An exceptionally interesting piece of early missionary history and Hawaiiana, the present 280pp unpublished manuscript has been passed down through the family of Commodore Philip Inch, U.S. Navy [1836-1898] who was married to the daughter of Rev. Sheldon Dibble, pioneering missionary, educator, and "first" historian of the Sandwich Islands.
The manuscript itself is titled, "Didactic Theology," and is broken down into General Revelation, Special Revelation, Moral Theology, etc., With many sections being quite extensive and full. Special attention given to sections on Natural Revelation, the poential salvation of those without the knowledge o Christ, Calvinism, Baptism, etc.
Significantly, the work would almost certainly have served as class manual or catechism for Hawaiian "native" clergy he was responsible for training on Maui.
Sheldon Dibble left for Hawaii [1831] very shortly after his graduation from Auburn [1830] and after an initial service at Hilo, transferred to Maui [1836] to teach at the seminary for native islanders begun by Lorrin Andrews.
The present work is almost certainly the product of this seminary period, and likely prepared to be translated and published for the islanders as well, as he would do with several other works. There is no indication it ever went to press and the last few leaves have questions, but are left blank. We might hazard a guess that it was being worked on just in advance of the death of his first wife, which would put it in that sort of mid 1830's period. The binding itself is also nearly identical to the Missionary Herald bindings of the 1830's, and was perhaps produced for him by the society.
This period of the 1830's was also the period that he commissioned his students as anthropologists and began compiling information for the most significant Hawaiian history of the period.
An excellent artifact of the great Hawaiian missionary and educator, and valuable insight into the theological education received by Hawaiian converts being prepared to serve as domestic clergy.
