SMITH, John F(erris) 1934-

PERSONAL: Born November 20, 1934, in Flint, MI; son of Joseph (a laborer) and Agnes (Ferris) Smith; married Mary Grace Miller (an editor), June 8, 1957; children: Sarah E., Priscilla J. Education: University of Michigan, B.A., 1956; Episcopal Theological School, B.D., 1959. Hobbies and other interests: Running, playing clarinet, photography.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—Groton School, Groton, MA 01450.

CAREER: Ordained Episcopal priest, 1959; pastor of Episcopal churches in Detroit, MI, 1959-61; Boston University, Boston, MA, chaplain, 1961-78, member of humanities faculty, 1970-75; Groton School, Groton, MA, chaplain, beginning 1978—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Underwood fellowship from Danforth Foundation, 1975-76.

WRITINGS:

The Bush Still Burns, Sheed, Andrews & McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 1978.

Raising a Good Kid: Chances Are You're Doing Just Fine, Sorin Books (Notre Dame, IN), 2002.

Author of a weekly column in Boston University's Daily Free Press.

SIDELIGHTS: In Raising a Good Kid: Chances Are You're Doing Just Fine, John F. Smith urges parents to trust their intuitive knowledge of raising children during their teenage years through nurturing and guidance.

The father of two daughters, Smith is a chaplain at the Groton preparatory school in Massachusetts. To Smith, most children are inherently good and with a solid structure they will learn to become responsible and sensitive adults. In a Booklist review, Vanessa Bush wrote, "Smith examines several aspects of child rearing: spirit, school, sex, and the common good. This slim book of solid advice and inspiration is sure to set many an anxious parent's heart at ease."

Smith once commented to CA: "I am interested in reflecting on contemporary culture from a theological point of view, particularly on social and political issues, pointing out the profound spiritual implications of those issues.

"My . . . years as a college chaplain [during the 1970s] brought me into contact with hundreds of young people (and others) who were moved by the events of the sixties and the seventies. Some of them were destroyed, others made stronger by the terrible realities of those times. My writing in spirituality comes out of that wonderful and dreadful experience. Thus I tend to challenge conventional notions of spirituality which direct themselves to the discovery of God in what people call a transcendent way. Thus I want to struggle against 'monastic' spirituality, as it is defined usually by a non-monastic world, and 'Eastern' spirituality, as it is defined usually by a non-Eastern world. People are sometimes surprised to find my writing so gritty, so concentrated on the ordinary, so opposed to 'uplift.' That's the way it is. We can't discover ourselves or our history, or our God, in any world but the one in which we live. I believe that discovery is not only rewarding, but it is also essential if we are to emerge from the slough of nihilism and banality in which we find ourselves."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2002, Vanessa Bush, review of Raising a Good Kid: Chances Are You're Doing Just Fine, p. 787.

ONLINE

SpiritualityHealth.com,http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/ (January 1, 2002), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Raising a Good Kid: Chances Are You're Doing Just Fine.*