June 10, 1870 - March 17, 1953

James P. Lichtenberger was born in 1870 in Decatur, Illinois, the son of Conrad H. Lichtenberger and Anna Elizabeth Nesbitt. He received his undergraduate training at Eureka College, graduating in 1893. He entered the ministry in the Church of the Disciples of Christ and held a pastorate at Canton, Illinois from 1896 to 1899, followed by a transfer to Buffalo, New York until 1902. In 1902 he received an A.M. degree from Hiram College in Ohio.

His next pastorate was in New York City where he had a congregation until 1908. From 1908 to 1909 he held a fellowship in the New York School of Philanthropy and the same year he received his doctorate from Columbia University.

At the New York School of Philanthropy he had become acquainted with Carl Kelsey, then professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the summer session at the New York school. This led to an invitation as professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1909. Except for time spent as a visiting professor at the University of Washington, and time devoted to a trip around the world, Lictenberger remained with the University of Pennsylvania for the remainder of his professional life.

Lichtenberger served as President of the American Sociological Society (later change to Association) in 1922. His Presidential address, "The Moral Dualism of Machiavelli," was delivered at the society's annual meeting in Chicago in 1922.