South Bend, October 22, 1975
Arnold J. Toynbee (1889 - 1975)
The world-renowned British historian died today at the age of 86 in York, England. I remember very well the spring semester 1961, which I could spend together with Toynbee at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia [see entry above of April 16, 1961]. Personally not easily accessible, as a lecturer provocative and tending toward extreme formularizations, contested among colleagues, he nonetheless has influenced historiography over decades. From 1934 - 1961 he completed the 12 volumes of his monumental life’s work, A Study of History. This universal history of civilization, which was originally influenced by Oswald Spengler, deals with the rise and decline of high civilizations. In Toynbee’s view, religion stands in the center of human history because it informs about the mystery of life.