An English historian Arnold Toynbee
(1889-1975) published his greatest work in
the twelve-volume A Study of History (1934-
1961). He compared the history of twentysix
different civilizations, which everyone
follows a similar pattern of evolution
through a cyclical pattern of growth,
maturity, and decay. He believed that societies
thrive best in response to challenges and that
a society’s most important task is to create
a religion. He never defined civilization
clearly. Though he saw the Western
Civilization to be in its decay phase, he
saw hope for the future formation of one
spiritually oriented world community.