Education
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Liebman graduated from the University of Cincinnati when he was 19 years old.
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Joshua Loth Liebman
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He went on to be ordained and also earned a doctorate in Hebrew letters from Hebrew Union College. From 1934 to 1939, Liebman served as rabbi of K.A.M. Temple in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, Liebman became the rabbi of Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in Boston, Massachusetts.
Simon & Schuster then arranged to publish Liebman"s self-help book titled Peace of Mind, issued in 1946, which sought to reconcile religion and psychiatry.
Liebman had himself previously undergone psychoanalysis. In Peace of Mind, Liebman "addressed himself to the individual whose personal grief and anxiety, unassuageable by social betterment alone, required an inner peace that psychology and religion, working together, could provide." Peace of Mind became one of the year"s best-selling books
Reaching #1 on the New York Times nonfiction best-sellers list on October 27, 1946, Peace of Mind held the top position on the list for a total of 58 (non-consecutive) weeks, and spent more than three straight years on the list. (In 1949, Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton J Sheen responded to Liebman"s assertions by publishing a book of his own entitled Peace of Soul)
While Peace of Mind was still on the best-sellers list, Liebman died at age 41 on June 9, 1948.
Liebman"s death was attributed to a "heart attack" or "heart ailment", with one obituary reporting that he had a heart attack following a severe case of influenza.
He is buried in the Temple Israel Cemetery in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
