Born on June 13, 1907, in St. Louis, Missouri, Jonathan Goodhue Sherman attended preparatory school at the Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, before continuing his studies at Yale University, where he graduated in 1929. He then pursued his theological education at the General Theological Seminary in New York, earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology in 1933. In June of that same year, he was ordained as a deacon by Bishop Acheson of Connecticut, and was ordained a priest the following year at St. John’s Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
In 1938, Sherman became the rector of St. Thomas’ Church in Bellerose, New York, where he served for over a decade. His diocesan leadership began on October 12, 1948, when he was elected Suffragan Bishop of Long Island during the diocese's 81st General Convention at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City. He was consecrated on January 6, 1949, by Presiding Bishop Henry Knox Sherill, and served faithfully in this suffragan role for seventeen years.
On March 19, 1966, Sherman was elected the fifth Bishop of Long Island. According to a New York Times article published the following day, his election was widely viewed as direct support for the "high church" tradition, which emphasizes formal rites, sacraments, and priestly authority. Bishop Sherman led the diocese until his retirement on his 70th birthday, June 13, 1977. He passed away from heart failure on October 27, 1989, at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut.