William Porcher DuBose

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William Porcher DuBose (April 11, 1836-1918) was a priest and theologian in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He spent most of his career as a professor at the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He is remembered on August 18 on the Episcopal Calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

Contents

[edit] Early Life Through the Civil War

In 1836, William Porcher DuBose was born into a wealthy Huguenot family that had resided in the Low Country of South Carolina since 1686. He grew up in Up-Country South Carolina, on the 2,500 acre family plantation near the town of Winnsboro, South Carolina.

DuBose began his education at Mount Zion College in Winnsboro. From there, at age 15, DuBose entered the South Carolina Military College - The Citadel - in 1851. By his final year (1855), he was the ranking officer and the Assistant Professor of English. He graduated from The Citadel in 1855.

It was at The Citadel that DuBose experienced his "conversion experience." He wrote:

I lept to my feet trembling, and then that happened that I can only describe by saying that a light shone about me and a Presence filled the room. At the same time, ineffable joy and peace took possession of me which it is impossible to either express or explain.[1]

In 1856, DuBose entered the University of Virginia. He graduated from that institution with a Master of Arts in 1859. Later that same year, he entered the South Carolina diocesan seminary in Camden, South Carolina. It was during DuBose's seminary studies that the American Civil War broke out.

DuBose signed up with South Carolina's Holcombe Legion, and was appointed as the adjutant of the legion. The legion saw action at the Second Battle of Manassas, where Dubose was injured twice. For a portion of 1862, DuBose was a prisoner of war. He was then wounded once more, in December of the same year.

In 1863, through family friends and church contacts, obtained a commission for DuBose as a chaplain. He was ordained in December 1863, and joined Kershaw's Brigade as its chaplain in Greeneville, Tennessee.

[edit] Career as a Priest & Theologian

After the war, DuBose served a parish near his home of Winnsboro. While there, he also taught Greek at nearby Mt. Zoin College.

In July of 1871, DuBose's name was given to the Board of Trustees of the University of the South by Vice-Chancellor Charles Todd Quintard, to serve as Chaplain of the School and Professor of the School of Moral Science and the Evidences of the Christian Religion. DuBose served as Chaplain of the school from 1871-1883 (he was succeeded by Thomas Frank Gailor).

Among his work at the University of the South, DuBose helped to establish the Theological Department, which would later be known as the School of Theology at the University of the South. He served as professor in the Theological Department from 1877-1893. In 1894, DuBose was elected as Dean of the Theological Department, a position he held until 1908.

[edit] Writings of William Porcher DuBose

(Listed Chronologically)

  • The Christian Ministry. No Publisher, 1870.
  • The Soteriology of the New Testament. New York: MacMillan, 1892.
  • The Gospel in the Gospels. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1906.
  • High Priesthood and Sacrifice. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1908.
  • The Reason of Life. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1911.
  • Turning Points in My Life. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1912
  • Over forty published articles.
  • William Porcher DuBose. A Dubose Reader, ed. Donald S. Armentrout. Sewanee, TN: University of the South, 1984.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dubose, Wm. Porcher. Turning Points in My Life, (New York: Longmans, Green, & Co) 1912, p. 18-19.

[edit] See Also