Schweitzer, Albert

born Jan. 14, 1875, Kaysersberg, Upper Alsace, Ger.

died Sept. 4, 1965, Lambaréné, Gabon

Alsatian-born German theologian, philosopher, organist, and mission doctor.

In his early years he obtained a degree in philosophy (1899) and became an accomplished organist. In his biography of Johann Sebastian Bach (2 vol., 1905), he viewed Bach as a religious mystic. He also wrote on organ construction and produced an edition of Bach's organ works. His books on religion include several on St. Paul; his Quest of the Historical Jesus (1910) became widely influential. In 1905 he announced he would become a mission doctor and devote himself to philanthropic work. He and his wife moved in 1913 to Lambaréné in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon) and with locals built a hospital on the banks of the Ogooué River, to which they later added a leper colony. In 1952 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of "the Brotherhood of Nations." Two years before his death, his hospital and leper colony were serving 500 patients. His philosophical books discuss his famous principle of "reverence for life."

Albert Schweitzer, photograph by Yousuf Karsh.

© Karsh from Rapho/Photo Researchers

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▪ Alsatian-German theologian and physician

born Jan. 14, 1875, Kaysersberg, Upper Alsace, Ger. [now in France]

died Sept. 4, 1965, Lambaréné, Gabon

 Alsatian-German theologian, philosopher, organist, and mission doctor in equatorial Africa, who received the 1952 Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts in behalf of “the Brotherhood of Nations.”

      The eldest son of a Lutheran pastor, Schweitzer studied philosophy and theology at the University of Strasbourg, where he took the doctor's degree in philosophy in 1899. At the same time, he was also a lecturer in philosophy and a preacher at St. Nicholas' Church, and the following year he received a doctorate in theology. His book Von Reimarus zu Wrede (1906; The Quest of the Historical Jesus) established him as a world figure in theological studies. In this and other works he stressed the eschatological views (concerned with the consummation of history) of Jesus and St. Paul, asserting that their attitudes were formed by expectation of the imminent end of the world.

      During these years Schweitzer also became an accomplished musician, beginning his career as an organist in Strasbourg in 1893. Charles-Marie Widor, his organ teacher in Paris, recognized Schweitzer as a Bach interpreter of unique perception and asked him to write a study of the composer's life and art. The result was J.S. Bach: le musicien-poète (1905). In this work Schweitzer viewed Bach as a religious mystic and likened his music to the impersonal and cosmic forces of the natural world.

      In 1905 Schweitzer announced his intention to become a mission doctor in order to devote himself to philanthropic work, and in 1913 he became a doctor of medicine. With his wife, Hélène Bresslau, who had trained as a nurse in order to assist him, he set out for Lambaréné in the Gabon province of French Equatorial Africa. There, on the banks of the Ogooué (Ogowe) River, Schweitzer, with the help of the natives, built his hospital, which he equipped and maintained from his income, later supplemented by gifts from individuals and foundations in many countries. Interned there briefly as an enemy alien (German), and later in France as a prisoner of war during World War I, he turned his attention increasingly to world problems and was moved to write his Kulturphilosophie (1923; “Philosophy of Civilization”), in which he set forth his personal philosophy of “reverence for life,” an ethical principle involving all living things, which he believed essential to the survival of civilization.

      Schweitzer returned to Africa in 1924 to rebuild the derelict hospital, which he relocated some two miles up the Ogooué River. A leper colony was added later. By 1963 there were 350 patients with their relatives at the hospital and 150 patients in the leper colony, all served by about 36 white physicians, nurses, and varying numbers of native workers.

      Schweitzer never entirely abandoned his musical or scholarly interests. He published Die Mystik des Apostels Paulus (1930; The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle), gave lectures and organ recitals throughout Europe, made recordings, and resumed his editing of Bach's works, begun with Widor in 1911 (Bachs Orgelwerke, 1912–14). His address upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Das Problem des Friedens in der heutigen Welt (1954; The Problem of Peace in the World of Today), had a worldwide circulation.

      Despite the occasional criticisms of Schweitzer's medical practice as being autocratic and primitive, and despite the opposition sometimes raised against his theological works, his influence continues to have a strong moral appeal, frequently serving as a source of encouragement for other medical missionaries.

Additional Reading

George Marshall and David Poling, Schweitzer (1971); James Brabazon, Albert Schweitzer (1975); and James Bentley, Albert Schweitzer: The Enigma (1992), are biographies. Michael Murray, Albert Schweitzer, Musician (1994), illustrates Schweitzer's impact on the music world.

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