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Pepperdine | Seaver College

H. Clay Smith

Faculty Fellow
Seaver College
Appleby 257
310-506-6064

Biography

Clay Smith comes to Pepperdine after completing a PhD in religious studies at Baylor University with a focus upon the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. His dissertation looks at the relationship between Deuteronomy’s legal reasoning and Assyrian loyalty oaths. Among other outcomes, this project provides a venue for considering how ritual contributes to identity formation, which is a primary interest informing his larger research agenda. Clay has previously taught a variety of courses related to the Christian Scriptures at Baylor University, Harding School of Theology, and Harding University, and he is excited to continue sharing his love for the Christian Scriptures with students at Pepperdine.

Education

  • PhD, Religion, Concentration in Biblical Studies (Hebrew Bible), Baylor University, 2024

  • MDiv, Harding School of Theology, 2017

  • BA, Biblical Languages, Harding University, 2010

 

“Reconsidering the Composition of Ezra-Nehemiah in Light of 2 Maccabees 1:10–2:18,” Journal of Biblical Literature 141 (2022): 257–76.

“Worship as Social Creativity: Social Identity and the Form of Psalm 79,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 46 (2022): 516–29.

Baylor University Graduate School Outstanding Dissertation Award Nominee (2023–24)

Baylor University Graduate Student Outstanding Instructor Award Nominee (2022)

Allie Rae Neal Award, Christian Scholarship Foundation (2022)

Glenn O. and Martell B. Hilburn Endowed Graduate Research Scholarship (2021)

“Negotiating Power among the Living and the Dead: A Reassessment of Deuteronomy’s Politics of Post-Mortem Existence,” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Denver, CO, November 20, 2022.

“Enforcing Loyalty: Neo-Assyrian Officers and Deuteronomy’s Levites as Administrators of the adê,” Presented at the Christian Scholars Conference, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, June 9, 2022.

“Reconsidering the Hasmonean ‘Nehemiah Renaissance’ and Its Significance for MT Ezra-Nehemiah,” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, San Antonio, TX, November 22, 2021.

“Is Zechariah Among the Prophets? Zechariah 3:1–10 and the Enduring Role of Prophets in Post-Monarchic Yehud,” Presented at the Virtual Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, December 10, 2020.

“A Reassessment of Deuteronomy’s Ḥērem Texts,” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, San Diego, CA, November 23, 2019.

“Proclaiming Chaos, Asserting Order: The Ḥērem Texts in Jeremiah,” Presented at the Christian Scholars Conference, Lubbock Christian University, Lubbock, TX, June 11, 2019.

Topics

  • History and Religion of Ancient Israel

  • The Book of Deuteronomy

  • Covenants and Oaths

  • Ritual Studies

Courses

  • REL 200: The Story of the Christian Scriptures