Henry Preserved Smith (October 12, 1847 – February 26, 1927) was an American biblical scholar.
[1] In 1892 he was tried for heresy by the Presbytery of Cincinnati, was found guilty of teaching (in a pamphlet entitled Biblical Scholarship and Inspiration, 1891) that there were "errors of historic fact," suppressions of "historic truths," etc., in the Books of Chronicles, and that the "inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is consistent with the "unprofitableness of portions of the sacred writings," - in other words, that inspiration does not imply inerrancy - and he was suspended from the ministry.
[1] Smith retired from the denomination, and in 1893, upon becoming a professor at Andover Theological Seminary, entered the ministry of the Congregational Church.
[1] He published The Bible and Islam (1897), Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1899, in the "International Critical Commentary") and Old Testament History (1903, in the "International Theological Library").
In Inspiration and Inerrancy (Cincinnati, 1893), he reprinted the papers on which the heresy charge was made, and outlined the case.