48
PARTISAN REVIEW
in
the range of life above Sub-man to the stage of Superman. All
human societies, including the modern primitive societies, have accom–
plished the first and so far the greatest of feats by mutating from the
\
sub-human to the human. The twenty-one civilizations have all tried,
7
unsuccessfully, to make the further mutation into the realm of Super–
men,
which Christians call the City of God.
Toynbce's general practice, then, is to enumerate the historical
methods of
his
naturalist or !'cientific predecessors, to find them.
(along with the methods of the German idealists, culminating in
Spengler) inadequate, and to convey his own meaning by the devices
?
of religious mythology. He accuses the naturalists of failing to respect
the Vital Principle, a mistake which he calls the "Apathetic Fallacy."
One senses the relief and exaltation in the pa..<:Sage of
A Study
of
His–
tory
in which Toynbee, having laboriously collected his facts, makes
his far-reaching generalizations. These passages are permeated with
the spirit, as well as most of the words, of the New Testament. Science
;> fails him on the brink of general truth; the study of matter gives
way to the study of Life and Spirit.
The world mythology of death and resurrection-the myth of
Christ is the most perfect example-is the truest intuition of mankind.
2.
The first three volumes of the
History
describe the genesis and
growth of civilizations. When Toynbee asks himself how civilizations
come into being, he first examines the two master explanations of
Race and Environment. In an interpolated essay (a small masterpiece)
?
he dismisses all racial theories of the Houston Stewart Chamberlain
order. He then interprets Race to mean the Divine
elan
as it mani–
fests itself in man. Toynbee canonizes Environment into the weapon
of the Devil.
~in's
"variation," for instance, is really the striving
of the Divine
elan;
"natural selection" is the work of the Devil
through the environment. Civilizations are born by undergoing an
"ordeal" in "response" to a "challenge." They must weather the
7
titanic struggle of superhuman forces which arouse them from the
, static to the dynamic.
The myths of Faust and Job explain the birth process in cosmic
I'
terms. A society is tempted by the Devil to shake off its static torpor.
The Devil challenges God by trying to destroy man; his office is to
'"
