Reminiscences

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1923. Later edition (first published in 1915). First printing thus. Hardcover. Good. xxxvii, [1], 509, [1] pages. Frontis Illustration. Bibliography. Occasional footnotes. Illustrations. Index. Some wear and soiling to boards Some pages uncut. Some chips at index pages. Ink notation on fep. Introduction by Ernest Hamlin Abbott. Lyman J. Abbott (1835 - 1922) was an American Congregationalist theologian, editor, and author. Abbot 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. He was also the co-editor of The Christian Union with Henry Ward Beecher from 1876 to 1881. Abbott later succeeded Beecher in 1888 as pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. He also wrote the official biography of Beecher and edited his papers. His son, Lawrence Fraser Abbott, accompanied President Roosevelt on a tour of Europe and Africa (1909-10). Abbott was expelled from the American Peace Society because military preparedness was advocated in the Outlook. Lyman Abbott was a Congregational clergyman, the editor of The Christian Union, and the editor of Outlook. Abbott was a constant advocate of Industrial Democracy, and was an advocate of Theodore Roosevelt's progressivism for almost 20 years. He would later adopt a pronouncedly liberal theology. He was also a pronounced Christian Evolutionist. In two of his books, The Evolution of Christianity and The Theology of an Evolutionist, Abbott applied the concept of evolution in a Christian theological perspective. Although he himself objected to being called an advocate of Darwinism, he was an optimistic advocate of evolution who thought that "what Jesus saw, humanity is becoming." 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. He ultimately resigned his pastorate in November 1898.