Albert Schweitzer

I

Introduction

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), German-born theologian, philosopher, musicologist, medical missionary, and Nobel laureate.

The son of a Lutheran pastor, Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg, Upper Alsace, Germany (now Haut-Rhin Department, France). Schweitzer was educated at the universities of Strasbourg, Paris, and Berlin and received three advanced degrees from Strasbourg—a doctorate in philosophy (1899), a licentiate (a higher degree than a doctorate) in theology (1900), and a doctorate in medicine (1913). He was ordained as the curate of the Lutheran Church of Saint Nicholas in Strasbourg in 1900; a year later he became principal of the theological seminary there. In music he gained fame as an organist and authority on organ construction. His best-known musicological work, Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in French in 1905 and rewritten in German in 1908; an English translation appeared in 1911. In this work Schweitzer emphasized the religious nature of Bach’s music and advocated the simple, undistorted style of performing Bach’s works that was accepted afterward as the standard type of presentation.

II

Religious Writings

Schweitzer established his reputation as a theologian with The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906; trans. 1910), in which he interpreted the life of Jesus in the light of Jesus’ beliefs about death and afterlife. In other theological studies such as The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (1930; trans. 1931), Schweitzer examined the New Testament from the viewpoint of its reputed authors—for example, Schweitzer examined Paul’s letters to learn about his personal experience of the divine.

III

Medicine and Philosophy

At the age of 30 Schweitzer turned away from the successful career he had established in theology and music. From 1905 to 1913 he studied medicine and surgery with the intention of serving humanity by becoming a medical missionary in Africa. In 1913 he and his wife, a trained nurse, went to Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa (now in Gabon), and set up a hospital; there he cared for some 2,000 patients during his first year. For two years during World War I (1914-1918) Schweitzer and his wife, both German nationals, were interned in a prison camp in France. He wrote during that period two volumes of a projected philosophical study of civilization, The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization and Civilization and Ethics (both 1923; trans. 1923). Concerned in these volumes with ethical thought in history, Schweitzer contended that modern civilization is in decay because it lacks the will to love. He suggested that people should develop a philosophy based on what he termed “reverence for life,” embracing with compassion all forms of life.

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Schweitzer remained in Europe for several years after World War I ended. He returned to Africa in 1924, without his wife or their daughter, Rhena, who had been born in 1919. The African climate and internment had left his wife in poor health. In spite of many obstacles, he rebuilt his hospital and equipped it to provide care for thousands of Africans, including 300 lepers. He returned frequently to Europe to lecture, give organ recitals, visit his family, and raise money for his hospital; in 1949 he visited the United States. In 1952 he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Schweitzer died in Lambaréné on September 4, 1965, by which time Rhena had joined him in Africa. She took over the administration of the hospital after his death. Schweitzer’s other works include the theological studies Indian Thought and Its Development (1935; trans. 1936), The Kingdom of God and Primitive Christianity (1967; trans. 1968), and the autobiographical Out of My Life and Thought (1931; trans. 1933).

Schweitzer was world renowned as a musician, ethical philosopher, and humanitarian. The variety of his interests was unified largely by the profound religious meaning he found in the natural world as well as in all of the accomplishments of humankind.