Kyle Smith, Assistant Professor of Religion (UTSG) and Historical Studies (UTM), studies early Christianity. His primary research focus is late ancient Syriac Christianity on the eastern Roman frontier and in the Sasanian Persian Empire. Currently, Smith is in the process of completing two books: the first is a Syriac-English edition of the martyr acts of Simeon bar Sabba’e, a bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon on the Tigris and the protomartyr of the “Great Persecution” in fourth-century Persia; the second book, a revision of his 2011 doctoral dissertation, employs a number of Syriac, Greek, and Latin sources to contextualize and re-examine how Christian religious identity in Roman Mesopotamia and Sasanian Persia was constructed, negotiated, and re-written in the aftermath of the emperor Constantine’s death.
Areas of Interest
- Syriac Christianity
- late ancient historiography
- martyrdom literature, especially the Acts of the Persian Martyrs
- asceticism and early monastic rules
- hagiography
Primary Teaching
RLG3242 Christian Asceticism in Late Antiquity
RLG Martyrdom and Christian Identity
Latest Selected Publications:
The Martyrdom and History of Blessed Simeon bar Sabba’e. Persian Martyr Acts in Syriac: Text and Translation Series. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2012 (forthcoming).
“‘A Last Disciple of the Apostles’: The ‘Editor’s’ Preface, Rabbula’s Rules, and the Date of the Book of Steps.” In Breaking the Mind: New Research on the Syriac Book of Steps, ed. R. Kitchen and K. Heal. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2012.
The History of the Great Deeds of Bishop Paul of Qentos and Priest John of Edessa. Texts from Christian Late Antiquity, vol. 29. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010. (with H. Arneson, E. Fiano, and C. Luckritz Marquis)
“Dendrites and Other Standers in the History of the Exploits of Bishop Paul of Qanetos and Priest John of Edessa.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 12/1 (2009): 117-34. http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol12No1/HV12N1Smith.pdf
Contact Information
Position: Assistant Professor of Christianity
Department for the Study of Religion
Address: 321 Jackman Humanities Building
Tel: 416.946.3493
E-mail: kr.smith@utoronto.ca