Albert Schweitzer
| Albert Schweitzer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
14 January 1875 Kaysersberg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany (now Haut-Rhin, France) |
| Died | 4 September 1965 (aged 90) Lambaréné, Gabon |
| Citizenship | German (1875–1919) French (1919–1965) |
| Fields | Medicine, music, philosophy, theology |
| Alma mater | University of Strasbourg (Ph.D., 1899) |
| Doctoral advisor |
Theobald Ziegler Heinrich Julius Holtzmann Robert Wollenberg |
| Known for | Musicology, philanthropy, theology |
| Influences | H. S. Reimarus |
| Notable awards |
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| Spouse | Helene Bresslau, daughter of Harry Bresslau |
Albert Schweitzer, OM (14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a French-German theologian, organist, philosopher, and physician. He was born in the German province of Alsace-Lorraine and although that region had been reintegrated into the German Empire four years earlier, and remained a German province until 1918, he considered himself French and wrote mostly in German. His mother-tongue was Alsatian German.
Schweitzer, a Lutheran, challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by historical-critical methodology 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”, expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa). As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ Reform Movement (Orgelbewegung).
Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg, the son of Ludwig (or Louis) Schweitzer and Adele Schillinger. He spent his childhood in the Alsatian village of Gunsbach, where his father, the local Lutheran-Evangelical pastor of the EPCAAL, taught him how to play music. Long disputed, the predominantly German-speaking region of Alsace or Elsass was acquired by France in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia; was (re)annexed by Germany in 1871; after World War I, it reverted to France. The tiny village is home to the Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer (AIAS). The medieval parish church of Gunsbach was shared by the Protestant and Catholic congregations, which held their prayers in different areas at different times on Sundays. This compromise arose after the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years War. Schweitzer, the pastor's son, grew up in this exceptional environment of religious tolerance, and developed the belief that true Christianity should always work towards a unity of Faith and Purpose.
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