The Religious Basis of Robert L. Dabney's Defense of the Confederacy

FAIN: FT-12576-75

Crerar Douglas
California State University, Northridge (Northridge, CA 91330-0001)

Robert L. Dabney led a paradoxical life. A theologian who sought diligently to keep alive Jonathan Edwards' tradition in 19th century America, he found himself pitted against the New England defenders of Edwards most of his life. A political theorist who saw the South's War of Rebellion as a continuation of America's original War of Revolution, he was left with the task of explaining to his countrymen and himself why the one assertion of independence succeeded and the other failed. He was chief of staff for General T.J. (Stonewall) Jackson. Two month of concentrated work was needed for P.I. to draft core of a monography on Dabney's use of religious concepts to defend the cause of the South.