author
Robert Lewis Dabney
1820–1898
A prominent 19th-century Presbyterian theologian and pastor, he also became closely associated with the Civil War as Stonewall Jackson’s chief of staff and later biographer. His life joined ministry, teaching, and writing in a way that kept his name in print long after his death.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1820, he studied at Hampden–Sydney College, the University of Virginia, and Union Theological Seminary. He went on to become a Presbyterian minister, teacher, and influential theological writer, and he served on the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia for many years.
During the American Civil War, he served first as a chaplain and later briefly as chief of staff to Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. He later wrote a biography of Jackson that helped preserve his reputation and remains one of the works most often associated with Dabney.
Dabney spent his later years teaching and writing, including periods in Texas after leaving Virginia. Readers who come to him today usually know him for his Reformed theology, his forceful prose, and his strong role in Southern Presbyterian thought, though his life and legacy are also closely tied to the Confederate South and its controversies.