18 Facts About Lyman Abbott

Lyman J Abbott was an American Congregationalist theologian, editor, and author.

Lyman Abbott grew up in Farmington, Maine, and later in New York City.

Lyman Abbott's ancestors were from England, and came to America roughly twenty years after Plymouth Rock.

Lyman Abbott graduated from 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.

Lyman Abbott soon abandoned the legal profession and after studying theology with his uncle, John Stevens Cabot Lyman Abbott, was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church in 1860.

Lyman Abbott was married October 14,1857, to Abby F Hamlin, whose father Hannibal Hamlin was the cousin of the politician Hannibal Hamlin of Boston, Mass.

Lyman Abbott worked variously in the publishing profession as an associate editor of Harper's Magazine, and was the founder of a publication called the Illustrated Christian Weekly, which he edited for six years.

Lyman Abbott was the co-editor of The Christian Union with Henry Ward Beecher from 1876 to 1881.

Lyman Abbott later succeeded Beecher in 1888 as pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn.

Lyman Abbott wrote the official biography of Beecher and edited his papers.

From 1881 Lyman Abbott was editor-in-chief of The Christian Union, renamed The Outlook in 1891; this periodical reflected his efforts toward social reform, and, in theology, a liberality, humanitarianism and nearly unitarian.

Lyman Abbott was a constant advocate of Industrial Democracy, and was an advocate of Theodore Roosevelt's progressivism for almost 20 years.

In two of his books, The Evolution of Christianity and The Theology of an Evolutionist, Lyman Abbott applied the concept of evolution in a Christian theological perspective.

Lyman Abbott was a religious figure of some public note and was called upon on October 30,1897, to deliver an address in New York at the funeral of economist, Henry George.

In 1913 Lyman Abbott was expelled from the American Peace Society because military preparedness was vigorously advocated in The Outlook, which he edited, and because he was a member of the Army and Navy League.

Lyman Abbott died on October 22,1922, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery at New Windsor, New York.

Lyman Abbott's lasting influence and widespread appeal is readily apparent in later evaluations of his life.

Lyman Abbott influenced hundreds every week through his sermons at the prestigious Plymouth Avenue Congregationalist Church.