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Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney
This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.
585 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 28, 2012
Few books have formed me mentally over the years than this one. Avoid Sean Lucas' bio on Dabney and invest in this one instead. Dabney is one of the greatest Americans of all time (I think the list is, in descending order of importance, Robert E. Lee, Patrick Henry, Stonewall Jackson, Robert Lewis Dabney, James Thornwell.
In reading this we are overwhelmed with the fact that Dabney was a true renaissance man: he literally did everything from artillery to book binding to farming to architecture. He wrote on everything from music to inflation to theology.
Stonewall Jackson said that "Dabney was the greatest officer he had ever known." Ponder the weightiness of that sentence for a moment. The second greatest general in American history said that Dabney was the finest officer he knew. What does that truly say about Dabney's greatness? But we are not here to praise Dabney, but the Lord who made Dabney great. Incidentally, Stonewall's remarks completely refute Sean Lucas's biography on Dabney, whom Lucas claimed "wrestled with cowardice and struggled with being a good soldier." Stonewall's remark shows just how silly that claim is.
In terms of Dabney's theology, one can go read his Discussions and Systematics to find out, only noting ahead of time that Dabney held to Scottish Common-Sense realism.
Of particular importance to Dabney's insight is his essay, "The New South." With the North's win, Dabney predicted all of the tyranny that has since come upon us in the reign of Obama and Bush. In reading that essay, if one didn't know better, one would think he was talking of today's events.
The book is truly great, if somewhat hard to locate. It is worth paying up to $50.
In reading this we are overwhelmed with the fact that Dabney was a true renaissance man: he literally did everything from artillery to book binding to farming to architecture. He wrote on everything from music to inflation to theology.
Stonewall Jackson said that "Dabney was the greatest officer he had ever known." Ponder the weightiness of that sentence for a moment. The second greatest general in American history said that Dabney was the finest officer he knew. What does that truly say about Dabney's greatness? But we are not here to praise Dabney, but the Lord who made Dabney great. Incidentally, Stonewall's remarks completely refute Sean Lucas's biography on Dabney, whom Lucas claimed "wrestled with cowardice and struggled with being a good soldier." Stonewall's remark shows just how silly that claim is.
In terms of Dabney's theology, one can go read his Discussions and Systematics to find out, only noting ahead of time that Dabney held to Scottish Common-Sense realism.
Of particular importance to Dabney's insight is his essay, "The New South." With the North's win, Dabney predicted all of the tyranny that has since come upon us in the reign of Obama and Bush. In reading that essay, if one didn't know better, one would think he was talking of today's events.
The book is truly great, if somewhat hard to locate. It is worth paying up to $50.
Read
October 4, 2012A biography of a theologian. Since I was educated with the standard fare of public school textbooks on American history, it was peculiarly interesting to read this, because you get the perspective of a Southern gentleman on a wide variety of issues such as race, education, the civil war, etc. His stances on various issues our age would find intolerable (and I certainly wouldn't agree with everything he says), but I think it is worth noting that his views are not bigotry, but the cogitations of a vigorous thinker who grew up and deeply held on to the perspective of an agrarian, freedom-loving, intellectual Virginia.
The large preface on his southern-culture aside, I think there are quite a few remarkable points of this man's life:
[1] His care for his mother. He had an infirm widowed mother, and up to her dying day he cared for her. His devotion to his mother was to the degree that he dropped out of college to help her pay her debts. Even if he was not living with her, and was busy with his duties as a seminary professor/pastor/husband, he remained concerned for her welfare.
[2] His vigor in life. Dabney was no slouch. He worked hard. He was a philosopher, a theologian, a pastor, a college professor, a poet, and a farmer. He could turn his hand to many practical farming tasks, and he could then turn around and write pieces on philosophical induction/ethics/church politics. Though he was in a slave culture, he wasn't given to idleness and performed manual labor. He made an amateur study of political thought, and wrote articles in defense of his views.
[3] His principled life. He seems to be one that lived heavily according to principles of honesty and hard-work. He was modest in mentioning himself, even if he had done heroic things. He once apologized to his students for speaking too sharply towards them. Once somebody wrote criticism of him, and choose not to read the criticism and defend himself to avoid feeling angry.
The large preface on his southern-culture aside, I think there are quite a few remarkable points of this man's life:
[1] His care for his mother. He had an infirm widowed mother, and up to her dying day he cared for her. His devotion to his mother was to the degree that he dropped out of college to help her pay her debts. Even if he was not living with her, and was busy with his duties as a seminary professor/pastor/husband, he remained concerned for her welfare.
[2] His vigor in life. Dabney was no slouch. He worked hard. He was a philosopher, a theologian, a pastor, a college professor, a poet, and a farmer. He could turn his hand to many practical farming tasks, and he could then turn around and write pieces on philosophical induction/ethics/church politics. Though he was in a slave culture, he wasn't given to idleness and performed manual labor. He made an amateur study of political thought, and wrote articles in defense of his views.
[3] His principled life. He seems to be one that lived heavily according to principles of honesty and hard-work. He was modest in mentioning himself, even if he had done heroic things. He once apologized to his students for speaking too sharply towards them. Once somebody wrote criticism of him, and choose not to read the criticism and defend himself to avoid feeling angry.
July 25, 2023
Nearly exhaustive information about the man (and his writings) presented through the bias of a admirer, meaning, the admiration strives to present him as he truly was in his own words with whole hearted approval. This is both the benefit and unfortunate aspect of the book.
Many things to admire and learn from but also both the sympathizer and "canceller" (instead of writing off wholesale) must truly reckon with the man's faults that influenced Southern Presbyterianism as much as his achievements and genius. The racism and open hatred of his northern brethren simply cannot be excused. It's influence (as well as his genius) must be recognized, understood, and learned from to avoid falling into the same mistakes.
(Conversely, the antagonism and pride of the northern church throughout and partly fueling the Presbyterian split of the 1850s is just as worthy of considering. Sad to see the church so openly worldly and divided as the country's affairs at the time).
Overall, the weave of biography and letter made the read both tedious and understandable. It was so that they couldn't be separated. The summary chapter, rightly criticized in its own time of publication by the likes of BB Warfield, left no room for sober reflection. Beside historical interest and indepth information on the man, I wouldn't consider this work definitive nor accessible to the modern reader.
Many things to admire and learn from but also both the sympathizer and "canceller" (instead of writing off wholesale) must truly reckon with the man's faults that influenced Southern Presbyterianism as much as his achievements and genius. The racism and open hatred of his northern brethren simply cannot be excused. It's influence (as well as his genius) must be recognized, understood, and learned from to avoid falling into the same mistakes.
(Conversely, the antagonism and pride of the northern church throughout and partly fueling the Presbyterian split of the 1850s is just as worthy of considering. Sad to see the church so openly worldly and divided as the country's affairs at the time).
Overall, the weave of biography and letter made the read both tedious and understandable. It was so that they couldn't be separated. The summary chapter, rightly criticized in its own time of publication by the likes of BB Warfield, left no room for sober reflection. Beside historical interest and indepth information on the man, I wouldn't consider this work definitive nor accessible to the modern reader.
June 12, 2021
This is the gold standard biography of Robert Lewis Dabney, written by one who knew him and labored alongside him. It is both readable and comprehensive. It truly is a volume embracing both life and letters. I lost track of how many complete or nearly complete letters are included in this work. These dispatches shed much light on the life of Dr. Dabney and provide a personal touch. I do have one quibble. The voluminous correspondence Johnson chose to include in this work sometimes makes the reading tedious. There are sections of the book in which multiple letters are separated by minimal exposition, and these sections can be a little dry. I’m sure Johnson had reservations about abridging correspondence, so as not to detract from Dabney’s views. However, I think the book could have been slimmed down without a great loss of definition, if some of these letters had been abstracted or excluded. Nevertheless, this is a fine biography of a truly great man—a father, brother, friend, pastor, theologian, architect, soldier, writer, professor, polemicist, and more. We are worse for largely ignoring him today.
May 22, 2018
This is a rather sympathetic biography of Dabney aided partly by his correspondence. Dabney comes across as somewhat of a polymath, who would have excelled at most callings, yet whose varied life and activities were invariably shaped by an earnest attendance upon the teaching of Scripture. The abiding impression is of a life spent in very active service, in mind, body, and pen.
July 24, 2018
Hagiographical, but a treasure trove of primary-source material for those interested in one of the prominent nineteenth-century Southern theologians.
January 29, 2022
In 1891, Robert Lewis Dabney published a short biographical sketch in The Union Seminary Magazine titled “Thomas Carey [sic] Johnson." Johnson had just been appointed the professor of the English Bible and pastoral theology at Union, and Dabney was giving “the antecedents” to their new professor. After graduating from Hampden-Sidney college, and then Union Theological Seminary, Johnson, “upon the invitation of Dr. Dabney,” went to Texas to teach alongside Dabney in the Austin School of Theology. When Dabney’s illness got much worse in 1890, Johnson shouldered much of the load. Dabney praised Johnson’s scholarship, teaching, work ethic, and preaching, and commended him to Union.
Thirteen years later, Johnson would return the favor for his mentor and friend, first writing a brief sketch of his life and character for The Union Seminary Magazine (“The Rev. Robert Lewis Dabney, D. D., LL. D.” (1898): 157–67) and then greatly expanding this work into The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney...
[for my full review see "The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney: Review and Reception" at https://biblioskolex.wordpress.com/20...]
Thirteen years later, Johnson would return the favor for his mentor and friend, first writing a brief sketch of his life and character for The Union Seminary Magazine (“The Rev. Robert Lewis Dabney, D. D., LL. D.” (1898): 157–67) and then greatly expanding this work into The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney...
[for my full review see "The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney: Review and Reception" at https://biblioskolex.wordpress.com/20...]
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews