SMET, Richard V. de. Montignies-sur-Sambre near Charleroi 16.4.1916 — Brussels 2.3.1997. Father. S.J. Belgian Missionary and Indologist. Came to India in 1946 as a Jesuit student, studied Theology and then also Sanskrit in Calcutta (i.al. under R. Antoine). Ph.D. 1954 Gregorian Pontifical University, Rome, in Philosophy. Back in India, from 1954 until his retirement Professor of Logic, Metaphysics and Indian Philosophy at De Nobili College (Pontifical Academy and Papal Seminary) in Pune. Living in Pune until the last illness forced him to go to Belgium for treatment. He was a scholar of Advaita and a Neo-Thomist philosopher.
Publications: Diss. (manuscript of 10+370 p.) partly publ. as The Theological Method of Samkara. Excerpta ex dissertatione. 55 pp. 1954.
– “Philosophical Activity in Pakistan 1947–1961”, Intern. Philosophical Quarterly 2:1, 1961, 111-184, sep. 132 p. Lahore 1962.
– Edited with J. Neuner: Religious Hinduism. 330 p. Allahabad 1964.
– Edited with J. Neuner: La quête de l’Éternel; approches chrétiennes de l’hindouisme. 448 p. Museum Lessianum, Section missiologique 48. Paris 1967.
– A great number of articles, e.g. in BAEO, e.g. “Fleeting time and Sacrificially produced continuity in Vedic Brahmanism and Early Christianity”, 17, 1981, 147-166; “Notes on Hinduism Versus the Plurality of religious tradition”, 21, 1985, 289-300; further articles on comparison of Vedanta and Thomism.
– Brahman and Person: Essays by Richard De Smet. Ed. Ivo Coelho. 294 p. Delhi 2010; Understanding Sankara: Essays by Richard De Smet. Ed. Ivo Coelho. 15+525 p. Delhi 2013.
Sources: B.J. Malkovsky, J. of Hindu-Christian St. 10, 1997; *J. Vattanky, Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection 71:4, 2007, 245-261; briefly in MLBD Newsletter 20:4, 1998, 9; publications in N.U.C.; Wikipedia, a long article with photo, further references and bibliography
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