Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer, Missionary to Africa – 1965
Schweitzer, a theologian, philosopher, organist, authority on Bach, physician, and missionary, was born January 14, 1875 at Kaysersberg, Upper Alsace (now France), the eldest son of a Lutheran pastor. The family soon moved to Gunsbach, which became Schweitzer’s European home until his death. He studied philosophy and theology at Strasbourg and also served as organist. In 1899 he received his doctorate in philosophy and was lecturer in philosophy and preacher at St. Nicholas’ Church. He was ordained January 29, 1900 and later that year received his doctorate in theology. He studied organ under Charles-Marie Widor in Paris, who encouraged him to write a study of the life and art of Bach; the book that resulted was published in 1905 and the English translation (J. S. Bach) in 1911. His Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906, English 1910), in which he suggested the attitudes of Jesus were shaped by his expectation of the immanent end of the world, established Schweitzer as a leading figure in theological studies.
In 1905 Schweitzer announced his intention to become a mission doctor. He resigned his university appointments and abandoned a promising career. In 1912 he married Helene Bresslau, a scholar and a nurse, and in the following year received his doctorate in medicine. On Good Friday1913 the husband and wife set out for Lambarene in Gabon Province of French Equatorial Africa, and on the banks of the Ogooue River they built a hospital.
During World War I, he was interned there as an enemy alien and was held as a prisoner in France. While there, he turned his attention to world problems and wrote the two-volume Philosophy of Civilization (1923) in which he set forth his “reverence for life” in all its forms, which he believed was essential for the survival of civilization. After his release from the internment camp, he was preacher at St. Nicholas’ church until April, 1921. In 1924 he returned to Africa to rebuild the ruined hospital, which he moved two miles up the river. A leper colony was added. In 1952 Schweitzer won the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work on behalf of the “brotherhood of nations.”
Despite his life in Africa, Schweitzer never wholly abandoned his former interest. He continued to write and to lecture throughout Europe, to make recordings, and edit the works of Bach. In 1958 he broadcast from Oslo three appeals called Peace or Atomic War? His autobiography, Out of My Life and Thought, was published in 1933.
Schweitzer has been criticized as patriarchal and autocratic, primitive in his medical practice. Nonetheless, he remains the century’s greatest humanitarian, who by adherence to standards that the world found hard to accept prodded its conscience and inspired generations with his example of sacrifice in response to the gospel parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
Schweitzer died September 4, 1965 in his ninety-first year and was buried at his hospital beside his wife.
Prayer Attributed to Albert Schweitzer
Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering;
for animals that are overworked, underfed and cruelly treated;
for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars;
for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals,
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.