Mary Ely Lyman (1887 – 1975) was an American professor of religion.

Life

Her education was notable because of the discrimination she suffered due to her gender. She attended Mount Holyoke College which she found empowering and she briefly went into teaching before returning to the college to run the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

. By 1919 she had a B.D. from the Union Seminary where she deepened her interest in teaching the bible which she had started whilst at the YWCA. She was not allowed to sit with the other graduates because she was the only woman and she was obliged to sit with the wives. She had the highest marks at the seminary and she was awarded a traveling fellowship. She used this to allow her to study at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in the UK. It was only later that she found that although Cambridge allowed women to study it refused to give her a degree or to formally acknowledge her studies. Luckily she received letters of recommendation from her Cambridge tutors and that enable her to enroll for her doctorate. After she qualified in 1924 she was one of two women who were the first to teach at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. She was already a Professor of Religion at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

where her teaching had resulted in that title in 1923. In 1926 she married Professor Eugene Lyman. She was his second wife and she became a step mother to his two children. She stopped being the professor at Vassar and began to teach religion at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

and the bible at the Union Seminary in 1927. She held both of these positions until 1940 when she decided to join her husband when he retired. In 1958 she had a public disagreement with

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

concerning his interpretation of the bible. Lyman died in Claremont in 1975.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyman, Mary Ely 1880 births 1975 deaths Alumni of the University of Cambridge Mount Holyoke College alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) faculty University of Chicago faculty Barnard College faculty Vassar College faculty