Empty Admiration: Robert Lewis Dabney's Expository Homiletic
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Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk St. John, Russel Brian (2018) Empty admiration: Robert Lewis Dabney’s expository homiletic. PhD thesis, Middlesex University / London School of Theology. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/26461/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. 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See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy EMPTY ADMIRATION: ROBERT LEWIS DABNEY’S EXPOSITORY HOMILETIC A Thesis submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Russell St. John Middlesex University Supervised at London School of Theology November, 2018 Abstract Russell St. John, “Empty Admiration: Robert Lewis Dabney’s Expository Homiletic,” Doctor of Philosophy, Middlesex University/London School of Theology, 2018. ----- This thesis argues that while American homiletician Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) crafted a robust expository homiletical theory, his weak classroom pedagogy and failure personally to practice expository preaching undermined his theory, and Dabney predominantly equipped and influenced his seminary students to preach the very topical sermons that his expository theory abjured. Chapter 1 provides a biographical sketch, which acquaints the reader with Dabney’s life and work, demonstrating his historical and homiletical significance. Chapter 2 critiques prior evaluations of Dabney’s homiletic and preaching ministry, demonstrating the need for research into his classroom pedagogy and distinct structure for expository sermons. It also identifies an errant interpretation of Dabney’s homiletical legacy, which Chapter 6 corrects. Chapter 3 describes Dabney’s robust expository theory and identifies his distinct structure for expository sermons. It thereby exposes a caveat by which Dabney and his students preached topical sermons upon single verses or clauses of text—a practice that Dabney, in theory, forbade. Chapter 4 analyzes Dabney’s classroom pedagogy by examining sermon manuscripts that Dabney labeled “Exercises,” which offered replicable sermon templates to his students. By means of these exercises, Dabney primarily equipped his students to preach topical sermons on isolated verses of Scripture rather than the expository sermons that his theory admired. Chapter 5 chronicles and quantifies Dabney’s failure to practice expository preaching, demonstrating that he predominantly preached topical sermons on isolated verses of Scripture, thereby highlighting his infidelity to his homiletical theory, while also showing that Dabney’s stance toward the Scripture was not that of a herald as his theory claimed, but rather a craftsman. Chapter 6 evaluates sermons of students whom Dabney trained to preach, demonstrating that Dabney influenced the preaching of his students to resemble his own, and they consistently replicated his classroom pedagogy and personal example rather than his expository theory. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS “Be it ours never to wander from this central point: may we determine to know nothing among men but Christ and his cross.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon ----- I am grateful to the LORD for his manifold mercies in Christ, and I submit this thesis as an offering of praise, which attempts to adorn his gifts to me with labors born of gratitude and affection. My wife and our six children deserve hearty thanks for their patience, grace, and encouragement as I have repeatedly regaled them with arid tales of nineteenth century preaching practices. Absent their support this paper would not exist. The leadership and members of Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church could not have offered greater backing or more constant prayer, and I am keenly aware of their contributions to this work. Likewise, Heritage Presbyterian Church, Grace United Reformed Church, Oakwood Presbyterian Church, and Grace Coastal Church each encouraged and shaped me in ways both subtle and profound. Paula Skreslet, Reference and Archives Librarian at Union Presbyterian Theological Seminary, offered expert research assistance coupled with undying patience, while the library staff at Covenant Theological Seminary processed a torrent of interlibrary loan requests with aplomb. My advisor, Scott Gibson, whose steady counsel averted more than one disaster, merits high praise for his careful guidance of my research and writing. He was the advisor appointed for me by Providence, and this thesis is the better for it. His care for me as a brother equaled his care for me as a scholar. Jeffrey Arthurs, who is both mentor and friend, encouraged me to persevere, faithfully prayed for me, laughed with me (and sometimes at me), and met my research setbacks with calm assurances of future success. Were it not for his friendship I may never have undertaken this work much less completed it. I dedicate this thesis to the Reverend William Hewes Bell (1940-2015), whose preaching was never flashy but ever faithful. He served the Triune God and his people with kindness, homespun wit, and a self-effacing manner that belied deep troves of biblical knowledge. If ever a faithful shepherd of sheep ascended a pulpit, it was Bill. I miss him dearly, and I look forward to the reunion that is coming. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: BIOGRAPHY Introduction 1 Early Years 2 To Union Seminary and Back 8 Teaching and Fighting 14 Postbellum Virginia 26 Final Labors 35 Conclusion 42 CHAPTER 2: THESIS Introduction 44 Research Materials 45 Parameters of the Research 48 Dabney, the Preacher 54 Lawrence Calvin Trotter 60 Conclusion 66 CHAPTER 3: THEORY Introduction 68 Clarifying Terms 69 Dabney’s Expository Theory 76 Expository Advantages 88 Expository Objections 95 Conclusion 104 CHAPTER 4: PEDAGOGY Introduction 106 Dabney’s Expository Pedagogy 107 The Exercises 115 The Expository Exercises 135 Conclusion 152 CHAPTER 5: PRACTICE Introduction 154 Dabney’s Standard Sermon 155 iii Dabney’s Expository Practice 173 Dabney’s Expository Series 186 Evaluating Dabney’s Practice 188 Evaluating Dabney’s Stance 197 Conclusion 200 CHAPTER 6: LEGACY Introduction 202 Dabney’s Personal Influence 203 Dabney’s Pulpit Influence 208 The Sermons of Dabney’s Students 214 Givens Brown Strickler 215 William Sterling Lacy 223 William Lucas Bedinger 228 Other Students 235 Reinterpreting Dabney’s Legacy 246 Conclusion 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY 250 iv CHAPTER 1: BIOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION Overview The present chapter introduces Robert Lewis Dabney. Offering a brief biographical sketch to acquaint the reader with the outlines of Dabney’s life and ministerial labors,1 this chapter demonstrates that Robert Dabney is a consequential figure in American Presbyterian history, worthy of ongoing attention. Throughout his lifetime, Dabney proved dutiful, theologically and socially conservative, and devoted to unchanging principles. He also demonstrated lifelong, inveterate racism, mixing the chaff of his personal support for slavery and segregation with the wheat of his homiletical and theological labors. Over the course of five decades of teaching, writing, and preaching, Robert Dabney profoundly shaped Presbyterianism in the American South, and his legacy demands continuing research.2 The Plan of this Chapter This chapter describes Dabney’s life and work in five stages. The first section traces Dabney from birth until he enrolled at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. The second recounts his seminary experience, labors as a home 1 It is not the scope of this paper to offer a full-fledged biography. Dabney has two biographers: Thomas Cary Johnson, The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1977). Originally published as The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney (Richmond, VA: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1903); and Sean Michael Lucas, Robert Lewis Dabney: A Southern Presbyterian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005). 2 The Presbyterian Church in America, which is the daughter denomination of the church to which Dabney belonged, continues to engage his legacy. See Ligon Duncan,