Albert SchweitzerFrom Wikipedia , the free encyclopediaJump to : navigation , searchDr Albert SchweitzerBornJanuary 14 , 1875 Kaisersberg , Alsace - LorraineDiedSeptember 4 , 1965 ( aged 90 ) Lambaréné , GabonNationality 1875 - 1918 : German 1918 - 1965 : F r e n c h F i e l d T h e o l o g i a n M u s i c i a n P h ilosopherPhysicianNotable prizesNobel Peace Prize 1952 Goethe Prize 1928 Albert Schweitzer , M . D . , OM , ( January 14 , 1875 - September 4 , 1965 ) , was an Alsatian theologian , musician , philosopher , and physician . He was born in Kaisersberg , Alsace - Lorraine ( at that time part of the German Empire ) . After the Allies ' victory in 1918 , he asked for French nationality according to his Alsacian ancestries , and got it without trouble . Later , he 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 . Contents [ hide ] 1 Education 2 Theology 3 Music 4 Philosophy 5 Stance on racial relations 6 Medicine 7 Later life 8 Schweitzer in popular culture 9 Selected bibliography 10 Timeline 11 See also 12 References and external links [ edit ] EducationHe spent his childhood in Gunsbach where his father was a pastor . At that time , his father taught him how to play music . He was a high school student in Mulhouse until 1893 , the year he passed on his " Baccalaureate ". After this , he went to Paris to learn philosophy and music , before coming back to his born place Alsace to learn theology at the Kaiser Wilhelm Universität of Strasbourg . In 1899 , he published at the Tübingen university his memoir entitled " The religious Phylosophia of Kant ", and got in that way his Ph . D . Further to this degree , he bacame pastor at church Saint - Nicolas of Strasbourg , where he officiated at the wedding of Theodor Heuss on April 11 , 1908 . At the age of 30 , he answered the call of " The Society Of The Evangelist Missions Of Paris " who were looking for a Medical Doctor . Here started his medical studies : he left Alsace for the Gabon ( which was French at that time ) . [ edit ] TheologyAs a young theologian he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus ( 1906 ) , by which he gained a great reputation . He later on met Vlad Zakharchenko and they wrote this book , he interpreted the life of Jesus in the light of Jesus ' own eschatological convictions . Schweitzer demonstrated that 19 th 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 . 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 [ 1 ] . He wrote that Jesus and his followers expected the imminent end of the world . [ 2 ] [ edit ] MusicAlbert 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 being 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 . Recordings of Schweitzer playing the music of Bach are available on CD . Albert Schweitzer also made musical performances to raise money for medical supplies in Gabon . When working in Africa without access to an organ he practiced by playing on a table . [ edit ] PhilosophySchweitzer ' 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 object to . 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 a life of not following it : the history of world philosophies and religions clearly 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 . Nevertheless , 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 will 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 . [ edit ] Stance on racial relationsSchweitzer 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 ter ­ rible 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 1960 s . 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 . " [ 2 ] , 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 20 th 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 . "[ edit ] MedicineAlbert 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 . In 1914 World War I began and because he was a German in a French colony , Schweitzer and his wife were temporarily placed under house arrest . In 1917 they were sent to be interned in Garaison , France , and in 1918 in Saint - Rémy - de - Provence . There he studied and wrote as much as possible in preparation for , among others , his famous book Culture and Ethics ( published in 1923 ) . In July 1918 he was a free man again , and while working as a medical assistant and assistant - pastor in Strassburg , he was able to finish the book . In the meantime , he began to speak and lecture about his ideas wherever he was invited . Not only did he want his philosophy on culture and ethics to become widely known , it also served 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 . [ edit ] Later lifeFrom 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 Schweitzer . 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 in Lambaréné , Gabon . 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 ) . [ edit ] Schweitzer in popular cultureSkippers 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 ")[ 3 ] The Peanuts series makes various references to Schweitzer . Various references to Schweitzer are made in M * A * S * H . Kurt Vonnegut ' s Cat ' s Cradle makes reference to Schweitzer . 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 . " In Breakfast at Tiffany ' s , Holly Golightly , played by Audrey Hepburn , selects Schweitzer ( among others ) as her " ideal . " 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 Frank Oz directed film What About Bob ? , Bob Wiley ( played by Bill Murray ) references Albert Schweitzer while being interviewed for Good Morning America . In the 1995 film The Net , Sandra Bullock ' s character describes her ideal man as a cross between Captain America and Albert Schweitzer . In the 1987 film Empire of the Sun , Basie ( played by John Malkovich ) says to Jim ( played by Christian Bale ) , " How ' s your friend , Dr . 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 the 1963 Amazing Spider - Man # 3 when Spider - Man breaks through a window to surprise Doctor Octopus , the Doctor exclaims " Spider - man ! ", to which Spider - man replies " Well , I sure ain ' t Albert Schweitzer ! " 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 . " [ edit ] Selected bibliographyThe 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 ) [ edit ] 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 [ edit ] See alsoChristian EschatologyAlbert Schweitzer InstituteAlbert Schweitzer HospitalHopital Albert Schweitzer Haiti [ edit ] References and external links ^ Nobel Peace Prize 1952 - Presentation Speech ^ Review of " The Mystery of the Kingdom of God " Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to : Albert SchweitzerWikimedia Commons has media related to : Albert SchweitzerObituary , NY Times , September 6 , 1965 Albert Schweitzer , 90 , Dies at His HospitalAlbert Schweitzer : a Biography by James Brabazon - the definitive biography Albert Schweitzer - information on Albert Schweitzer ' s life and thought Encyclopaedia Britannica , Albert Schweitzer [ 4 ] - the Schweitzer InstituteFriends of Albert Schweitzer ( UK ) - a charity promoting Reverence for Life The Albert Schweitzer PageAlbert Schweitzer FellowshipALBERT SCHWEITZER : EXEMPLAR OF LIFEReadings on Reverence for LifeBiography information on the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize LaureatePage at the Nobel e - MuseumSchweitzer Nobel Presentation Speech by Gunnar JahnSchweitzerforlaget ( 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 . Hopital Albert Schweitzer Haiti Works by and about Albert Schweitzer in the German National Library catalogue