Southern Presbyterian

I recently read a bio on the life of Robert Lewis Dabney by Sean Michael Lucas. This book is part of a series called "American Reformed Biographies," edited by Lucas and D.G. Hart.  From a Reformed perspective, the subjects that they examine are largely sympathetic, however, they are not without glaring idiosyncrasies.  Dabney is a case in point.  

As a southern Presbyterian minister and scholar, he ardently upheld the Westminster Standards as the confessional norm for his tradition. He vehemently opposed the New School influence in the Presbyterian church that sought to lessen the subscription requirements for ministers. As a professor at Union Seminary in his beloved Virginia, he took his students through a rigorous training of theology and church history in order that they might properly serve the church of Christ. Dabney's talents did not end there; he also wrote extensively in philosophy, sociology, politics, education, homiletics, and a biography on the life of his friend, Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.   

All that being said, however, perhaps Dabney's most heinous personal sin, which he carried to the end of his life, was that he was a virulent racist. Prior to the Civil War, he, like all moderately wealthy Southerners, was a slave owner. He wrongly interpreted divine providence (something we ought never to do) to suggest that slavery was the station in life for blacks. In other words, he argued that it was their divinely appointed social status and to usurp that, Dabney opined, was to overthrow God's will. Even after the War, during Reconstruction, he argued with all his might against ordaining black men into the ministry on what he thought were biblical grounds! 

Clearly, Dabney's thoughts and actions in this regard are appalling. That being said,  however, from a historian's perspective, it is never helpful to examine someone divorced from his or her social and cultural surroundings.  While not excusing his sin, certainly Dabney's Southern upbringing and distinct worldview contributed to a lot of his rhetoric.  

But why write on Dabney? Certainly, there are many other American Reformed luminaries that do not have such a dark track record.  I believe Lucas, as a History prof at Covenant (PCA's seminary), wanted to pull a valuable lesson from his own Southern Presbyterian tradition.  Namely, the doctrine of the spirituality of the Church. For all of Dabney's faults, perhaps his greatest contribution was to insist that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. To confuse the responsibilities of the kingdom of God with those of the kingdom of man is to commit a grave error. So for example, when the segment of the Northern Presbyterian church required in the "Spring Resolutions of 1861" for her members to express "devotion to the United States and loyalty to the Government," Dabney cried foul. The church, according to the spirituality doctrine, is to be focussed on the preaching of the word of God and the administration of the sacraments, and nothing else.  To engage in activities outside of this or to require her members to do so, is when the church ceases to be the church. This, I believe is Dabney's valuable lesson for the Church (especially for those of us who call themselves Reformed) today.