Canon Dr Andrew Smith

Canon Dr Andrew Smith

Department of Theology and Religion
Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham
Honorary Fellow, Edward Cadbury Centre

Contact details

I am interested in how people of different faiths relate to one another, and how this is worked out in everyday life.

Qualifications

  • 2006: Doctor of Theology, Queens Theological Foundation, awarded by the University of Birmingham. Thesis Title: Faith, Friendship and Pedagogy: Equipping Christian Teenagers for a Relevant Engagement with Muslim Peers
  • 2001: Masters of Applied Theology, Westminster College, Oxford. Thesis Title: The Role of Young People in Christian-Muslim Dialogue: With Reference to the Faith and Young People Conference September 2000, Birmingham.

Biography

I moved to Birmingham from East Sussex in 1988, and have been involved in faith based youth work and interfaith dialogue since that time. In 2000 I brought these two disciplines together by developing a model of youth dialogue that forms the basis for the work of the charity The Feast. I am a regular speaker on interfaith issues both in the UK and overseas.

Other activities

I'm the founder and chair of trustees for the charity ‘The Feast’ which brings together Christian and Muslim teenagers to build friendships and explore issues of faith. (www.thefeast.org.uk)

I'm an active member of St. Christopher’s church in Springfield, Birmingham where I regularly preach and help with the youth work.

I am a member of the ‘Presence and Engagement’ task group, a national initiative from the Church of England to support churches in multi-faith parishes.

I am a member of the Advisory Forum for KAICCID (King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue).

I'm an Honorary Lay Canon at St. Philip’s Cathedral in Birmingham.

Publications

I've contributed articles on interfaith work to a number of books and journals (see https://pointsofbelief.wordpress.com/about-me/)