Robert Smith, Jr. teaches Christian Preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. He previously he served as an Associate Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, Kentucky, where he received the 1996 Findley B. Edge Award for Teaching Excellence.

An ordained Baptist minister, Smith was pastor of the New Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, for twenty years. He earned his Ph.D. from SBTS while serving as pastor.

In addition to teaching, Smith has been author or contributing editor of numerous books. His book, Doctrine That Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life, was selected as the winner of the 2008 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Preaching magazine and the 2009 Preaching Book of the Year Award by Christianity Today’s preaching.com. In 2010, Preaching Magazine named Doctrine That Dances one of the 25 most influential books in preaching for the last 25 years. His book, The Oasis of God: From Mourning to Morning—Biblical Insights from Psalms 42 and 43, was published in 2015.

Smith has spoken at more than 100 universities, colleges, and seminaries in the United States, Great Britain, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. His research interests include the place of passion in preaching, the literary history of African American preaching, Christological preaching, and theologies of preaching. In 2005, he received Beeson Divinity School’s “Teacher of the Year Award.” Smith and his wife, Dr. Wanda Taylor-Smith, Ph.D., are the parents of four adult children (one in heaven).