Phone: (408) 554-4044
Room number: 303
Courses taught:
TESP 5 Catholic Theology: Foundations
TESP 38 Contemporary Catholic Theology
TESP 39 Catholic Theology: Christology
Francis R. Smith, S.J.
Associate Professor
Fr. Smith is a San Francisco native. As an undergraduate at Santa Clara University in the 1950s, Smith earned a B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in History (1956), and followed with an M.A. in Philosophy from Gonzaga University ten years later. By then a member of the Jesuit community, Smith next went to the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where he was awarded the S.T.M. from the Jesuit School of Theology (1972), and from there to Rome, where he received an S.T.D. in Fundamental Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1977.
Fr. Smith began to teach at Santa Clara University in 1974. His interests include Christology, ecclesiology, and liberation theology, and he offers a range of courses on these subjects at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Courses
Courses taught at Santa Clara University
TESP 5 Catholic Theology: Foundations
TESP 38 Contemporary Catholic Theology
TESP 39 Catholic Theology: Christology
PMIN 201 Experience of God
PMIN 203 The Mystery of Jesus Christ
PMIN 204 The Church
Academic Appointments
* Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University
1988-present
* Instructor, St. Mark's College, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
1994, 1996, 1998
* Instructor, St. John Vianney Regional Seminary, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
1991, 1993
* Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University
1983-1987
* Adjunct Lecturer, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University
1977-1982
* Acting Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University
1974-1977
* Instructer, School of Applied Theology, Berkeley, CA
1970
Research
Research Interests
* Fundamental theology
* Christology
* Systematic theology
* Liberation theology
Publications
Books
The World is Charged: The Transcendent With Us. New York: Crossroads/Herder and Herder, 2004.
The God Question: A Catholic Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988.
Chapters in Books
"The Roman Reaction to Liberation Theology: A Survey of the Recent Magisterium." In Liberation Theology and Socio-Political Transformation, a Reader: Theory and Praxis (ed. J. C. Antezana; Vancouver: Institute for Humanities, Simon Fraser University, 1992).
"The Catholic Church and the Poor." In Poverty and Social Justice (ed. Francisco Jiménez; Bilingual Press of Arizona State University, 1987).
Presentations
"Liberation Theology." Latin American Speaker Series 1991-1992 of The Latin American Studies Association of SJSU and The World Forum of Silicon Valley, San José State University, San José, CA, September 1991.
"The Origin of Jesuit Education in the Spiritual Experience of Ignatius of Loyola." Keynote Address at the Fourth Annual Institute on Jesuit Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, March 1990.
Activities
Professional Memberships
* American Academy of Religion
* Catholic Theological Society of America
Activities
Trustee, Santa Clara University, 1977-1982, 1988-present.
Trustee, Bellarmine College Preparatory, 1977-1982, 1987-1997; Chair 1992-1997.
Board of Athletic Governance, Santa Clara University.
Member, Search Committee, Vice President for University Relations, Santa Clara University, 1993.
Investment Manager, Santa Clara Mission Cemetery Endowment, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, 1977-1982, 1988-present.
