological studies from Boston College and Andover Newton Theological School, an M.A.T.S. in church history from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard University. His articles have appeared in such publications as The Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, and Vigilae Christianae. Chris and his wife, Priscilla, reside in East Lansing, Michigan.

His new book The Beauty Behind the Mask (to be released August 2007) explains how traditional elements have been introduced to the biblical text that make it more difficult to understand—such as chapters, verses, book divisions and a fixed book order.  It describes how The Books of The Bible has been formatted to help readers overcome these influences.

A contributing editor of The Books of The Bible, Chris served for four years on the Bible Design Group. His primary contribution to the project was identifying the larger literary outlines of biblical books and drafting the book and section introductions.

Influenced by a father who was a pastor and a mother who was literature professor, Chris developed an early interest in understanding the Bible as a collection of literary works. While attending Harvard University, several of his classes looked at literary forms and discussed the concept of a “shaping principle” of a work of literature. The idea was to try to discern what overall goal had determined what kind of work the author had chosen to write, and what its structure, characterization, plot, and themes would be. Chris took this same approach to understanding the biblical books.

While teaching a summer course at Regent College entitled “The Bible Without Chapters and Verses: Exploring Scripture's Inherent Designs,” Chris gave a public lecture. Someone in the audience asked if he thought anyone would ever produce a Bible along the lines he was proposing, and at the time that seemed like a remote possibility.  But eight years later, Chris is partnering with IBS to launch The Books of The Bible.