Jonathan Z. Smith, who is the famous historian, and theorist of religion universally respected for his analytic rigor in comparing religions has died. He was 79. Smith, was the author of many books and worked as the editor of “The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion.” He spent his whole career at the University of Chicago. Though trained in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity, he gathered formidable knowledge on such issues as ritual, Hellenistic religions, Māori cults and the mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Not only this but he also was also an eccentric scholar with a mane of unruly white hair, a beard, oversized glasses and an outsized personality. Jonathan Smith raised fundamental questions about the nature of religion and the challenges of comparing it across different cultures.

“He insisted on considering all religious phenomena in their social, historical and cultural context, whereas his predecessors tended to treat them as a-temporal expressions of eternal truths,” stated Bruce Lincoln, professor emeritus of the history of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Jonathan Smith gained his bachelor’s degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and went on to earn his doctorate from Yale’s department of religion. He was also a beloved professor, known for challenging and entertaining students. He served as dean at the University of Chicago from 1977 to 1982.