Wilfred Cantwell Smith; Religion Scholar

Wilfred Cantwell Smith, 83, a scholar of comparative religion and a leading proponent of interfaith dialogue who once headed Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions. Born in Toronto and ordained as a Presbyterian minister, Smith earned a doctorate at Princeton University. He taught in India, England and Egypt before establishing the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal, where he taught from 1949 to 1963. While at McGill he recruited Muslim scholars to participate in research formerly carried out primarily by Westerners. He headed Harvard’s World Religions Center from 1964 to 1973 and taught there from 1978 to 1984. He believed that religion is best understood as a living faith, rather than as an abstract set of ideas. “A lot of people say, “Respect other religions,’ from a sentimental point of view,” said Robert Bellah, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley. “Wilfred brought a serious degree of scholarship. He wanted to understand other religions not only as modes of feeling, but modes of thought.” Smith donated more than 500 books and other scholarly papers on Islam to Cal State Northridge in 1998 to form the basis of a center for Islamic studies. On Monday in Toronto.