Lyman P. (Lyman Pierson) Powell

Born in Delaware in 1866, Lyman Pierson Powell was an American Episcopal priest, educator, and author whose career stretched across ministry, scholarship, and college leadership. He studied at Johns Hopkins University and later at the Philadelphia Divinity School, then served in the church before becoming president of Hobart College.

Powell wrote on religion, biography, and American history, and his work often aimed to explain complicated people or movements to general readers. He is especially associated with books on Christian Science, including an authorized life of Mary Baker Eddy, though his writing ranged more broadly than that.

He died in 1946. Remembered as both a clergyman and a man of letters, he left behind a body of work shaped by curiosity, public engagement, and an interest in the ideas that stirred American life in his era.