28 Crawford Howell Toy and the Weight of Hermeneutics

Crawford Howell Toy and the Weight of Hermeneutics Paul R. House This article was first presented in 1997 Few figures in Baptist history engender an impetus to open inquiry and dedicated as a Founder’s Day address at The as divergent opinions as Crawford Howell scholarship.”5 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Toy. One of the most brilliant scholars ever It is apparent that each interpreter’s Louisville, Kentucky. to graduate from and teach at The South- theological convictions and vision of theo- ern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was logical education are reflected in his treat- also the first faculty member to resign for ment of Toy. To steal an image from Albert theological reasons, an event that took Schweitzer’s famous comment on the place in 1879. During his lifetime many search for the historical Jesus, when one of his students and friends thought Toy stares down the well of reflection on Toy, was unjustly forced from the seminary. it is amazing how often the historian’s face Though grieved at Toy’s departure, his appears. Still, each of these experts has colleagues James Petigru Boyce and John contributed to a better understanding of Albert Broadus disagreed. They con- the man who served as Southern’s fifth cluded that Toy’s beliefs were not in faculty member. accordance with the institution’s Abstract The goal of this article is to present of Principles, and would eventually lead Toy’s interpretative methodology accu- to his rejection of virtually all supernatu- rately, and to explore its impact on his ral elements of Christianity.1 C. A. Briggs, beliefs. To achieve this aim, it is necessary who was put on ecclesiastical trial by Pres- to survey his life, to examine the devel- byterians for holding similar views, opment of his theological convictions, and lauded Toy as the first American scholar to draw some conclusions from this analy- to suffer for historical-critical beliefs.2 sis that may allow us to learn from our More recently, Toy biographer Billy heritage. Stated simply, this essay argues Grey Hurt has depicted him as a seeker that the weight of any theologian’s under- of truth forced to resign because of lying hermeneutical presuppositions is denominational politics.3 On the other monumental. That is, all interpreters must hand, Tom Nettles and Russ Bush have know why they believe what they believe. described Toy as a man whose positions It is not enough to believe the right things had so changed from his earlier beliefs or even to come to correct conclusions that his resignation was both honest and without knowing why, since an individual appropriate.4 Reflecting yet another opin- who does not know why a belief is held ion, Roy Honeycutt has stated that Toy may alter or abandon it at any time. Tragi- illustrates the seminary’s desire to balance cally, incognizance of this principle may creative challenge and traditional values. render a person incapable of discerning He writes, “Despite the fact that Crawford when that abandonment came, or even Howell Toy was forced to resign from the that it has come. In my opinion, Crawford faculty in 1879 and later abandoned his Howell Toy was such a person. Though heritage, his ideals continued to provide brilliant of mind, perhaps unparalleled in 28 his or any other day as a linguist, and sin- under Broadus’ influence. Moon and Toy cere and honest in his statements, Toy did began a relationship that ended in 1880, not realize the significance of his own when the two decided finally not to marry. hermeneutical system. This unawareness Toy entered The Southern Baptist Theo- led not only to his adoption of theologi- logical Seminary when it opened in 1859. cal views that diverged from conservative He desired to be a foreign missionary. He Christianity, but from Trinitarian Chris- was again a top student, for he managed tianity itself. Sadly, Toy did not heed to complete three-fourths of the three-year Broadus when he belatedly warned him course in a single year. In 1860 Toy was of this flaw. Consequently, he found him- appointed a foreign missionary to Japan self holding opinions in later life that he by the denomination’s Foreign Mission did not think he would hold when he Board. He was also ordained that year, resigned his position in 1879. Though few with Broadus taking a leading role in the scholars dispute that Toy’s ideas changed service.6 Due to the rising national ten- over time, none has observed that Toy’s sions that led to the Civil War, however, interpretative methodology did not change Toy could not go to Japan. Consequently, substantially after 1869. All that remained he taught Greek at the University of Rich- by then was for him to follow the logical mond in the spring term of 1861. path his methodology suggested. When the war broke out, Toy served as a chaplain in the Confederate forces. Toy’s Training He was captured at the battle of Gettys- In many ways, Toy’s background was burg on July 4, 1863, held as a prisoner of typical of other early students at South- war until December 1863, re-enlisted in ern. Born in Virginia in 1836 to Baptist 1864, and spent 1864-1865 teaching at the parents, he entered the University of Vir- University of Alabama.7 At war’s end, Toy ginia in 1852, a time close enough to Tho- returned to the Albermarle Female Insti- mas Jefferson’s death that some professors tute, where he worked until June 1866 could still remember the university’s when he departed for graduate studies founder. Toy quickly established himself in Germany. as a stellar student who had an uncom- It is difficult to judge Toy’s hermeneu- mon facility for languages. He was bap- tics at this time. He had been a student of tized by John Albert Broadus, the pastor Broadus, Boyce, Manly, and Williams. He of the First Baptist Church of Char- was considered doctrinally sound enough lottesville, Virginia, in 1854. Toy main- to be ordained a Baptist minister and to tained a friendly relationship with be appointed a foreign missionary. Letters Broadus until the latter’s death in 1895. he wrote to Virginia’s Baptist state paper Indeed, Broadus recommended Toy to The Religious Herald during 1866-1867, Harvard University after Toy’s resignation though, imply that he was greatly im- at Southern. Graduated in 1856, Toy was pressed by religious feeling, or religious hired as a teacher at Albemarle Female spirit. He praised certain worship services Institute, largely at the request of Broadus, he attended as having the spirit of the who was president of the school’s trust- Lord, despite their possible divergence ees. In 1857 Toy met a student named from conservative theology, a fact pointed Lottie Moon, who became a Christian out by at least one troubled reader of the 29 periodical, who was concerned that Toy sary evolution of Israelite religion from did not grasp the Rationalistic tendencies the simple to the complex and from poly- of some of the preachers he was hearing.8 theism to monotheism, and third, the Toy may have utilized a two-sphere Bible contains many texts that were added hermeneutic at this time, one that divided after the stated authors lived. At the same spiritual and historical matters. For time, Toy was also learning about new example, in defending the conservative theories of human origins by reading Old Testament theologian Hengstenberg Darwin’s Origin of Species, which had against his critics, Toy writes that Heng- appeared in 1859. stenberg preached the “more spiritual Toy returned from Germany in 1868, doctrines of the Scripture” and that his and was employed by Furman University. messages were rejected by the unregen- By the fall of 1869, however, he had agreed erate.9 In discussing Sabbath observance, to teach at Southern Seminary, much to he writes that the Sabbath fits “the spirit the delight of the founding faculty mem- of the Bible,” a phrase he does not bers, who considered him the first fruits explain.10 Toy’s theology is orthodox at of their desire both to educate pastors and this point, to be sure, yet he may already to cultivate first-rate scholars. Toy served display elements of the hermeneutical im- on the seminary faculty in Greenville, precision that became so telling later in South Carolina, from 1869-1877, then in his career. Louisville, Kentucky, during 1877-1879. While in the University of Berlin, Toy was taught by some of the finest scholars Toy’s “Two-Sphere” View in Germany’s best-known university. He Toy’s first duty at the seminary was to studied Sanscrit, Arabic, and Theology. By present his inaugural address on Septem- the late 1860’s the views of Kant, DeWette, ber 1, 1869. Entitled “The Claims of Bibli- Vatke, Graf, and Kuenen were pervasive cal Interpretation on Baptists,”11 this in Berlin, as were the philosophical opin- paper demonstrates Toy’s breadth of ions of Hegel, a faculty member at the knowledge on historical, theological, and university. There is no question that Toy exegetical matters. It is crucial to exam- became thoroughly acquainted with ine this address carefully to assess what Kant’s separation of reason and faith, with most historians have considered Toy’s Vatke’s fundamental principles of source stunning departure from conservative criticism, with Hegel’s notion that history orthodoxy by 1879. consists of an ongoing thesis-antithesis- In his preliminary statements, Toy synthesis collision that leads to progress rightly claims that each interpreter ought from the simple to the complex, and with to pay attention to hermeneutical method, DeWette’s idea that biblical truth is not “for method you must have, whether necessarily tied to full historical accuracy.

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