‘R.L. Dabney was the most conspicuous figure and the leading theological guide of the Southern Presbyterian Church, the most prolific theological writer that Church has as yet produced, and for a period of over forty years one of the most distinguished and probably the most impressive teacher of its candidates for the ministry. As a preacher, as a teacher and as a writer equally he achieved greatness, and in the counsels of the State and of the Church alike he was a factor of importance. In the wider theological history of the country and of the epoch he finds a worthy place as one of the younger members of a remarkable company of theologians to whose lot it fell to reassert and reorganize the historical faith of the Reformed Churches in the face of the theological ferment which marked the earlier years of the Nineteenth Century.’
— B.B. WARFIELD

Book Description

Robert Dabney (1820-98), who was for forty years Professor in Union Seminary, Virginia, U.S.A., was in the opinion of Dr. Archibald Alexander, ‘the best teacher of theology in the United States, if not in the world’.

The third volume includes Dabney’s treatment of issues in society which are of perennial concern to the Church of Christ, including Anti-Christian Science, Secularized Education, Strikes and the influence of Roman Catholicism. A number of biographical sketches of great Christians whom Dabney knew also appear, including one of General T. J. (‘Stonewall’) Jackson, to whom Dabney had been Adjutant-General during the Civil War.

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‘R.L. Dabney was the most conspicuous figure and the leading theological guide of the Southern Presbyterian Church, the most prolific theological writer that Church has as yet produced, and for a period of over forty years one of the most distinguished and probably the most impressive teacher of its candidates for the ministry. As a preacher, as a teacher and as a writer equally he achieved greatness, and in the counsels of the State and of the Church alike he was a factor of importance. In the wider theological history of the country and of the epoch he finds a worthy place as one of the younger members of a remarkable company of theologians to whose lot it fell to reassert and reorganize the historical faith of the Reformed Churches in the face of the theological ferment which marked the earlier years of the Nineteenth Century.’– B.B. WARFIELD

‘Hodge gives an excellent, general statement of the Reformed Faith, yet Dabney adds something beyond the general treatment of most subjects. When his method of teaching is recalled, of sending his students to the standard texts on theology (including Hodge), and then adding his own observations on each doctrine in the class from which his “Theology” was derived, it is to be expected that his work would have a certain freshness to it, and this is just what is found. He begot in his men something akin to his own vigor and strength, his love of truth and of God.’– Morton H. Smith

Book Description

Although the Southern Presbyterian Church of the last century produced many volumes of enduring spiritual importance, it was only this work which came ‘nearest to a complete text of Systematic Theology’. For its preparation Robert L. Dabney, ‘the best teacher of theology in the United States, if not in the world’ (A.A. Hodge), was certainly suited. While his exposition and vindication of credal Christianity is akin to that of other reformed authors, he has a literary force and ability to stimulate thought which is distinctive. In his concern to see the truth understood and lived, in his wrestling with hard points and his mastery of detail, Dabney is second-to-none. The fact that his Systematic Theology, first published in 1871, is now in its ninth edition is proof in itself that the volume is not superfluous.

His biographer, Thomas Cary Johnson, wrote of him: ‘He believed that “feeling s the temperature of thought” and was not ashamed to be seen to feel for the truth. Hence the truth he taught burnt in on the student, and made an indelible impression. He begot in is men something akin to his own vigor and strength, his love of truth and of God’.

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Review

• Review by Paul Wells

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‘It is not a book to be read and returned to the library shelf; rather, as I have found to my own profit with an older edition, it ought to be read, digested and kept close at hand as a guide, companion and constant prod to us in seeking to fulfil our God-given mandate to “preach the Word”.’ — AL MARTIN

‘Another older gem, Dabney begins with the preacher’s commission before surveying a classic list of those elements which together enable a man gifted by God to compose and deliver his divinely-mandated message in such a way as to accomplish God’s ends, with his blessing. Changes in expectations and appetites in the world at large do not take away the usefulness of these basic Biblical principles.’ — JEREMY WALKER

Book Description

In these days of the soundbite and the autocue, public speaking is a declining art-form, though it is not extinct and still has its own weight and force.

In New Testament times, unlike today, rhetoric was a highly regarded skill and works were written about it which are still read. Dabney quotes liberally from these, but does not always agree with them. He knew that gospel preaching was not to be ‘with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect’.

‘Evangelical eloquence’, for Dabney, was unique. It consisted in ‘the soul’s virtuous energy exerted through speech’ which applied ‘the authority of God to the conscience’ and formed ‘the image of Christ upon the souls of men’.

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