Levi

Levi H. Dowling was an American preacher and writer born in Bellville, Ohio, in 1844. He is best known as the author of The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, first published in 1908, a spiritual work that helped keep his name in print long after his death in 1911.

Accounts of his life consistently describe an early start in preaching, shaped by his father’s work among the Disciples of Christ. Sources also describe him as serving as a Union Army chaplain during the Civil War and later studying and practicing medicine before returning his focus to religious and spiritual writing.

What makes Dowling memorable is the unusual path behind his best-known book. He presented himself less as a conventional author than as someone recording spiritual insight, which gave his work a distinctive place in American religious and metaphysical literature.