{{Short description|American evangelist and educator (1794–1884)}} {{Infobox person | name = John L. Dagg | image = File:John Leadley Dagg.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1794|02|14}} | | birth_place = Middleburg, Virginia | death_date = {{death date and age|1884|06|11|1794|02|14}} | death_place = Hayneville, Lowndes County, Alabama | resting_place =Hayneville Cemetery, Hayneville, Alabama | alma_mater = | occupation = Baptist clergyman, author, and president of Mercer University | years active = | spouse = | children = | parents = | relations = | footnotes = }} '''John Leadley Dagg''' (1794–1884), born in Loudoun County, Virginia was an American Baptist theologian. He was associated with the Southern Baptists.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Admin |first=Office |date=1995-03-24 |title=John Dagg: First Writing Southern Baptist Theologian |url=https://founders.org/articles/john-dagg-first-writing-southern-baptist-theologian/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Founders Ministries |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Biography == Dagg had a limited education, was near-blind, and was physically disabled.<ref>Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South'', Mercer University Press, USA, 2005, p. 244</ref> He converted to Christianity at age 15 and served briefly in the War of 1812.<ref name=CI>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Charles |title=John L. Dagg: Baptists' first writing theologian |url=https://christianindex.org/stories/john-l-dagg-baptist-first-writing-theologian,24363 |access-date=October 8, 2022 |work=The Christian Index |date=June 5, 2022}}</ref> Dagg was baptized in 1812 then studied medicine for three years. He was ordained as a minister in November 1817 and eventually served as the pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church in Philadelphia for nine years.<ref name=Credo>{{cite magazine |last=Weaver |first=Steve |date=December 6, 2019 |title=Ten Baptists Everyone Should Know: John Dagg |url=https://credomag.com/2019/12/ten-baptists-everyone-should-know-john-dagg/ |magazine=Credo |location= |publisher= |access-date=October 8, 2022}}</ref> He then moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and served as the president of the Alabama Female Athenaeum for eight years. Dagg left Tuscaloosa in January 1844 to become president of Mercer University.<ref name=Credo/> He served as president of Mercer until 1854, when his failing health forced him to retire.<ref name=CI/> After retirement, Dagg authored four books. The first, ''Manual of Theology'', was written in 1857 and was the first systematic theology written by a Baptist in America.<ref name=CI/> His additional books included ''Treatise on Church Order'' (1858), ''Elements of Moral Science'' (1859), and ''Evidences of Christianity'' (1869).<ref name=Credo/> Dagg moved to Alabama to live near his daughter, where he died in Hayneville in 1884.<ref name=Credo/>
== Theology == John L. Dagg was a Calvinistic Baptist, holding to the five points settled at the council of Dort. Dagg also in his ''Treatise on Church Order'' writes considerably about baptism, the significance of it and its administration. There he concludes that the traditional Reformed arguments for infant baptism are very weak. He also writes on ecclesiology, however, he rejected the Landmarkist understanding of the church, instead believing in a universal church composed of all who have been saved by Christ.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/19961104222741/http://founders.org/library/dagg_sketch.html Biographical Sketch] at Founders.org * [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/Religion/HistoricalFigures&id=h-787 Biographical Sketch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040720082908/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=%2FReligion%2FHistoricalFigures&id=h-787 |date=2004-07-20 }} by Georgia Encyclopedia * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222303/http://www.gilsonsantos.com.br/pdfs/john_dagg.pdf John L. Dagg] by Gilson Santos * [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89094559374 The Elements of Moral Science] by John L. Dagg * [https://founders.org/library/manual-of-theology-john-dagg/ Manual of Theology] by John L. Dagg * [https://founders.org/library/treatise-on-church-order-dagg/ A Treatise on Church Order] by John L. Dagg * [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_Peace Proclamation of Peace] by John L. Dagg (1862)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagg, John L}} Category:1794 births Category:1884 deaths Category:19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States Category:Baptist theologians from the United States Category:American Calvinist and Reformed Christians Category:American Christian theologians Category:Presidents of Mercer University Category:Reformed Baptists