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Albert Schweitzer

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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 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", 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, Alsace, where his father, the local pastor, taught him how to play music. At the time the region was under the control of Germany; it is now part of France, and the tiny village, now spelled Gunsbach, is home to the Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer (AIAS).

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 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.

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 2001.

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. He wrote that Jesus and his followers expected the imminent end of the world.

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, 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…' Schweitzer's own writings about music are selected and translated into English by C.R. Joy.

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.

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).
  • 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.
  • 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).

  • 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).
    • 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).
    • 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).

    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.
    • 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.

    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 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:

    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.

    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.

    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:

    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:

    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:

    Chinua Achebe has quoted Schweitzer as saying "The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother," 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. 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 1939–48 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.

    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.

    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 Ogowe 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).

    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:

    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

    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

    References

    Further reading

    External links



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