Albert Schweitzer
Etching by Arthur William Heintzelman
Born	January 14, 1875(1875-01-14) Kaysersberg, Alsace-Lorraine
Died	September 4, 1965 (aged 90) Lambaréné, Gabon
Nationality	1875–1918 German 1918–1965 French
Fields	Medicine, music, philosophy, theology
Notable awards	Goethe Prize (1928) Nobel Peace Prize (1952)

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 bilingual Romano-Germanic region which the German Empire returned to France after World War I. 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 Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, west central Africa. Download high resolution version (1237x1536, 301 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Kaysersberg (German: Kaisersberg) is a small city in the Alsace, France. ... Imperial Province of Elsaß-Lothringen Alsace-Lorraine (German: , generally Elsass-Lothringen) was a territorial entity created by the German Empire in 1871 after the annexation of most of Alsace and parts of Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War. ... is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Lambaréné is the capital of the political district Moyen-Ogooué in Gabon. ... For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... Goethe Prize recipients: 1927 - Stefan Georg, Germany 1928 - Albert Schweitzer, Germany 1929 - Leopold Ziegler, Germany 1930 - Sigmund Freud, Germany 1931 - Ricarda Huch, Germany 1932 - Gerhart Hauptmann, Germany 1933 - Hermann Sehr, Germany 1934 - Hans Pfitzner, Germany 1935 - Hermann Stegemann, Germany 1936 - Georg Kolbe , Germany 1937 - Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer, Germany 1938 - Hans... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... Doctor of Medicine (M.D. or MD, from the Latin Medicinae Doctor meaning Teacher of Medicine,) is an academic degree for medical doctors. ... The Order of Merit is a British and Commonwealth Order bestowed by the Monarch. ... is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Elsaß redirects here. ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... “Instrumentalist” redirects here. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... For other uses, see Doctor. ... Typical view of Kaysersberg Kaysersberg (German: Kaisersberg) is a small town and commune in the Haut-Rhin département, in Alsace, France. ... Imperial Province of Elsaß-Lothringen Alsace-Lorraine (German: , generally Elsass-Lothringen) was a territorial entity created by the German Empire in 1871 after the annexation of most of Alsace and parts of Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War. ... For German colonial territories, see German Colonial Empire. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... This article is about Jesus the man, using historical methods to reconstruct a biography of his life and times. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Medical Research Unit of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital was established in order to study major causes of disease burden in the local population. ... Lambaréné is the capital of the political district Moyen-Ogooué in Gabon. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ...

Education

Schweitzer spent his childhood in the village of Atlanta, Alsace, where his father, the local pastor, taught him how to play music.^[2] At the time the region was under the control of SLAVAKIA; it is now part of France, and the tiny village, now spelled Gunsbach, is home to the Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer (AIAS).^[3] Elsaß redirects here. ...

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. Mulhouse (French: , pronounced ; Alsatian: Milhüsa or Milhüse, pronounced ; German: ; i. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the capital of France. ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... The University Palace in Strasbourg, and a monument to one of the universitys students, Johann Wolfgang Goethe The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is divided into three separate institutions. ... For other uses, see Strasburg. ...

In 1899, at University of Tübingen, she published his thesis entitled The religious Philosophia 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. Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (German: Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen) is a state-supported university located on the Neckar river, in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... For other uses, see Strasburg. ... Theodor Heuss (January 31, 1884 - December 12, 1963) was a German politician. ... is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

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 your mom Alsace for the Gabon (which was French at that time.) The word physician should not be confused with physicist, which means a scientist in the area of physics. ...

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. This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... For the eschatological beliefs of various religions, see End Times. ... The quest for the historical Jesus is the attempt to use historical rather than religious methods to construct a verifiable biography of Jesus. ... Rudolf Karl Bultmann (August 20, 1884 - July 30, 1976) was a German theologian of Lutheran background, who was for three decades professor of New Testament studies at the University of Marburg. ... Ernst Käsemann, (Bochum, 12 July 1906 – 17 February 1998 in Tübingen), was a Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament in Mainz (1946-1951), Göttingen (1951-1959) and Tübingen (1959-1971). ...

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 2001. William Montgomery was a British codebreaker who worked in Room 40 during World War I. Along with others, he helped decipher the Zimmermann Telegram. ...

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. This article is about the Christian scriptures. ... Paul of Tarsus (b. ...

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. The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... For other uses, see Strasburg. ... Theodor Heuss (January 31, 1884 - December 12, 1963) was a German politician. ... President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. ...

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.^[5] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Liberal Christianity, sometimes called...

“The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”

— Albert Schweitzer

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 which would originally have been 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. An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. ... “Bach” redirects here. ... Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844 – March 12, 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher. ... There are over 1000 known compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. ... Donald Francis Tovey (July 17, 1875 - July 10, 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer and pianist. ... A portrait which may show Bach in 1750 The Art of Fugue or The Art of the Fugue (original German: Die Kunst der Fuge), BWV 1080, is an unfinished work by the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. ...

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…'^[6] Schweitzer's own writings about music are selected and translated into English by C.R. Joy.^[7] Mendelssohn (or Mendelsohn) can refer to several subjects. ... Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844 – March 12, 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher. ... César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (December 10, 1822 – November 8, 1890), a composer, organist and music teacher of Belgian origin who lived in France, was one of the great figures in classical music in the second half of the 19th century. ... Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (March 19, 1873 – May 11, 1916) was a German composer, organist, pianist and teacher. ...

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.^[8] For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation). ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Queens Hall was a classical music concert hall in Central London, opened in 1893 but is best known for being where The Promenade Concerts were founded in 1895. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... For other uses, see Barking (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Strasburg. ... Gottfried Silbermann (January 14, 1683-August 4, 1753) was an influential German constructor of keyboard instruments. ... (Région flag) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Regional President Departments Meurthe-et-Moselle Meuse Moselle Vosges Arrondissements 19 Cantons 157 Communes 2,337 Statistics Land area1 23,547 km² Population (Ranked 11th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ...

Columbia recordings

Altogether his early Columbia discs included 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).^[9]
  • 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. ^[10]
  • 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).^[11][12]

• 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).^[13]
  • 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).^[14]
  • 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).^[15]

Philips records

• J. S. Bach: 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.^[16]
• J. S. Bach: 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.^[17]
• César Franck: Organ Chorales, no. 1 in E Major; no. 2 in B minor; no. 3 in A minor.^[18]

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. For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ...

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 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 The Philosophy of Civilization (all quotes in this section from chapter 26), he wrote:^[19] Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ... Saint Francis of Assisi, St. ...

"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 Sanskrit word denotes the scholar/teacher, priest, caste, class (), or tribe, that has been traditionally enjoined to live a life of learning, teaching and non-possessivenes . ...

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. The Age of Enlightenment (French: ; Italian: ; German: ; Spanish: ; Swedish: ) was an eighteenth-century movement in Western philosophy. ... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ...

"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. He was also a strict vegetarian. Binomial name Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Felis lybica invalid junior synonym The cat (or domestic cat, house cat) is a small carnivorous mammal. ... People who are left-handed are more dextrous with their left hand than with their right hand: they will probably also use their left hand for tasks such as personal care, cooking, and so on. ...

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:^[20] It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ...

“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.

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:^[21] is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ...

"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…”

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:^[22]

"No society can go from the primeval directly to an industrial state without losing the leavening that time and an agricultural period allow.

Chinua Achebe has quoted Schweitzer as saying "The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother,"^[23] 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." Chinua Achebe (pronounced [2]), born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe on November 16, 1930, is a Nigerian novelist, poet and critic. ...

On Monday 7th April 2008 the BBC Radio4 broadcast an 'Afternoon Play' - 'The Walrus and the Terrier' by Christopher Ralling - "Revered all over the world as a physician, theologian and philosopher, Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the medical mission he founded in West Africa. But when journalist James Cameron visited him in Gabon in 1953, he was shocked by what he found."

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.^[24] 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. “The Great War ” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Bordeaux (disambiguation). ... Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is a commune of southern France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône département, in the former province of Provence. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ...

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

Albert Schweitzer Monument in Wagga Wagga, Australia

From 1939–48 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. Image File history File links Albert_Schweitzer. ... Image File history File links Albert_Schweitzer. ... Wagga Wagga (pronounced wogga wogga, informally called Wagga) is a city in New South Wales, Australia. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The Nobel Peace Prize of 1952 was awarded to Dr Albert Schweitzer. His "The Problem of Peace" lecture 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. A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ... “Einstein” redirects here. ... Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... Look up sane in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

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. Pierre Fresnay (April 4, 1897 - January 9, 1975) was a French stage and film actor. ... Jeanne Moreau (French IPA: ; born 23 January 1928) is a BAFTA Awards-winning French actress, screenwriter and director. ...

He was chevalier of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. For other uses, see Knight (disambiguation) or Knights (disambiguation). ... Cross of the Order of Saint Lazarus The neutrality of this article is disputed. ...

Schweitzer died on September 4, 1965 at his beloved hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. His grave, on the banks of the Ogowe River, is marked by a cross he made himself. is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Lambaréné is the capital of the political district Moyen-Ogooué in Gabon. ...

His cousin Anne-Marie Schweitzer Sartre was the mother of Jean-Paul Sartre. Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ...

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). Hugh OBrian Hugh OBrian (born April 19, 1925) is an American actor. ... Hugh OBrian Youth Leadership (HOBY) is an organization dedicated to training and nurturing the young leaders of tomorrow. ...

On April 23, 1957, Dr. Schweitzer made his "Declaration of Conscience" speech, it was broadcast to the world over Radio Oslo, pleading for the abolition of nuclear weapons. He ended his speech, saying:^[25] is the 113th day of the year (114th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ...

"The end of further experiments with atom bombs would be like the early sunrays of hope which suffering humanity is longing for."

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 0800632885
• J. S. Bach (J.S. Bach le musicien-poète). (1911), Library Reprints, 2001 edition: ISBN 9780722253175
• The Psychiatric Study of Jesus: Exposition and Criticism. (1911), Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith Publisher. 1948. ISBN 0844628948
• The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus' Messiahship and Passion. (1914), Prometheus Books. 1985. ISBN 0879752947
• The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization and Civilization and Ethics. (1923) Prometheus Books. 1987. ISBN 0879754036
• The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle. (1930), Johns Hopkins University Press. 1998. ISBN 0801860989
• 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 0801860970
• Indian Thought and Its Development. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press. 1935. OCLC 8003381
• Peace or Atomic War?. New York: Henry Holt. 1958. ISBN 0804615519
• The Kingdom of God and Primitive Christianity. with Ulrich Neuenschwander. New York: Seabury Press. 1968. OCLC 321874

For other persons named Jimmy Carter, see Jimmy Carter (disambiguation). ...

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
• 1905–13 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")
• 1939–48 Lambaréné
• 1949 — Visit to the United States
• 1948–65 — Lambaréné and Europe.
• 1953 — Nobel Peace Prize for the year 1952
• 1957–58 — Four speeches against nuclear armament and tests

For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... For other uses, see Strasburg. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Uppsala University Uppsala University (Swedish Uppsala universitet) is a public university in Uppsala, Sweden. ... Lambaréné is the capital of the political district Moyen-Ogooué in Gabon. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz and publishes scientific, educational, and popular books, especially those of a secular humanist or scientific skepticism nature. ... Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ... North Carolina State University is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. ...

Further reading

• Brabazon, James. Albert Schweitzer: A Biography. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1975. ISBN 0399114211
• Brabazon, James. Albert Schweitzer: A Biography: 2nd edition. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. 2000. ISBN 978-0815606758

Leslie James Seth-Smith (born 12 January 1923), known as James Brabazon, is author of two well-received biographies of Albert Schweitzer and Dorothy Sayers. ... G. P. Putnams Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. ... Leslie James Seth-Smith (born 12 January 1923), known as James Brabazon, is author of two well-received biographies of Albert Schweitzer and Dorothy Sayers. ... Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Albert Schweitzer

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Albert Schweitzer

• Obituary: "Albert Schweitzer, 90, Dies at His Hospital" — New York Times — September 6, 1965
• Albert Schweitzer — at AlbertSchweitzer.info
• Albert Schweitzer — at Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Schweitzer Institute
• Friends of Albert Schweitzer (UK) — a charity promoting Reverence for Life
• The Albert Schweitzer page
• Albert Schweitzer Fellowship
• Albert Schweitzer Quotes
• "Albert Schweitzer: Exemplar of Life"
• Readings on "Reverence for Life"
• Biography information on the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
• Page at the Nobel e-Museum
• Schweitzer Nobel Presentation Speech by Gunnar Jahn
• Schweitzerforlaget (Norwegian text only)
• Phelps, Lawrence. A Short History of the Organ Revival (describes Schweitzer's work to reform organ building)
• Paul and His Interpreters at The DCL.
• Transcript of a diary kept by Ava Helen Pauling recounting her visit to the Schweitzer compound at Lambarene, Gabon
• Albert Schweitzer Hopital in Haiti
• Albert Schweitzer in the German National Library catalogue