Kenny Paul Smith
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Senior Instructor of Religious Studies 122 Coates Hall 225-578-3939 |
Since the early 2000s, Dr. Smith's research and teaching have focused upon the emergence and development of new religious movements and alternative spiritualities, popular and institutional religious trends in American and global contexts, theorizing fundamental comparative categories such as religion, magic, myth, ritual, experience, etc., and the ever-shifting boundaries linking religions and the larger cultures in which they are found. Most recently, he has been investigating the Superhumanities, with its insistence upon taking paranormal phenomena seriously and acknowledging the metaphysical presuppositions which lie at the foundations of the ways in which all professional scholars of religion think about their primary data. Towards this end, and with major contributions from Religious Studies majors and minors at LSU, he manages Paranormal Culture, a student-driven e-zine exploring the complex ways in which "paranormality" plays out in contemporary society.
Before coming to LSU, Dr. Smith taught at Georgia State University, earned his doctorate
at Emory University, and served as associate editor for the online Bulletin for the
Study of Religion. Since 2021, he has been an Ogden Honors Fellow at LSU and teaches
a variety of Honors courses in both Fall and Spring semesters.
B.A. in English, Georgia State University (1994)
B.A. in Philosophy, Georgia State University (1996)
M.A. in Philosophy, Georgia State University (1999)
M.A. in Religious Studies, Georgia State University (2010)
Ph.D. in American Religious Cultures, Emory University (2018)
REL 1000: Religions of the World
REL 2000: Introduction to the Study of Religion
REL 2028: Philosophy of Religion
REL 2029: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
REL 2033: American Religions
REL 2034: Indigenous Religions
REL 2112: Magic and Religion
REL 3033: Native American Religions
REL 3203: Religion and Parapsychology
REL 4200: Harry Potter, Magic, and Religion
REL 4200: New Religious Movements
HNRS 2020: Religion, Magic & American Culture
HNRS 2020: New Religious Movements
HNRS 2020: Religion and Other Worlds
HNRS 2020: How Religion Can Change the World
Recipient of Tiger Athletic Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, LSU (2018)
Recipient of Doctoral Fellowship, Graduate Division of Religion, Emory University (2010-2015)
Recipient of the Timothy Renick Award, Department of Religious Studies, Georgia State University (2010)
Recipient of Graduate Studies Scholarship, Department of Religious Studies, Georgia State University (2008-2010)
Nominated for Outstanding Honors Faculty Award, Department of Religious Studies, Georgia State University (2005)
Recipient of Graduate Studies Scholarship, Department of Philosophy, Georgia State University (1996-1999)
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles and Chapters
"You’ve Been Wonderful Neighbors: Key Factors in the Successful Integration of a Wiccan Coven into a Suburban Community in the Southeastern United States,” Nova Religio 12 (2008): 103-15
Milton Snoyenbos and Kenneth Smith, “Ma and Sun on Insider Trading,” Journal of Business Ethics 28 (2000): 361-63
Debra Cannon and Kenny Smith, “To Pay or Not to Pay – That is the Legal Question,” Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education 10 (1998)
Book Reviews
Review of James R. Lewis, Violence in New Religious Movements, in Practical Matters (2012)
Review of Randall Styers, Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), in Bulletin for the Study of Religion 41 (2012): 36-38
Review of Allison P. Coudert, Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2011), in Bulletin for the Study of Religion 41 (2012): 37-38
Review of Courtney Bender, The New Metaphysicals: Spirituality and the American Religious Imagination (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), in Bulletin for the Study of Religion 41 (2012): 39-40