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Toynbee
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First published June 1, 1965
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September 4, 2024
AN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PHILOSOPHER OF HISTORY
At the time this book was published in 1965, C. Gregg Singer was chair of the history department at Catawba College in North Carolina. Singer wrote other books such as 'A Theological Interpretation of American History,' 'John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits,' 'From Rationalism & Irrationality,' etc.
He wrote in the Introduction, "Arnold Toynbee is undoubtedly the most important philosopher of history yet to appear in the twentieth century... he has sought to give to contemporary not confined his efforts to the history of one nation, era, or race... Toynbee not only set out to free the study of history from the prison house of determinism in which it had been confined by the Marxists and [Oswald] Spengler, but also to rescue it from the pitfalls of a meaningless existentialism which makes a mockery of the idea of history." (Pg. 9)
He notes, "But as long as the creative minority is able to cope with the challenges that arise to confront it, the civilization of which it is a part will continue to develop. But this creative minority must be able to continue offering successful responses. When in the history of any civilization, the creative minority is no longer able to secure this willing allegiance from its followers, it is in serious danger of a breakdown and Toynbee devotes the rest of his original ten volumes to this problem." (Pg. 17)
Observing that Toynbee asserts that "all of the living civilizations, except for our own Western, have already broken down internally and are in the process of disintegration," he adds, "Toynbee admits that [our Western civilization] has manifestly not yet entered upon the era of a universal state, but his point is that such an era is not the only evidence of a process of disintegration already under way.... if we were to judge the present state of Western civilization by the purely subjective criterion of our own feelings about our own age, 'we would undoubtedly conclude that the time of troubles has descended upon the West.'" (Pg. 19)
He argues, "Toynbee's basic failure at this point lies in his inability to recognize that private property is not merely an institution created by man for his own convenience at a particular period in his development, but rather than it is a divinely ordained means for maintaining social order in a sinful humanity. Thus Toynbee does not oppose communism or moral or religious grounds, but simply from the point of view of social convenience, namely, that its program for seizure of private property could endanger certain attitudes and values deeply ingrained in our Western society." (Pg. 28)
"Thus Toynbee ascribes the victory which Christianity won over the Roman Empire to the efforts of the Apostle Paul and the early fathers of the church to translate Christian doctrine to the people in terms of Hellenic philosophy and to build the Christian ecclesiastical hierarchy on the pattern of the Roman civil service and to mold Christian ritual on the model of the mystery religions and even to convert pagan festivals into Christian celebrations and to replace the pagan cult of the heroes with the Christian worship of the saints. Thus, according to Toynbee, if Christianity has not been Hellenized it would have been given a home in Greek thought and would not have achieved its status as a higher religion." (Pg. 44-45)
He states, "It is quite obvious that the theodicy which appears in the later volumes of A Study of History, Vol. 2 falls far short of being a Biblical world- and life-view and that Toynbee's view of Christianity is not that of the Scriptures. There is nothing unique in Christianity which is not present to the same or a similar degree in the other higher religions. Christianity is merely one of the better and more significant visions which man has achieved of God, and it is in no sense a revealed religion. For this reason alone, if for no other, this section of Toynbee's 'A Study of History' is quite unacceptable to evangelicals, and it must be used with great care." (Pg. 62)
Toynbee is nearly forgotten nowadays, although his work is still well worth reading (at least in the two-volume abridgement). Most Christians will find Singer's comments on his works helpful.
At the time this book was published in 1965, C. Gregg Singer was chair of the history department at Catawba College in North Carolina. Singer wrote other books such as 'A Theological Interpretation of American History,' 'John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits,' 'From Rationalism & Irrationality,' etc.
He wrote in the Introduction, "Arnold Toynbee is undoubtedly the most important philosopher of history yet to appear in the twentieth century... he has sought to give to contemporary not confined his efforts to the history of one nation, era, or race... Toynbee not only set out to free the study of history from the prison house of determinism in which it had been confined by the Marxists and [Oswald] Spengler, but also to rescue it from the pitfalls of a meaningless existentialism which makes a mockery of the idea of history." (Pg. 9)
He notes, "But as long as the creative minority is able to cope with the challenges that arise to confront it, the civilization of which it is a part will continue to develop. But this creative minority must be able to continue offering successful responses. When in the history of any civilization, the creative minority is no longer able to secure this willing allegiance from its followers, it is in serious danger of a breakdown and Toynbee devotes the rest of his original ten volumes to this problem." (Pg. 17)
Observing that Toynbee asserts that "all of the living civilizations, except for our own Western, have already broken down internally and are in the process of disintegration," he adds, "Toynbee admits that [our Western civilization] has manifestly not yet entered upon the era of a universal state, but his point is that such an era is not the only evidence of a process of disintegration already under way.... if we were to judge the present state of Western civilization by the purely subjective criterion of our own feelings about our own age, 'we would undoubtedly conclude that the time of troubles has descended upon the West.'" (Pg. 19)
He argues, "Toynbee's basic failure at this point lies in his inability to recognize that private property is not merely an institution created by man for his own convenience at a particular period in his development, but rather than it is a divinely ordained means for maintaining social order in a sinful humanity. Thus Toynbee does not oppose communism or moral or religious grounds, but simply from the point of view of social convenience, namely, that its program for seizure of private property could endanger certain attitudes and values deeply ingrained in our Western society." (Pg. 28)
"Thus Toynbee ascribes the victory which Christianity won over the Roman Empire to the efforts of the Apostle Paul and the early fathers of the church to translate Christian doctrine to the people in terms of Hellenic philosophy and to build the Christian ecclesiastical hierarchy on the pattern of the Roman civil service and to mold Christian ritual on the model of the mystery religions and even to convert pagan festivals into Christian celebrations and to replace the pagan cult of the heroes with the Christian worship of the saints. Thus, according to Toynbee, if Christianity has not been Hellenized it would have been given a home in Greek thought and would not have achieved its status as a higher religion." (Pg. 44-45)
He states, "It is quite obvious that the theodicy which appears in the later volumes of A Study of History, Vol. 2 falls far short of being a Biblical world- and life-view and that Toynbee's view of Christianity is not that of the Scriptures. There is nothing unique in Christianity which is not present to the same or a similar degree in the other higher religions. Christianity is merely one of the better and more significant visions which man has achieved of God, and it is in no sense a revealed religion. For this reason alone, if for no other, this section of Toynbee's 'A Study of History' is quite unacceptable to evangelicals, and it must be used with great care." (Pg. 62)
Toynbee is nearly forgotten nowadays, although his work is still well worth reading (at least in the two-volume abridgement). Most Christians will find Singer's comments on his works helpful.
Displaying 1 of 1 review