Smith studied
Classics at
Grinnell College, earning the B.A. degree in 1972. She also received the M.A. in Classical Languages at the
University of North Carolina in 1975, and a Ph.D. in Classical Languages at the
University of Toronto in 1982. Her doctoral dissertation, under the supervision of
Timothy Barnes, was titled "Plato's Use of Myth as a Pedagogical Device".[1]
Teaching positions
After completing her doctorate, Smith taught philosophy for nine years at the
University of Notre Dame in the program of Liberal Studies. She went on to teach philosophy for twelve years at the
University of Dallas, where she received tenure.[2]
After a visiting professorship in life issues at
Sacred Heart Major Seminary in
Detroit and simultaneously a visiting professorship in philosophy at
Ave Maria College in
Ypsilanti, Michigan, Smith was hired by Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 2001. She held the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair in Life Issues from 2016 to 2019, the year of her retirement.
2008 Veritas Award, Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal, Ave Maria University[8]
Speaking and media appearances
Smith is known in Catholic circles as an expert on Humanae Vitae and on Pope John Paul II's teaching on marriage and family life ("
Theology of the Body"). She is a popular public speaker about Catholic teaching on sexuality and on bioethics.
She has appeared on the Geraldo show, Fox News, CNN International, CNN Newsroom, and Al Jazeera and has appeared in many shows for various series on
EWTN. Janet Smith has also spoken with
hate groupChurch Militant.[9]
Works
Books
(Translator/editor) Humanae Vitae: A Challenge to Love (New Hope, KY: New Hope Publications, 1987), a revised translation of
Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later, (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1991)
ISBN978-0813207407
(Editor) Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993)
ISBN0-89870-433-2
(Contributor) St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2004)