Toynbee, Arnold [Excerpt from p. 15 of "Civilization on Trial"]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05508.247 Author/Creator: Toynbee, Arnold Place Written: s.l. Type: Typed quotation signed Date: circa 1948 Pagination: 1 p. 9.1 x 13.8 cm Order a Copy
Discusses the possibility of a divine plan behind the rise and fall of civilizations and speculates that the means of progress in the plan is the learning caused by suffering due to civilization's failures. He cites, for example, Abraham as "an emigre from a civilization in extremis," and wonders what spiritual enlightenment might emerge from the trials of the "displaced persons" in our time.
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