Crawford Howell Toy was an American biblical scholar from Norfolk, VA.. He received his M.A. from the University of Virginia before going on to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, S.C.. His time at the seminary was brief as the Civil War broke out and he became an infantry chaplain for the Confederacy. He continued his studies in the States after the war, but eventually headed to Berlin where he studied theology, Sanskrit, and Semitics. In 1869, the trustees of Southern Seminary invited Toy back, this time to become Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and Oriental Languages. His resignation came after ten years with the seminary due to a theological controversy. From 1880, until his retirement in 1909, Toy was Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard and from 1880-1903 was Dexter Lecturer on Biblical Literature. He was member of the editorial board of The Jewish Encyclopedia, and a contributor to learned journals. Apart from this ICC volume on Proverbs, his notable writings include, Judaism and Christianity, and Introduction to the History of Religions.