TOYNBEE ABRIDGED

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 947, 4 October 1957, Page 15

TOYNBEE ABRIDGED

A STUDY OF HISTORY, by Arnold Toynbee, abridgment of Volumes VII-X, by D. C. Somervell; | Oxford University Press, English price 25/-. HE last four volumes of Professor Toynbee’s Study..of. History have not, I think, lent themselves to abridgment as readily as the first six, mainly because their theme is less capable of lucid exposition. The fault, therefore, does not lie entirely with Mr Somervell if the present summary is less adequate than its predecessor. After examining the causes leading to the rise and fall of past civilisations, Toynbee begins, in the second part of his work, to assess the services rendered to mankind by civilisations in the period immediately preceding their disintegration. He finds that universal states, or empires in decay, have provided the conditions under which one or other of the higher religions has been born to flourish and endure. Having made this discovery he announces his change of approach to the whole problem of universal history in the following words: "Instead of dealing with churches in terms of civilisations, as hitherto, we shall boldly make the new departure of dealing with civilisations in terms of churches." What was originally assumed to be the end now becomes merely the means of achieving an end. With this postulate in view Toynbee proceeds to discuss contacts between civilisations, the laws of God and nature in relation to human freedom, and, finally, the prospects of survival for a modern Western society which may, unless favoured by unique circumstance, be expected to follow the path of its forerunners. The inquiry ranges round subjects so diverse that one is apt to lose the thread of arguments which seem to have little bearing on the central theme. Toynbee’s path towards eventual conclusion is nothing if not devious. His zealous Christianity finds occasional expression in long sermons which a pragmatist might find irrelevant or an unbeliever might stigmatise as woolly. The Study of History, then, is not for the reader whose time or patience is limited. Its abridgment, however, caters for the man in a hurry, who will be well advised to begin at the end of the book where the contents of all 10 volumes are summarised within the space of a few pages: Mr Somervell is highly skilled in the art of condensation. Only a master of his craft could have performed the delicate task of reducing Toynbee’s work to a simpler and abbreviated form while at the same time preserving its distinctive character.

R. M.

Burdon