William Porcher Dubose, Priest and Theologian. 18 August 1918.
William Porcher DuBose is a
serious candidate for the title of "greatest theologian that the Episcopal
Church in the USA has produced." He was born in South Carolina in 1836,
and attended the Military College of South Carolina (now the Citadel) in
Charleston (32:48 N 79:58 W), and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
(38:02 N 78:29 W). He served as a chaplain in the Confederate Army, and after
the War of 1861-1865 served as a parish priest. In 1871 he became a professor
at the University of the South (an Episcopal institution) in Sewanee,
Tennessee, became Dean of the School of Theology in 1894, retired in 1908, and
died in 1918.
He was fluent in Greek, and
well-read both in Greek philosophy and in the early Christian fathers. Among
his numerous books, the best known are The Soteriology of The New
Testament, The Gospel in The Gospels, and The Reason of
Life. (Soter is the Greek word for "Savior", and
soteriology is the branch of theology that deals with such questions as,
"What does it mean to say that Christ saves us?" "How does his
death and resurrection do us any good?" "How are the benefits of
Christ's work applied to the individual?" and so on.) A quote from one of
his articles follows:
God has placed forever before our eyes, not the image but the very
Person of the Spiritual Man. We have not to ascend into Heaven to bring Him
down, nor to descend into the abyss to bring Him up, for He is with us, and
near us, and in us. We have only to confess with our mouths that He is Lord,
and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead--and raised us
in Him-- and we shall live.
A good introduction to his work is A Dubose
Reader, ed. Donald Armentrout (1984, University of the South Press,
Sewanee, Tennessee) 0-918-769-06-X, paperback 256 pp. $11.
The reader with access to a
large library might also want to read The Ecumenical Councils (1977,
Gordon Press) $60, ISBN 0-8490-1751-3.
[Remark: Since
the subject of Episcopalian clergy in the Confederate Army has come up, I will
say something about a bishop who was a general: The Rt. Rev. Maj. Gen. Leonidas
K. Polk, CSA. My source is The Civil War, A Narrative, by Shelby
Foote.
Polk attended West Point,
and roomed with Jefferson Davis. Afterwards, he went into the ministry,
becoming Bishop of Louisiana. In June, 1861, he happened to be in Richmond, and
called on Davis, who promptly said: "We need good officers. I hereby
commission you as Major General in command of troops in the Mississippi
Valley." Polk, like others, assumed that the war would be over in a matter
of weeks, and did not resign his bishopric.
While acting as a general,
he did not forget his concerns for the spiritual well-being of his fellow
soldiers. One night in May, 1864, on the battlefield at Resaca, Georgia, he
baptized and confirmed Gen. John Bell Hood. Hood had lost a leg and the use of
an arm at Gettysburg and was unable to kneel, or for that matter to ride a
horse unless strapped into the saddle. Polk wanted him to sit for the service,
but Hood insisted on standing while supported by crutches. A week later Polk
baptized his immediate superior, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston of the Army of
Tennessee.
On June 14, 1864, at the
battle of Pine Mountain, Georgia, he was struck by a shell and killed
instantly. He was 58.]
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