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One of the giants of 19th century American Presbyterianism, Robert Lewis Dabney, was born 200 years ago on March 5, 1820 in Louisa County, Virginia. Farmer, minister, chaplain, professor, theologian, scholar, author, architect, and family man - Dabney was all of these and more. He was a friend and biographer to Stonewall Jackson, and served as his chief of staff. His Systematic Theology, treatise on preaching (Sacred Rhetoric or Evangelical Eloquence), five volumes of Discussions, study of the Five Points of Calvinism, and many other sermons and writings, constitute a body of profound and Biblical commentary on theology and other matters that remains highly regarded by many today. His views in opposition to racial equality were challenged by fellow Southern Presbyterian John L. Girardeau,* and have been repudiated by many today. Two hundred years after his birth, Dabney, who never shied from controversy during his lifetime, remains controversial, but his legacy endures and cannot be ignored. We remember his bicentennial birthday today because of the mark he made on American Presbyterianism. Read him for yourself here, and you will understand why he is worthy of remembrance.
* “He and Dr. R.L. Dabney did not agree on every point in theology, nevertheless they were warm personal friends.” — George A. Blackburn, The Life Work of John L. Girardeau, D.D., LL.D., p. 367
