author
Asa Mahan
1799–1889
A pioneering college president and minister, he helped shape Oberlin in its early years and became closely linked with the era’s reform-minded religious and educational movements. His life joined preaching, teaching, and debate in a time of major change in American society.
1 Audiobook
Doctrine of the Will
by Asa Mahan
About the author
Born in New York in 1799, Asa Mahan was an American Congregational minister, educator, and writer. He studied at Hamilton College and Andover Theological Seminary before moving into church and academic work that would make him a notable figure in nineteenth-century Protestant life.
He is best known as the first president of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, later Oberlin College, serving from 1835 to 1850. Oberlin became known for its strong reform spirit during those years, and Mahan was part of the leadership that helped define its early identity. He later also served as president of Adrian College.
Mahan wrote on theology, philosophy, and Christian living, and he remained active as a teacher and religious thinker long after his first presidency ended. He died in 1889 in Eastbourne, England, leaving behind a career tied to education, moral reform, and the religious debates of his century.