“S” is for Smyth, Thomas (1808-1873)

“S” is for Smyth, Thomas (1808-1873). Clergyman, author. Born in Ireland, Smyth immigrated with his parents to the United States. At Princeton Theological Seminary, he came under the influence of conservative Presbyterian theologians. In 1831 Smyth was called to the be the supply pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston. Three years later he was called to be the congregation’s duly installed pastor, a position he held until 1870. Smyth moved in a circle of conservative Presbyterian scholars whose theological and social perspectives were deeply influenced by Protestant Scholasticism. He was a compulsive writer, and the ten volumes of his Collected Works showed him to be a person of wide interests. Thomas Smyth’s most important book was The Unity of the Human Races, in which he defended the full humanity of Africans and the sophistication of their past civilizations.