The Theology of the Confederacy

Part One

Southern pride and Southern nationalism still live in the hearts and minds of millions of Southerners. It is nothing short of miraculous that despite a lost war on the battlefields in the 1860s, and a lost war in the courts in the 1960s, Southern Nationalism perseveres. Indeed, Southern culture has shown itself to be amazingly resilient by successfully enduring decades of slander, ridicule, and abuse.

In our day, in our time, the conditions have ripened for a resurgence of Southern nationalism. The two most prominent events which are fueling our present revival are, (1) the de-Europeanization of America, and, (2) the faltering federal government in Washington - sinking in its own morass of debt, deceit, and corruption. These two issues are alienating our people from the federal government along with weakening that government to the place that, at some point in the future, it will be unable to impose its will upon us.

Despite these positive developments, there are difficulties for us to overcome. The success of the Civil Rights movement since the 1960s has operated to demolish a great deal of the Christian civilization in the South. It has done so by introducing a Humanistic structure of morality which stands in direct contradiction to Biblical morality as anchored in the Ten Commandments. This new morality is an ethical system which values toleration and equality over obedience to God's Holy Law. This has worked to unleash a torrent of violence, crime, and wickedness across our land.

Although compared to the other peoples of the United States the Southern people are still the most Christianized, yet it remains that there has been a long fall into decadence and immorality among us. Adultery, blasphemy, and dishonesty are three of the most prominent sins which have become prevalent among our people. Those who wish to see the "South rise" will not realize their noble desire until these sins are greatly "put off" from us, and obedience to God's will, along with the understanding of His truth, are "put on" in their place.

This is true because God blesses those nations who exalt Him (Psalm 33:12, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He hath chosen for His inheritance."), and He brings down those nations who forget Him (Psalm 9;17, "The wicked shall be cast into Hell, and all nations who forget God.").

The purpose of this paper is to acquaint men and women who are, or ought to be, Southern nationalists with the philosophy and theology which drove the Southerners of ages past to perform their heroic deeds. When JEB Stuart, "Stonewall" Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and others took up arms to defend their people and their way of life against outside aggression, they were not merely acting out of self-interests, but were defending Christian civilization itself from those who had turned against it.

America was founded as a continuation of Christian Europe which had been the cradle of the Protestant Reformation. After a time, many of the people and institutions of the North forsook this religion of their forefathers, turning instead to the tenants of the Enlightenment and its ignoble Humanism. This had produced the French Revolution seventy years earlier, and more than anything else provoked war with the Christian South.

The famous Southern historian, Richard M. Weaver, realized the South's perspective,

• Another part of the Southern defense... was the opposition to all secular theories of the state. The French Revolution had established the principle that man is the measure of all things; his freedom, his welfare, his opportunity for "the pursuit of happiness" were acclaimed the objectives of all just governments - a sort of political humanism which had the effect of deifying an abstract concept of man.

The Southern viewpoint was that the states of the North had embraced this Humanism as its new religion. They had mutated from the country's original religious, philosophical, and legal cornerstones. Yet, the South remained true to the ideals upon which America was founded in 1789. Again to quote Richard Weaver,

• The realization which especially angered the Southern apologists was that they were held up as traitors or subverters of the established order, whereas it appeared plain to them that the North, led on by fanatical reformers, had promoted a revolution on principles rejected by the Founding Fathers. It seemed to them that in the light of history the South was the loyal section, for it had poured out its blood and treasure in defense of the common inheritance of laws and customs.

This paper is intended to serve as an educational and exhortational tool to re-acquaint Southerners with the theology of the Confederacy. We need to be crystal clear about what Christianity is, what Christian civilization is, what true Americanism is, what it really means to be a Southerner, and what it is we ought to be working towards.

The main player in Southern ideology was Robert Lewis Dabney. He will be quoted at length. Another important Southern theologian was James Henley Thornwell. He will also be cited, yet not to the degree that we will focus on Dabney.

Besides these two theologians, we will rely heavily on the work of the renowned Southern historian, the late Richard M. Weaver, who has already been twice quoted. Weaver is a product of Vanderbilt University. There he studied under the Agrarian professors who in 1930 produced the singular work I'll Take My Stand - a Southern polemic of renowned. Weaver wrote nearly 80 years after the Civil War, and serves as one of the best interpreters of Southern philosophy and culture available to us today.

I. A Short Biography of Dabney and Thornwell.

We focus on Dabney and Thornwell because they are the two most representative theologians of Presbyterianism during the period, and Presbyterianism had become the dominant Christian denomination among the Scotch-Irish segment of the Southern populace. In his discussion on the Scotch-Irish culture, from which most Southerners descended, David Hackett Fischer stated, "The backcountry was indeed very mixed in its religious denominations - much as the borders of North Britain had been. But most visitors observed that Presbyterians generally predominated by the middle decades of the 18th century." This predominance had only grown from that time until 1861.

Dabney, Stonewall Jackson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Patrick Henry, and Alexander Stephens were all Southerners from Scotch-Irish ancestry. It was from these Scotch-Irishmen that the South was given the Confederate Battle Flag which we still love.

The other main ethnic group which made up the Southern people were the descendants of the Cavaliers. Jefferson Davis, R.E. Lee, and Robert Toombs were a part of this group, which was Anglican for the most part.

A. Robert L. Dabney.

Dabney (1820-1898) was a theology professor at Union Seminary in Hampton-Sidney, Virginia, for forty years. He was offered the chair of Church History at Princeton in 1860, but his devotion to the South and its cause led him to decline the invitation. According to his biographers, "When the Civil War commenced in the following year he believed in the justice of the cause to which the Confederate States of the South were committed."

During the war he was a military chaplain and at one point served as chief of staff to General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Dabney attained the rank of major in the Confederate Army. General Jackson referred to him as "the most efficient officer he knew."

Dabney delivered the commemorative sermon at "Stonewall" Jackson's funeral in June of 1863. During this eulogy Dabney recounted,

• Our dead hero is God's sermon to us... to inculcate upon us the virtues with which he was adorned by the Holy Ghost; and especially those traits of the citizen, the Christian, and the soldier, now most essential to the times... he is the bravest man who is the best Christian. It is he who truly fears God, who is entitled to fear nothing else... This strength General Jackson eminently possessed. He walked in the fear of God, with a perfect heart, keeping all his commandments and ordinances, blameless. Never has it been my happiness to know one of greater purity of life, or more regular and devout habits of prayer.

Immediately after the war Dabney lived in poverty as a farmer who had to provide food for his family during the winter of 1866. Later, he returned to Union Seminary to once again take up his life's work.

In 1867, Dabney wrote In Defense of Virginia and the South, a masterful polemic of Southern beliefs. Concerning this book, the historian, Richard Weaver, opined, "It is at once the bitterest and the most eloquent of the major apologias."

A century later, when Dabney's writings were being reprinted, Dr. Morton H. Smith, of Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi, said of this Confederate giant,

• At a time when the Church is certainly in need of a clear voice with regard to her theology, I can think of no finer work than that of Robert L. Dabney to be reproduced and sent forth for our generation. It is especially valuable... because he does not simply repeat the ground found in other theologies, but goes on and deals with difficult questions that may be raised at various points in the study of theology.

B. James Henley Thornwell.

Thornwell (1812-1862) only lived to be 49 years old. Yet, in that short life time he "served as a pastor, and twice as a professor in the College of South Carolina, before he was called to the presidency of the College in 1851."

Concerning Thornwell, Luder C. Whitlock, another professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, wrote, "Daniel Webster, after hearing Thornwell speak at a South Carolina college, was reported to have remarked that he was the greatest pulpit orator he had ever heard."

In 1943, an article was written about Thornwell entitled, Presbyterian Defender of the Old South. Characterizing his life, one author has stated,

• Thornwell must be viewed as a champion of his Old School Presbyterian theological heritage. His forceful, eloquent leadership contributed substantially toward assuring a legacy of orthodoxy for later generations of Southern Presbyterians. His desire to understand the Scriptures and to seek obedient conformity to them in church and society is the essence of what it means to be Reformed. James Henley Thornwell still casts a long shadow in Southern Presbyterianism, particularly in the nascent Presbyterian Church in America and in the Reformed Theological Seminary....

After the South declared its independence and drew up its new constitution, Thornwell began a movement to codify into law the Christian standing of the new nation. His effort was gaining momentum when he unfortunately died in 1862, and the project failed to carry on to victory.

We can only speculate about what might have been. For the words which Thornwell and others sought to insert into the Confederate Constitution were these,

Nevertheless we, the people of these Confederate States, distinctly acknowledge our responsibility to God, and the supremacy of His Son, Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords; and hereby ordain that no law shall be passed by the Congress of these Confederate States inconsistent with the will of God, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

The Theology of the Confederacy

Part Two

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