Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM,
(January 14, 1875 – September
4, 1965), was an Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and
physician. He was born in Kaisersberg in Alsace-Lorraine, a Germanophone region which the
German Empire ceded to France after World War I, with local Elsässer like Schweitzer having to assume
French nationality, or leave. Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of historical Jesus current at his time and the traditional Christian view, depicting a Jesus who expected
the imminent end of the world. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace
Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "reverence for
life"[1], expressed in many ways, but most famously
in founding and sustaining the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon,
west central Africa.
Education
Schweitzer spent his childhood in the village of Günsbach, where his
father[2], the local pastor, taught him how to play music.
The small place, now spelled Gunsbach, is home to the International Albert Schweitzer
Association AISL [3]
He was a high school student in Mühlhausen until 1893, the
year he passed on his "Baccalaureat". After this, he went to Paris to learn
philosophy and music, before returning to his birthplace
Alsace where he studied theology at the Kaiser Wilhelm Universität of Strasbourg.
In 1899, at University of
Tübingen, he published his memoir entitled The religious Phylosophia of Kant, which earned him his Ph.D. Later, he became pastor
at the church Saint-Nicolas of Strasbourg, where he officiated at the wedding of
Theodor Heuss on April 11 1908.
At the age of 30, in 1905, he answered the call of "The Society Of The Evangelist Missions Of Paris" who were looking
for a Medical Doctor. He began his medical studies and eventually left Alsace for the
Gabon (which was French at that time).
Theology
As a young theologian he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906), by which he gained a great reputation. In
this book, he interpreted the life of Jesus in the light of Jesus' own eschatological convictions. Schweitzer demonstrated that 19th century "liberal lives of Jesus" produced by
those who sought to reimage Jesus through historical study were reflections of the authors' own historical and social contexts.
This work effectively ended for decades the Quest for the Historical
Jesus as a subdiscipline of New Testament studies, until the development of the so-called "Second Quest," among whose
notable exponents was Rudolf Bultmann's student Ernst
Käsemann. The original edition was translated into English by William
Montgomery and published in 1910. A second German edition was published in 1913, containing theologically significant
revisions and expansions. This revised edition did not appear in English until 2003.
Schweitzer established his reputation further as a New Testament scholar with other
theological studies including his medical degree dissertation, The Psychiatric Study of Jesus (1911), and The Mysticism
of Paul the Apostle (1930). In his study of Paul he examined the eschatological
beliefs of Paul and through this the message of the New Testament.
During his tenure as a Lutheran minister for St. Nicholas church in Strassburg, he blessed the wedding of Theodor Heuss, who was to become
the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Schweitzer's theology leans towards the kind of theology espoused in Liberal
Christianity [4]. He wrote that Jesus and his followers expected the imminent end of the
world.[4]
Music
Schweitzer was a famous organist in his day and was highly interested in the music of
Johann Sebastian Bach. He developed a simple style of performance, which he
thought to be closer to what Bach had meant it to be. He based his interpretation mainly on his reassessment of Bach's religious
intentions. While studying with Charles-Marie Widor in Paris, he astonished his
teacher by explaining the imagery in Bach's chorale preludes through the hymn texts that would be sung to their melodies, an
approach that had apparently never occurred to the older man. Through the book Johann Sebastian Bach, the final version of
which he completed in 1908, he advocated this new style, which has had great influence in the way Bach's music is now treated.
Widor and Schweitzer collaborated on a new complete edition of Bach's organ works. His pamphlet "The Art of Organ Building and Organ Playing in
Germany and France" (1906) effectively launched the twentieth-century Orgelbewegung, which turned away from romantic
extremes and rediscovered baroque principles -- although this sweeping reform movement in organ building eventually went further
than Schweitzer himself had intended. He also made musical performances to raise money for medical supplies in Gabon. Sir
Donald Tovey dedicated his completion of the 18th Contrapunctus of Bach's Die Kunst
der Fuge (Art of the Fugue) to Schweitzer.
On his departure for Lambarene in 1913 he was presented with a piano with pedal attachments (to operate like an organ
pedal-keyboard) by the Paris Bach Society, and in the years which followed his principal means of recreation was to play Bach's
music on it during the lunch hour and on Sunday afternoons. The piano was built specially for the tropics and was conveyed to his
Lambarene bungalow packed in a zinc-lined case and delivered by river in a huge dug-out canoe. At first he regarded his new life
in the Lambaréné mission as a renunciation of his life as an artist, and fell out of practise, but after some time he resolved on
a systematic plan to study the works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Widor, César Franck, and Max
Reger, and to learn them by heart. Schweitzer's piano-organ was still in use at Lambaréné in 1946. During a visit to
Strasbourg in 1928 he gave a private improvisation for his colleague Mrs Russell at St Nicholas Church. She recalled, 'It was all
full of the magic of the African forest, the moonlight in the jungle and on the river, the merry gambols of the little monkeys in
the trees when the sun is shining...'[5] Schweitzer's own
writings about music are selected and translated into English by C.R. Joy.[6]
Recordings
Recordings of Schweitzer playing the music of Bach are available on CD. During 1934 and 1935 he was for some time in
Britain, delivering the Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh,
and those on Religion in Modern Civilization at Oxford and London. He had originally conducted trials for recordings for HMV on the organ of the old
Queen's Hall in London. These records did not satisfy him, the instrument being too harsh.
In mid-December 1935 he began to record for Columbia Records on the organ of
All-Hallows-by-the-Tower, Barking (London). Then at his suggestion the sessions were transferred
to the church of Ste Aurélie in Strasbourg, on a mid-18th century organ by Johann Andreas
Silbermann (brother of Gottfried), an organ-builder greatly revered by Bach, which
had been restored by the Lorraine organ-builder Frédéric
Härpfer shortly before the First World War. These recordings were made in the course of a fortnight in October
1936.[7]
His early Columbia discs included altogether 25 records of Bach and 8 of César Franck. The Bach titles were mainly distributed
as follows:
Queen's Hall: Organ Prelude and Fugue in E minor (Peters Vol 3, 10); Herzlich thut mich verlangen/Wenn wir in höchsten
Nöten sein (Vol 7, 58).[8]
All Hallows: Prelude and Fugue in C major; Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (the Great); Prelude and Fugue in G major;
Prelude and Fugue in F minor; Little Fugue in G minor; Toccata and Fugue in D minor. [9]
Ste Aurélie: Prelude and Fugue in C minor; Prelude and Fugue in E minor; Toccata and Fugue in D minor; Schmücke dich, O
liebe Seele (Vol 7, 49); O Mensch, bewein' dein Sünde groß (Vol 5, 45); O Lamm' Gottes, unschuldig (Vol 7, 48); Christus der uns
selig macht (Vol 5, 8); Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stand (Vol 5, 9); An Waßerflüßen Babylon (Vol 6, 12b); Christum wir wollen loben
schon (Vol 5, 6); Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Vol 5, app 5); Mit Fried' und Freud' ich fahr' dahin (Vol 5, 4); Sei gegrusset,
Jesu gutig (Var 11, Vol 5, app. 3); Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (Vol 6, 31); Christ lag in Todesbanden (Vol 5, 5); Erschienen
ist der herrlich' Tag? (Vol 5, 15).[10]
Later recordings were made at:
Parish church, Günsbach: Fugue in A minor (Peters, Vol 2, 8); Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (Great) (Vol 2, 4); Toccata,
Adagio and Fugue in C major (Vol 3, 8).[11].Prelude in C
major (Vol 4, 1); Prelude in D major (Vol 4, 3); Canzona in D minor (Vol 4, 10) (with Mendelssohn, Sonata in D minor op
65.6)[12].Chorale-Preludes: O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde
gross (1st and 2nd vsns, Peters Vol 5, 45); Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein (vol 17, 58); Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (Vol
5, 30); Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (Vol 5, 17); Herzlich tut mich verlangen (Vol 5, 27); Nun komm', der Heiden Heiland (vol 7,
45)[13]
There are also issues on Philips records:
Prelude and Fugue in A major, BWV 536; Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 534; Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544; Toccata and
Fugue in D minor, BWV 538.[14] Passacaglia in C minor,
BWV 582; Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 533; Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543; Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 541;
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565.[15]
Philosophy
Schweitzer's worldview was based on his idea of reverence for life ("Ehrfurcht vor dem
Leben"), which he believed to be his greatest single contribution to humankind. His view was that Western civilization was in decay because of gradually abandoning its ethical
foundations - those of affirmation of life.
It was his firm conviction that the respect for life is the highest principle. In a similar kind of exaltation of life to that
of Friedrich Nietzsche, a recently influential philosopher of the time, Schweitzer
admittedly followed the same line as that of the Russian Leo Tolstoy. Some people in his
days compared his philosophy with that of Francis of Assisi, a comparison he did not
contest. In his book Philosophy of Civilisation (all quotes in this section from chapter 26), he wrote:
True philosophy must start from the most immediate and comprehensive fact of consciousness: 'I am life that wants to live, in
the midst of life that wants to live'.
Life and love in his view are based on, and follow out of the same principle: respect for every manifestation of life, and a
personal, spiritual relationship towards the universe. Ethics, according to Schweitzer, consists in the compulsion to show
toward the will-to-live of each and every being the same reverence as one does to one's own. Circumstances where we apparently
fail to satisfy this compulsion should not lead us to defeatism, since the will-to-live renews itself again and again, as an
outcome of an evolutionary necessity and a phenomenon with a spiritual dimension.
However, as Schweitzer himself pointed out, it is neither impossible nor difficult to spend one's life and not follow it: the
history of world philosophies and religions shows many instances of denial of the principle of reverence for life. He points to
the prevailing philosophy in the European Middle Ages, and the Indian Brahminic philosophy as
examples. Nevertheless, he contends that this kind of attitude lacks genuineness.
The will to live is naturally both parasitic and antagonistic towards other forms of life. Only in the thinking being has the
will to live become conscious of other wills to live, and desirous of solidarity with it. This solidarity, however, cannot be
brought about, because human life does not escape the puzzling and horrible circumstance that it must live at the cost of other
life. But as an ethical being one strives to escape whenever possible from this necessity, and to put a stop to this disunion of
the Will to live, so far as it is within one's power.
Schweitzer advocated the concept of reverence for life widely throughout his entire life. The historical Enlightenment waned and corrupted itself, Schweitzer held, because it has not been well enough
grounded in thought, but compulsively followed the ethical will-to-live. Hence, he looked forward to a renewed and more profound
Renaissance and Enlightenment of humanity (a view he expressed in the epilogue of his
autobiography, Out of My Life and Thought). Albert Schweitzer nourished hope in a humankind that is more profoundly aware
of its position in the Universe. His optimism was based in "belief in truth". "The spirit generated by [conceiving of] truth is
greater than the force of circumstances." He persistently emphasized the necessity to think, rather than merely acting on basis
of passing impulses or by following the most widespread opinions.
Never for a moment do we lay aside our mistrust of the ideals established by society, and of the convictions which are kept by
it in circulation. We always know that society is full of folly and will deceive us in the matter of humanity. [...] humanity
meaning consideration for the existence and the happiness of individual human beings.
Respect for life, resulting from contemplation on one's own conscious will to live, leads the individual to live in the
service of other people and of every living creature. Schweitzer was much respected for putting his theory into practice in his
own life. He was, for instance, a well-known cat lover, who, although left-handed, would write with his right hand rather than disturb the cat who would sleep on his left
arm.
Stance on racial relations
Schweitzer considered his work as a medical missionary in Africa to be his response to Jesus' call to become "fishers of men"
but also as a small recompense for the historic guilt of European colonizers: "Who can
describe the injustice and cruelties that in the course of centuries they [the coloured peoples] have suffered at the hands of
Europeans? . . . If a record could be compiled of all that has happened between the white and the coloured races, it would make a
book containing numbers of pages which the reader would have to turn over unread because their contents would be too horrible."
(On the Edge of the Primeval Forest, p. 115). Rather than being a supporter of colonialism, Schweitzer was one of its
harshest critics. In a sermon that he preached on January 6, 1905, before he had told anyone of his plans to dedicate the rest of
his life to work as a doctor in Africa, he said:
''Our culture divides people into two classes: civilized men, a title bestowed on the persons who do the classifying; and
others, who have only the human form, who may perish or go to the dogs for all the "civilized men" care.
Oh, this "noble" culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and then disregards this dignity
and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of
different color or because they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full of glib talk
it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what it has done there, and this culture has no right
to speak of personal dignity and human rights...
I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the pretext of justice. People robbed native inhabitants
of their land, made slaves of them, let loose the scum of mankind upon them. Think of the atrocities that were perpetrated upon
people made subservient to us, how systematically we have ruined them with our alcoholic "gifts," and everything else we have
done…We decimate them, and then, by the stroke of a pen, we take their land so they have nothing left at all…
If all this oppression and all this sin and shame are perpetrated under the eye of the German God, or the American God, or
the British God, and if our states do not feel obliged first to lay aside their claim to be "Christian" - then the name of Jesus
is blasphemed and made a mockery. And the Christianity of our states is blasphemed and made a mockery before those poor people.
The name of Jesus has become a curse, and our Christianity - yours and mine - has become a falsehood and a disgrace, if the
crimes are not atoned for in the very place where they were instigated. For every person who committed an atrocity in Jesus'
name, someone must step in to help in Jesus' name; for every person who robbed, someone must bring a replacement; for everyone
who cursed, someone must bless.
And now, when you speak about missions, let this be your message: We must make atonement for all the terrible crimes we
read of in the newspapers. We must make atonement for the still worse ones, which we do not read about in the papers, crimes that
are shrouded in the silence of the jungle night…'' [Source: Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings. (James Brabazon, ed.,
Orbis Books, 2005. pp. 76-80.]
Schweitzer was nonetheless still sometimes accused of being paternalistic or colonialist in his attitude towards Africans, and
in some ways his views did differ from many liberals of the 1960s. For instance, he thought Gabonese independence came too early,
without adequate education or accommodation to local circumstances. Edgar Berman quotes Schweitzer speaking these lines in 1960:
"No society can go from the primeval directly to an industrial state without losing the leavening that time and an agricultural
period allow." (In Africa With Schweitzer, p. 139). Chinua Achebe has quoted
Schweitzer as saying "The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother." [5], which Achebe
criticized him for, though Achebe seems to acknowledge that Schweitzer's use of the word "brother" at all was, for a European of
the early 20th century, an unusual expression of human solidarity between whites and blacks. Later in his life, Schweitzer was
quoted as saying "The time for speaking of older and younger brothers has passed."
Medicine
Albert Schweitzer spent most of his life in Lambaréné in what is now Gabon, Africa. After his
medical studies in 1913, he went there with his wife to establish a hospital near an already existing mission post.
When World War I broke out in summer of 1914, Schweitzer and his wife, Germans in a
French colony, were put under supervision by the French military.[16] In 1917 they were brought to Bordeaux, to be interned first in
Garaison, and then from March 1918 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. In July 1918, after having been transferred via Switzerland to his home in the Alsace, he was a free man again. In the mean time, he had studied and written
as much as possible in preparation for, among other, his famous book Culture and Ethics.
While working as a medical assistant and assistant-pastor in Strassburg, he was able to finish the book, to be published in 1923.
He began to speak and lecture about his ideas wherever he was invited, not only because he wanted his philosophy on
culture and ethics to become widely known, but also as a means
to raise money for the hospital in Lambaréné, for which he had already emptied his own pockets.
In 1924 he returned to Lambaréné, where he managed to rebuild the decayed hospital, after which he resumed his medical
practices. Soon he was no longer the only medical doctor in the hospital, and whenever possible he went to Europe to lecture at
universities. Gradually his opinions and concepts became acknowledged, not only in Europe, but worldwide.
Later life
From 1939-1948 he stayed in Lambaréné, unable to go back to Europe in war. Three years after the end of World War II, in 1948, he returned for the first time to Europe and kept traveling back and forth (and once
to the USA) as long as he could until his death in 1965.
The Nobel Peace Prize of 1952 was awarded to Dr Albert Schweizer. The Problem of Peace lecture by Albert Schweitzer is considered one of
the best speeches ever given.
From 1952 until his death he worked against nuclear tests and nuclear weapons with Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell. In 1957 and 1958 he broadcast four speeches over Radio Oslo which were published in
Peace or Atomic War. In 1957, Schweitzer was one of the founders of The Committee for a
Sane Nuclear Policy.
His life was portrayed in the 1952 movie Il est minuit, Docteur Schweitzer, starring Pierre Fresnay as Albert Schweitzer and Jeanne Moreau as his nurse
Marie.
He was chevalier of the Military and Hospitaller
Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.
Schweitzer died on September 4, 1965 at his beloved
hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. His grave, on the banks of the
Ogooue River, is marked by a cross he made himself.
His cousin Anne-Marie Schweitzer Sartre was the mother of Jean-Paul Sartre.
Schweitzer inspired actor Hugh O'Brian when O'Brian visited in Africa. O'Brian returned
to the United States and founded the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership
Foundation (HOBY).
Schweitzer in popular culture
- Fred Rogers, of "MisterRogers' Neighborhood" has cited Schweitzer as one of his heroes.
- Skippers on the Jungle Cruise ride at the Magic
Kingdom of the Walt Disney World Resort and in Disneyland, Anaheim point
out a recreation of Schweitzer Falls on the journey. "There you can see Schweitzer Falls, named
after the world famous explorer, Dr. Albert Falls," is the joke that usually follows.
- In the Young Indiana Jones television series, Indy is
healed by and stays with Dr. Schweitzer for a short while. Indy's experience with the doctor is said to completely change his
outlook on life.
- On Star Trek: Voyager, the holographic character known for most of the
series simply as "Doctor" chooses the name "Albert Schweitzer" for himself while engaging on his first away mission. (Season 1,
Episode 11 - "Heroes & Demons")[6]
- The Peanuts series makes various references to Schweitzer.
- Various references to Schweitzer are made in M*A*S*H.
- Moe of The Simpsons makes reference to Homer's liberal leadership of the
Stonecutters stating "He's gone mad with power, like that Albert Schweitzer guy."
- In The Dark Tower V - Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King references Albert
Schweitzer "getting out of a bathtub and not quite stepping on the cake of soap lying beside the pulled plug." When Eddie is
imagining important historical "great things and near misses."
- The Animal Welfare Institute recently published The Boy Who Loved All Living Things: The
Imaginary Childhood Journal of Albert Schweitzer, written and illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka. Inspired by Dr. Albert
Schweitzer’s youth and message of compassion, the book teaches young children that animals are friends who should be treated with
the utmost respect.
- In the 1995 film The Net, Sandra Bullock's character describes her ideal man
as a cross between Captain America and Albert Schweitzer.
- In Eddie Izzard's 1998 stand-up show Dress to
Kill, Eddie - known and appreciated for his cerebral humor - passingly mentions Schweitzer with the joking comment,
"...and in the words of Albert Schweitzer: I fancy you."
- In Waking Life, characters discuss having a dream about having an interesting
conversation with Schweitzer
- In the 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie, Rose Alvarez tells Kim Macafee that all
men are awful except for Albert Schweitzer, "but I'm not his type."
Selected bibliography
- The Quest Of The Historical Jesus; A Critical Study Of Its Progress From Reimarus To Wrede, (1906), Augsburg Fortress
Publishers, 2001 edition: ISBN 0-8006-3288-5
- The Psychiatric Study of Jesus: Exposition and Criticism, (1911), Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith Publisher,
1948, ISBN 0-8446-2894-8
- The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus' Messiahship and Passion, (1914), Prometheus Books, 1985, ISBN
0-87975-294-7
- The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization and Civilization and Ethics (1923) combined in one volume,
Prometheus Books, 1987, ISBN 0-87975-403-6
- The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, (1930), Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8018-6098-9
- Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography ("Aus Meinem Leben und Denken", Felix Meiner Verlag, Leipzig, 1931),
(English Translation 1933, George Allen & Unwin, Woking) Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998 edition with forward by
Jimmy Carter: ISBN 0-8018-6097-0
- Indian Thought and Its Development (1935)
- Peace or Atomic War 1958
- The Kingdom of God and Primitive Christianity (pub.1967)
Timeline
- 1893 - Studied Philosophy and Theology at the
Universities of Strassburg, Berlin and Paris
- 1900 - Pastor of the Church of St. Nicolas in Strassburg
- 1901 - Principal of the Theological Seminary in Strassburg
- 1905-1913 Studied medicine and surgery
- 1912 - Married Helene Bresslau
- 1913 - Physician in Lambaréné, Africa
- 1915 - Developed his ethic Reverence for life
- 1917 - Interned in France
- 1918 - Medical assistant and assistant-pastor in Strassburg
- 1919 - First major speech about Reverence for life at the University of
Uppsala, Sweden
- 1919 - Birth of daughter, Rhena
- 1924 - Return to Lambaréné as physician; frequent visits to Europe for speaking engagements
- 1931 - Autobiography published "Aus Meinem Leben und Denken" ("Out Of My Life and Thought")
- 1939-1948 Lambaréné
- 1949 - Visit to the United States
- 1948-1965 - Lambaréné and Europe.
- 1953 - Nobel Peace Prize for the year 1952
- 1957 - 1958 - Four speeches against nuclear armament and tests
April 23, 1957 -- Dr. Schweitzer's Declaration of Conscience, was broadcast to the world over Radio Oslo, pleading for the
abolition of nuclear weapons. He ended his speech, saying, "The end of further experiments with atom bombs would be like the
early sunrays of hope which suffering humanity is longing for."
You can read the speech at http://tennesseeplayers.org/declaration.html
References and external links
- ^ Nobel Peace Prize 1952
- Presentation Speech
- ^ Family tree [1]
- ^ Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer [2]
- ^ Review of "The Mystery of the Kingdom of God"
- ^ G. Seaver, Albert Schweitzer, The Man and his Mind, 4th edn, London
1951, 63-64, 112-113, 139-152).
- ^ Music in the Life of Albert Schweitzer, edited by Charles R Joy
(London, A & C Black 1953).
- ^ Seaver 1951, passim.
- ^ (78 rpm HMV C 1532 and C 1543), cf R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop
Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York 1936).
- ^ (78 rpm Columbia ROX 146-152), cf Darrell, op.cit.
- ^ See C R Joy, 1953, 226-230. The 78s were issued in albums, with a specially
designed record label. (Columbia ROX 8020-8023, 8032-8035, etc). Ste Aurélie recordings appeared also on LP as Columbia
33CX1249).See E.M.I., A Complete List of EMI, Columbia, Parlophone and MGM Long Playing Records issued up to and including
June 1955 (London 1955) for this and discographical details following.
- ^ (Columbia LP 33CX1074)
- ^ (Columbia LP 33CX1084)
- ^ (Columbia LP 33CX1081).
- ^ See E.M.G., The Art of Record Buying (London 1960), pp 12-13.
Philips ABL 3092, issued March 1956.
- ^ E.M.G., op. cit., Philips ABL 3134, issued September 1956. Other
selections are on Philips GBL 5509.
- ^ Timeline [3]
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