[1]: iii Asa Mahan graduated from Hamilton College in 1824, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1827.

At the students' insistence he was appointed President of the newly founded Oberlin Collegiate Institute, simultaneously serving as the chair of intellectual and moral philosophy (ethics) and professor of theology.

With hindsight, we can see how Mahan was ahead of the faculty: advocating for female equality, and defending those who were for the "immediatist" abolitionism (setting all slaves free immediately) of William Garrison.

In 1850, this time with Finney's support, the faculty prepared a "searing ten-count indictment" of his "overbearing behavior".

(1 Peter 2.9, King James translation, quoted by Mahan at the beginning of Out if Darkness into Light.

His other works include: The Asa Mahan Presidential Papers, 1764-1995 are located in the Oberlin College Archives.