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(1931-) Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of Sociology, State University of New York College at Brockport. President, Association for the Sociology of Religion, 1992.

As a pioneer in the study of women clergy, Lehman conducted research not only in the United States but also in England and Australia on the role of women clergy and lay reactions to their ministry. His first book, Women Clergy: Breaking Through Gender Barriers (Transaction 1985), was based on a national sample survey of membership in the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and focused on the attitudes and behaviors of both clergy and laity toward clergywomen. His next book, Women Clergy in England: Sexism, Modern Consciousness, and Church Viability (Mellen 1987), was a study of Anglican clergywomen and attitudes toward them on the part of both male clergy and laity within the Anglican Church. In 1988, Lehman was awarded a Fulbright Exchange Scholar Grant to spend a year in Australia to study receptivity and resistance to women in ministry in the Anglican Church of Australia and in the Uniting Church of Australia. After a decade and a half studying clergywomen in various countries and denominations, in 1993 Lehman integrated his studies and wrote his influential book Gender and Work: The Case of the Clergy (SUNY Press 1993) in which he summarized findings regarding the role of clergywomen and the effects of varying attitudes toward the changing role of women within denominations.

In addition to his scholarly contributions on clergywomen, Lehman has played a central organizational role in three national religious associations. He was an executive council member in both the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the Religious Research Association, and served as Editor of the Review of Religious Research , 1984-1990. He also served as executive officer for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion 1992-1996.

—Helen Rose Ebaugh

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