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Lyman Abbott




Lyman Abbott ( December 18 1835 - October 22 1922 ) was an American Theologian and Author .

Abbott was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts , the son of the prolific author, educator and historian Jacob Abbott . He graduated at the New York University in 1853, where he was a member of the Eucleian Society studied law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1856; but soon abandoned the legal profession, and, after studying theology with his uncle, John Stevens Cabot Abbott , was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church in 1860. He was pastor of the Congregational Church in Terre Haute, Indiana , in 1860-1865, and of the New England Church in New York City in 1865-1869. From 1865 to 1868 he was secretary of the American Union Commission (later called the American Freedmen's Bureau ). In 1869 he resigned his pastorate to devote himself to literature. He was an associate editor of '' Harper's Magazine '', was editor of the '' Illustrated Christian Weekly '', and was co-editor (1876-1881) of '' The Christian Union '' with Henry Ward Beecher , whom he succeeded in 1888 as pastor of Plymouth Church , Brooklyn. From this pastorate he resigned ten years later. From 1881 he was editor-in-chief of ''The Christian Union'', renamed ''The Outlook'' in 1893; this periodical reflected his efforts toward social reform, and, in theology, a liberality, humanitarian and nearly unitarian. The latter characteristics marked his published works also.

His works include:
  • ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1869);

  • ''Illustrated Commentary on the New Testament'' (4 vols., 1875);

  • ''A Study in Human Nature'' (1885);

  • ''Life of Christ'' (1894);

  • ''Evolution of Christianity'' ( Lowell Lectures , 1896);

  • ''The Theology of an Evolutionist'' (1897);

  • ''Christianity and Social Problems'' (1897);

  • ''Life and Letters of Paul'', (1898);

  • ''The Life that Really is'' (1899);

  • ''Problems of Life'' (1900);

  • ''The Rights of Man'' (1901);

  • ''Henry Ward Beecher'' (1903);

  • ''The Christian Ministry'' (1905);

  • ''The Personality of God'' (1905);

  • ''Industrial Problems'' (1905);

  • ''Christ's Secret of Happiness'' (1907);

  • ''The Home Builder'' (1908);

  • ''The Temple'' (1909);

  • ''The Spirit of Democracy'' (1910);

  • ''America in the Making'' (Yale lectures on the responsibility of citizenship, 1911);

  • ''Letters to Unknown Friends'' (1913);

  • ''Reminiscences'' (1915);

  • ''The Twentieth Century Crusade'' (1918); and

  • ''What Christianity Means to Me'' (1921).


He edited ''Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher'' (2 vols., 1868).

His son, . During the War he was a strong supporter of the government's war policies.


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