Robert Lewis Dabney, who lived from 1820-1898, was one of finest of the southern Presbyterian theologians. He is perhaps best known today for his service as one of Stonewall Jackson's chaplains during the American Civil War, but of far greater importance than that were his contributions to Reformed theology.

A man of immense learning and tremendous practical piety Dabney served as Pastor of Tinkling Spring Church in Virginia from 1847-1853, he then went on to teach theology at Union Seminary in Hampden-Sydney from 1859-1883 during which time he also served as copastor of Hampden Sydney College church. He was offered the chair of church history at Princeton in 1860, but declined it in order to continue serving the southern church. Dabney went on to become Moderator of the Southern Presbyterian church and to serve as a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas from 1883-1894.

R.L. Dabney became particularly well known in his later years as a defender of evangelical Christianity and the robust Calvinism of the Westminster Standards. He wrote, spoke, and worked tirelessly against the inroads of modernism and liberalism into the Presbyterian church. His better known works still in print include his Systematic Theology, The Five Points of Calvinism, and Evangelical Eloquence: A Course of Lectures on Preaching.