Schweitzer, Albert

(1875–1965)

   Theologian and Missionary.

   Schweitzer was born in Kaiserberg, Alsace, and he was educated at Strasbourg, Berlin and Paris.

   As a theologian, he is chiefly remembered for his Von Reimarus zu Wrede, translated into English as the Quest for the Historical Jesus. It caused a sensation. He argued that the attempt of the nineteenth-century theologians to reconstruct the evidence and discover the historical Jesus was merely a sophisticated exercise in narcissism. The real Jesus was an eschatological figure, making radical demands because he was convinced that the world was soon to come to an end. This was far removed from the delightful teacher and compassionate healer of the liberal Protestant imagination. After medical training, he left Germany in 1913 to settle in French Equatorial Africa as a medical missionary. He established a hospital and, with a few interuptions, he dedicated the rest of his life to it. During this period, he developed an ethical philosophy of reverence for life and in 1952 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Although he has been criticised as being too paternalistic, he is generally regarded as a twentiethcentury saint.

   J. Brabazon, Albert Schweitzer: A Biography (1976);

   H. Clark, The Philosophy of Albert Schweitzer (1964);

   G. McKnight, Verdict on Schweitzer (1964);

   Albert Schweitzer, My Life and Thought (1933).