author
Lewis G. (Lewis George) Janes
1844–1901
An educator and free-thought writer, this late-19th-century thinker helped bring big discussions about evolution, ethics, and religion to general readers. He is especially remembered for leading the Brooklyn Ethical Association and for directing the School of Comparative Religion at Greenacre.
1 Audiobook
Samuell Gorton: A Forgotten Founder of our Liberties; First Settler of Warwick, R. I.
by Lewis G. (Lewis George) Janes
About the author
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1844, Lewis G. Janes was an American educator, lecturer, and author whose work connected science, ethics, and religion for a broad public audience. Records from Indiana University describe him as Lewis George Janes (1844–1901) and note correspondence with figures including William James and Herbert Spencer, reflecting the intellectual circles in which he moved.
Janes is best known for serving as president of the Brooklyn Ethical Association from 1885 to 1896, where he gave and organized lectures on a wide range of subjects. He also played an important role at Greenacre in Eliot, Maine: the Monsalvat School article notes that Sarah J. Farmer invited him in 1895 to establish a school for the comparative study of religions there, work that became closely associated with his later career.
His writing and speaking often explored evolution, morals, and comparative religion, making demanding ideas feel approachable to non-specialist readers. He died in 1901, but his books, lectures, and archival papers still show a lively mind interested in free inquiry and in bringing different systems of thought into conversation.