Dabney, Robert Lewis, 1820-1898

Robert Lewis Dabney (March 5, 1820 – January 3, 1898) was a Southern Presbyterian pastor and theologian, Confederate army chaplain, and architect from Virginia. He was also chief of staff and biographer to Stonewall Jackson; his biography of Jackson remains in print today. Dabney and James Henley Thornwell were two of Southern Presbyterianism's most influential scholars. They were both Calvinist, Old School Presbyterians, and social conservatives. Some conservative Presbyterians, particularly within the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, still value their theological writings, although some within these churches have repudiated Dabney's and Thornwell's beliefs in support of white supremacy and antebellum slavery.