Background

Crawford was born on March 23, 1836 in Norfolk, Va. He was the eldest of a family of nine children. His father, Thomas Dallam Toy, a man of influence in the community and of reputation as a scholar, was of English descent. His mother, Amelia Ann (Rogers) Toy, was the grand-daughter of a Revolutionary officer.

Education

Crawford prepared for college at the Norfolk Academy and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1856.

After teaching English for three years at the Albemarle Female Institute in Charlottesville, he studied theology for one year at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, S. C. , with the intention of becoming a missionary in Japan. The Civil War put an end to this plan.

Career

In October 1861 he entered the Confederate service, first as private in artillery and then as chaplain in infantry. Captured at Gettysburg in July 1863 and exchanged in December, he again entered the army, serving until the summer of 1864.

After the war he taught Greek for a year in the University of Virginia, and then spent two years in Germany studying theology and the Semitic languages at Berlin. In 1869 he was made professor of Old Testament interpretation in the Southern Baptist Seminary, which in 1877 removed from Greenville, S. C. , to Louisville, Ky. ; and during the ten years of his service he earned a wide reputation as teacher and scholar. In May 1879 he resigned his chair because of his inability to accept the doctrine of inspiration of the Scriptures which there and then was insisted upon.

Removing to New York, he acted as literary editor of the Independent until, in 1880, he was called to Harvard as Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental languages. He became professor emeritus in 1909.

At Harvard Toy ranked as one of the foremost members of the faculty and became widely known through his publications. His Quotations in the New Testament appeared in 1884, and in 1890 his Judaism and Christianity, a sketch of the progress of thought from the Old Testament to the New. These books show Toy's sound scholarship, the clearness and simplicity of his literary style, and the qualities always characteristic of his work: moderation, independence with modesty, and a remarkable freedom from prejudice. His A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs (1899) and Introduction to the History of Religions (1913) were achievements for which he was especially fitted by his breadth of view and his didactic habit of mind.

The latter work was in the field which absorbed his attention in his later years. He founded a club for the study of the history of religions; and when a volume of essays by his pupils, colleagues, and friends was presented to him after his retirement, it was entitled Studies in the History of Religions (1912).

Among Toy's more important publications in the Biblical field were two volumes in the Polychrome Bible series, each entitled The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: the one, a critical edition of the Hebrew text, with notes; the other, a new English translation. These appeared in 1899. He also published valuable articles in the Encyclopaedia Biblica, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Jewish Enycyclopedia, of which he was one of the editors. His contributions to learned journals covered a wide range of subjects. A brief popular History of the Religion of Israel (1882) went through many editions.

He died in 1919.

Achievements

• Crawford Howell Toy is remembered as the professor of Hebrew in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (first in Greenville, South Carolina, and after 1877 in Louisville, Kentucky), and in 1880 he became professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages at Harvard University, where until 1903 he was also Dexter lecturer on biblical literature.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text with Notes

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Introduction to the History of Religions - Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV

    (Introduction to the History of Religions - Handbooks on t...)

  • Judaism and Christianity: A Sketch of the Progtess of Thought from Old Testament to New Testament (Classic Reprint)

    (For details on this point I refer to the well-known works...)

  • Quotations in the New Testament

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs, Volume 16

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Membership

He originated two learned societies at Harvard: the Biblical Club, which met in Boston and included in its membership professors in neighboring institutions, and the Semitic Conference, designed mainly for advanced students

Connections

In 1888 he married Nancy, daughter of the Rev. R. M. Saunders of Norfolk, Va. They had no children.

Father:

Thomas Dallam Toy

He was a man of influence in the community and of reputation as a scholar, was of English descent.

Mother:

Amelia Ann (Rogers) Toy

She was the grand-daughter of a Revolutionary officer.

Spouse:

Nancy Toy

References

• The New Lottie Moon Story
• The Development of Harvard University Since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929