Short biography albert schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer in the media

1. Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a musician, philosopher, theologian, doctor and pioneer of humanitarian aid. In 1913, he founded a hospital in Gabon, and in 1915 he developed the “Reverence for Life” ethic. In the 20th century, Americans considered him to be “the greatest man in the world”. His correspondence with numerous personalities from all over the world is immense (J.F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, the Queens of England, Belgium and the Netherlands, Abbé Pierre, the Dalai Lama, etc.). He inspired figures such as Rachel Carson, Karen Blixen, Joséphine Baker and the founders of Doctors Without Borders. When he died, Martin Luther King reacted by writing that it was “one of the brightest stars in the human firmament” that was extinguished with Schweitzer. “Compared to some of the giants who have received this prize – Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela – my achievements pale in comparison”, was how Barack Obama began his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 2009.
Albert Schweitzer remains one of the best-known French Nobel Prize winners in the world, but is virtually absent from the national media in France…

German-French theologian and philosopher (1875–1965)

For the film, see Albert Schweitzer (film). For the American artist, see Albert Schweitzer (artist). For other uses, see Albert Schweitzer (disambiguation).

Ludwig Philipp Albert SchweitzerOM (German:[ˈalbɛʁtˈʃvaɪtsɐ]; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of the historical Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view. His contributions to the interpretation of Pauline Christianity concern the role of Paul's mysticism of "being in Christ" as primary and the doctrine of justification by faith as secondary.

He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", becoming the eighth Frenchman to be awarded that prize. His philosophy was expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ Reform Movement (Orgelbewegung).

Early years

Schweitzer was born on 14 January 1875 in Kaysersberg in Alsace, in what had less than four years previously become the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine in the German Empire; he later became a citizen of France after World War I, when Alsace became French territory again. He was the son of Adèle (née Schillinger) and Louis Théophile Schweitzer. He spent his childhood in Gunsbach, also in Alsace, where his father, the local Lutheran-Evangelical pastor of the EPCAAL, taught him how to play music. The tiny village would become home to the Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer (AIAS

“Hardly ever have I known another man in whom mercy and desire for beauty are
connected that ideal as in Albert Schweitzer.”

Excerpt from Albert Einstein’s contribution to the birthday anthology to the 80th birthday of Albert Schweitzer, 1954

Short life history: Albert Schweitzer

* January 14, 1875 Kaysersberg (Alsace), † September 4, 1965 Lambaréné (Gabun, West Africa)

Albert Schweitzer was born as the second child of a priest’s family in Kaysersberg. Some months after his birth the family moved to Guensbach where Albert’s father worked as a priest until his death. Albert attended elementary school there, followed by secondary school in Muenster and college in Muehlhausen. On June 18, 1893 he made his A-levels there. As a child he received a very good musical education which became the basis for his later magnificent organ playing.

From 1893 to 1898 he studied theology and philosophy in Strasbourg, Paris and Berlin. His time of study was interrupted for a year in 1894, as he had to do his military service. From October 1898 on he had music lessons (organ, piano) with Charles Marie Widor (1844–1937) in Paris. It was also Widor who made Schweitzer newly interpret Bach’s organ work. In 1899 he graduated from university in philosophy and in 1900 in theology. In 1902 he qualified as university lecturer in theology in Strasbourg where he afterwards worked as a private teacher. From 1903 to 1906 he was head of the monastery St. Thomas in Strasbourg.

In 1905, at the age of 30, he decided to study medicine; he wanted to become a mission doctor. In November 1911 he finished his studies successfully and in June 1912 he married Helene Bresslau. In February 1913 he graduated from university in medicine. Shortly after that he went to Africa with his wife to the small jungle place called Lambaréné and built there a tropical hospital with a station for Hansen’s disease which he paid for on his own. It was his aim to alleviate the illness and misery of the

(Albert Schweitzer) did not preach and did not warn and did not dream that his example would be an ideal and comfort to innumerable people. He simply acted out of inner necessity.

– Albert Einstein, friend

Musician, theologian and physician, Albert Schweitzer was above all, a true humanitarian. The overarching principle that guided him was ‘reverence for life’, a philosophy that took him to the jungles of Africa, where he healed many and touched the lives of millions worldwide.

MULTITALENTED

Albert Schweitzer, born on January 14, 1875 in Alsace, Germany (now a part of France), was the son of a Lutheran minister and member of a family of ministers, scholars and musicians, which included a famous cousin, Jean-Paul Sartre. As a child, Schweitzer played the organ and piano, and was only nine when he first performed at his father’s church. His musical talent earned him international recognition. Although he dedicated his life to the healing profession, he continued to perform as an organist throughout his life, even publishing a book on organ construction and a biography on Bach.

In 1893, Schweitzer enrolled at the University of Strasbourg. He received a doctorate in philosophy in 1899 and a teaching degree in theology the following year. Following in the footsteps of his father, Schweitzer became the pastor of Saint Nicholas Church in Strasbourg and worked at the Theological College of Saint Thomas for nearly a decade. During that time, he published, among other works, a scholarly text entitled The Quest of the Historical Jesus.

In 1904, Schweitzer experienced a turning point in his life after reading an article published by the Paris Missionary Society, which highlighted an urgent need for physicians in Gabon, a French colony in Africa. The article so moved him that he immediately decided to pursue a medical career, much to the disappointment of his family, colleagues and friend – the only exception being a rare woman named Helene Bresslau, whom he ev