Robert Lewis Dabney (March 5, 1820 – January 3, 1898) was a Southern Presbyterian pastor and

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Confederate army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, and architect from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. He was also chief of staff and

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...

; his biography of Jackson remains in print today. Dabney and

James Henley Thornwell James Henley Thornwell (December 9, 1812 – August 1, 1862) was an American Presbyterian preacher, slaveowner, and religious writer from the U.S. state of South Carolina during the 19th century. During the American Civil War, Thornwell support ...

were two of Southern Presbyterianism's most influential scholars. They were both

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, Old School Presbyterians, and social conservatives. Some conservative Presbyterians, particularly within the

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and the

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, still value their theological writings, although some within these churches have repudiated Dabney's and Thornwell's beliefs in support of white supremacy and

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

Life and career

Early life

Robert Lewis Dabney was born on March 5, 1820. He was the sixth child (third son) of Charles William Dabney (1786–1833) and Elizabeth Randolph Price Dabney, and a descendant of Cornelius Dabney, who settled in Virginia in the 17th century. His brother, Charles William Dabney (1809–1895) was the captain of Company C, 15th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Dabney graduated from

Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth ...

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1837, and received a master's degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1842. He graduated from

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

in 1846.

Career

Dabney served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Louisa County, Virginia Louisa County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,596. The county seat is Louisa. History Prior to colonial settlement, the area comprising Louisa County was occupied by sever ...

, from 1846 to 1847 and

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church from 1847 to 1853, being also head master of a classical school for a portion of this time. He is considered a distinguished son of Providence Presbyterian Church. It was at Tinkling Spring that he met Margaret Lavinia Morrison. They were married on March 28, 1848. They had six sons together, three of whom died in childhood from diphtheria (two in 1855, the other in 1862). From 1853 to 1859, he was professor of

ecclesiastical history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of the ...

and polity and from 1859 to 1869 adjunct professor of

systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topics ...

in Virginia's

, where he later became full professor of systematics. Dabney – whose wife was a third cousin to Confederate General

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...

's wife – participated in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

on the Confederate side. During the summer of 1861 he was chaplain of the

18th Virginia Infantry The 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. The 18th Virginia completed its organiz ...

, and in the following year was invited by Jackson to be his chief of staff; he served with Jackson during the Valley Campaign and the

Seven Days Battles The Seven Days Battles were a series of seven battles over seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Confederate States Army, Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army ...

. In 1867, he published ''A Defense of Virginia, and Through Her, of the South, in Recent and Pending Contests Against the Sectional Party'', an apologia for slavery. In 1868, he delivered "Ecclesiastical Relation of Negroes", a speech advocating for white supremacy in the church. In 1883, he was appointed professor of mental and

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

in the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. By 1894, failing health compelled him to retire from active life, although he still lectured occasionally. He was co-pastor, with his brother-in-law B. M. Smith, of the Hampden-Sydney College Church 1858 to 1874, also serving Hampden-Sydney College in a professorial capacity on occasions of vacancies in its faculty. College Church HSC

Architecture

Dabney's designs for the Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church and for two other churches in Virginia are credited with influencing church architecture in Virginia. an
accompanying photo
Three works associated with Dabney are listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

: Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church; Briery Church, in Briery, Virginia; and New Providence Presbyterian Church, near Brownsburg, Virginia.

Death

Dabney died on January 3, 1898, due to complications from an acute illness.

Major works

*''Memoir of Rev. Dr. Francis S. Sampson'' (1855), whose commentary on

Hebrews The Hebrews (; ) were an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic-speaking people. Historians mostly consider the Hebrews as synonymous with the Israelites, with the term "Hebrew" denoting an Israelite from the nomadic era, which pre ...

he edited (1857) *''Life of General Thomas J. Jackson'' (1866) *''A Defense of Virginia, and Through Her, of the South, in Recent and Pending Contests Against the Sectional Party'' (1867), an apologia for chattel slavery.
''Ecclesiastical Relation of Negroes: Speech of Rev. Robert L. Dabney, in the Synod of Virginia, Nov. 9, 1867; Against the Ecclesiastical Equality of Negro Preachers in Our Church, and Their Right to Rule Over White Christians''
(1868) *''Lectures on Sacred Rhetoric'' (1870) *''Women's Rights'' (1871) *'' Syllabus and Notes of the Course of Systematic and Polemic Theology'' (1871; 2nd ed. 1878), later republished as ''Systematic Theology.''

(1878) *''Sensualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century Examined'' (1875; 2nd ed. 1887) *''Practical Philosophy'' (1897) *''The Doctrinal Various Readings of the New Testament Greek''

*''Penal Character of the Atonement of Christ Discussed in the Light of Recent Popular Heresies'' (1898, posthumous), on the satisfaction view of the atonement. *''Discussions'' (1890–1897), Four volumes of his shorter essays, edited by C. R. Vaughan.
''Theological and Evangelical''
(1890)
''Evangelical''
(1891)
''Philosophical''
(1892)
''Secular''
(1897) Also expanded later into five volumes, with the fifth volume consisting of selected shorter works, edited by J. H. Varner, published by Sprinkle Publications in 1999.
/ref>

References

Bibliography * Groce, W. Todd. "The Cassandra of Yankeedom: Robert Lewis Dabney and the Critique of the New South," in W. Todd Groce and Stephen V. Ash, eds., ''Nineteenth Century America: Essays in Honor of Paul H. Bergeron''. The University of Tennessee Press, 2005. * Hettle, Wallace (2003). "The Minister, the Martyr, and the Maxim: Robert Lewis Dabney and Stonewall Jackson Biography," ''Civil War History,'' Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 353–369.'' * Johnson, Thomas Cary (1903)
''Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney''
Richmond, Va.: The Presbyterian Committee of Publication. * Lucas, Sean Michael (2003). "'Old Times There Are Not Forgotten': Robert Lewis Dabney's Public Theology for a Reconstructed South," ''The Journal of Presbyterian History,'' Vol. 81, No. 3, pp. 163–177. * Lucas, Sean Michael (2005). ''Robert Lewis Dabney: A Southern Presbyterian Life''. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R Pub. See also th

by Iain D Campbell. * Nutt, Rick (1984). "Robert Lewis Dabney, Presbyterians and Women's Suffrage," ''Journal of Presbyterian History,'' Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 339–353. * Simkins, Francis B. (1964). "Robert Lewis Dabney, Southern Conservative," ''The Georgia Review,'' Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 393–407. * Smith, Morton H. (1962). ''Studies in Southern Presbyterian Theology''. Jackson, Miss.: Presbyterian Reformation Society * Wilson, Charles Reagan (1981). "Robert Lewis Dabney: Religion and the Southern Holocaust," ''The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,'' Vol. 89, No. 1, pp. 79–89. * White, Henry Alexander (1911)
"Robert Lewis Dabney."
In: ''Southern Presbyterian Leaders.'' New York: The Neale Publishing Company, pp. 382–393. * Woods, Henry M. (1936
"Robert Lewis Dabney: Prince Among Theologians and Men"
a memorial address delivered at Stonewall Church,

Appomattox, Virginia Appomattox ( ) is a town in Appomattox County, Virginia, Appomattox County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,733 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Appomattox County, Virginia, Appomattox County. ...

, celebrating the founding of the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1861. (

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)

External links

* *
Works by Robert Lewis Dabney
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

*
"Christ Our Substitute"
a Dabney message later published as a

tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

. *
"Five Points of Calvinism"
by R. L. Dabney. *

Dabney's discussion of the proper day of the week for the Christian

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

. *
''A Defence of Virginia''
(scanned page images) *
''A Defence of Virginia''
(PDF download) *
DabneyArchive.com
an online repository for Dabney's works, with embedded searchable OCR. *
Robert Lewis Dabney
in ''

Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities f ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dabney, Robert Lewis 1820 births 1898 deaths Writers from Virginia Confederate States Army officers American Calvinist and Reformed theologians American biographers American male biographers Presbyterian Church in the United States ministers People of Virginia in the American Civil War American proslavery activists Union Presbyterian Seminary alumni Confederate States Army chaplains 19th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 19th-century American architects Presbyterian Church in the United States members 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American clergy