One of the outstanding Presbyterian theologians of the nineteenth century and the most important and influential theologian in the Presbyterian Church, U.S., from 1865 to 1895. A native of Virginia, he was ordained to the ministry in 1847. In 1853 he was appointed as professor at his alma mater, the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. Except for a brief period of military service, he remained at Union until 1883. He concluded his career as professor of mental and moral philosophy and political economy at the newly established University of Texas, during which time he cofounded the Austin School of Theology, later renamed the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
He was recognized as an unusually effective preacher and teacher. He was also a prolific writer. The most important of his works was his Lectures in Systematic Theology, which became the standard theological textbook in Southern Presbyterian seminaries and remained so at Union in Richmond until 1930. Some of the more important articles have been preserved in a two-volume collection entitled Discussions: Evangelical and Theological. As had J. H. Thornwell, Dabney championed the Calvinism of Old School Presbyterianism and was so effective that this theology and general point of view prevailed as that of the denomination during the whole Reconstruction period and at Union Seminary well into the twentieth century.
As a result of his service as chief of staff to General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson, he wrote a biography of the noted commander. He was a vigorous, articulate defender of the South, as revealed in his volume A Defense of Virginia.
L. G. WHITLOCK, JR.