83-1565: Schweitzer is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), German theologian, musician, physician, and medical missionary, winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Anton Schweitzer (1735–1787), German opera composer Brian Schweitzer (born 1955), American politician, former Governor of Montana Darrell Schweitzer (born 1952), American writer, editor and essayist Douglas Schweitzer , Canadian politician Edmund O. Schweitzer Jr. , founder of E. O. Schweitzer Manufacturing Edmund O. Schweitzer III (born 1947), American electrical engineer, inventor George K. Schweitzer (1924–2024), American academic in chemistry and family history and local history Georgia Schweitzer (born 1979), American collegiate and professional basketball player Jean Baptista von Schweitzer (1833–1875), German politician and poet Jeff Schweitzer (born 1957), American non-fiction author, scientist and political commentator Johann Friedrich Schweitzer (1630–1709), Dutch-German alchemist Louis Schweitzer (philanthropist) (1899–1971), Russian-born American paper manufacturer Louis Schweitzer (CEO) (born 1942), Swiss businessman, chairman and former CEO of Renault Mary Higby Schweitzer , American paleontologist Marlis Schweitzer (born 1975), Canadian theatre and performance historian Paul A. Schweitzer (born 1937), American mathematician Pierre-Paul Schweitzer (1912–1994), French businessman, managing director of
166-618: A "straw-coloured" sash worn across the chest from the right shoulder. The motto of the Order would be "Omnia posthabita scientiae" (in Latin , 'Everything comes after science'). Once the King's proposal was made public, however, arguments within intellectual circles over who would be most deserving of the new order grew so heated that George ultimately dropped the idea, though he briefly reconsidered it in 1789; on 6 February of that year, he revised
249-533: A PhD dissertation on The Religious Philosophy of Kant at the Sorbonne , and to study in earnest with Widor. Here he often met with the elderly Aristide Cavaillé-Coll . He also studied piano at that time with Marie Jaëll . In 1899, Schweitzer spent the summer semester at the University of Berlin and eventually obtained his theology degree at the University of Strasbourg . He published his PhD thesis at
332-519: A hospital in Gabon Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories , a power systems protection company Schweitzer (film) The Doctor (Star Trek) , who names himself Schweitzer in one episode [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Schweitzer . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding
415-591: 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
498-758: 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 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
581-688: A neck ribbon (as a necklet ), while women wear theirs on a ribbon bow pinned to the left shoulder, and aides-de-camp may wear the insignia on their aiguillettes . Since 1991, the insignia must be returned upon the recipient's death. number appointment There have been no honorary members of the Order of Merit since the death of the last such member, Nelson Mandela , in December 2013. Secretary and Registrar : Robin Janvrin, Baron Janvrin GCB , GCVO , QSO , PC As
664-912: A path leading to the boat landing. The Schweitzers had their own bungalow and employed as their assistant Joseph, a French-speaking Mpongwe , who first came to Lambaréné as a patient. After World War I broke out in July 1914, Schweitzer and his wife, German citizens in a French colony when the countries were at war, were put under supervision by the French military at Lambaréné, where Schweitzer continued his work. In 1917, exhausted by over four years' work and by tropical anaemia , they were taken to Bordeaux and interned first in Garaison and then from March 1918 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence . In July 1918, after being transferred to his home in Alsace, he
747-739: A questionnaire among players and organ-builders in several European countries, he produced a very considered report. This provided the basis for the International Regulations for Organ Building . He envisaged instruments in which the French late-romantic full-organ sound should work integrally with the English and German romantic reed pipes , and with the classical Alsace Silbermann organ resources and baroque flue pipes , all in registers regulated (by stops ) to access distinct voices in fugue or counterpoint capable of combination without loss of distinctness: different voices singing
830-409: A ward for white patients, so that the site became like a village. The onset of famine and a dysentery epidemic created fresh problems. Much of the building work was carried out with the help of local people and patients. Drug advances for sleeping sickness included Germanin and tryparsamide [ de ; fi ; it ] . Trensz conducted experiments showing that the non-amoebic strain of dysentery
913-873: Is more intellectual and can be found "among the Brahmans and in the Buddha , in Platonism , in Stoicism , in Spinoza , Schopenhauer , and Hegel ". Next, Schweitzer poses the question: "Of what precise kind then is the mysticism of Paul?" He locates Paul between the two extremes of primitive mysticism and developed mysticism. Paul stands high above primitive mysticism, due to his intellectual writings, but never speaks of being one with God or being in God. Instead, he conceives of sonship to God as "mediated and effected by means of
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#1732766292752996-510: Is the only theologian who does not claim that Christians can have an experience of "being-in-God". Rather, Paul uses the phrase "being-in-Christ" to illustrate how Jesus is a mediator between the Christian community and God. Additionally, Schweitzer explains how the experience of "being-in-Christ" is not a "static partaking in the spiritual being of Christ, but as the real co-experiencing of His dying and rising again". The "realistic" partaking in
1079-631: The Dominions of the British Empire became independent countries within the empire, equal in status to the UK, the Order of Merit continued as an honour open to all these realms and, in many, became a part of their newly developing national honours systems. The order's statutes were amended in 1935 to include members of the Royal Air Force and, in 1969, the definition of honorary recipients
1162-464: The Mbahouin . Schweitzer's wife, Helene Schweitzer , served as an anaesthetist for surgical operations. After briefly occupying a shed formerly used as a chicken hut, in late 1913 they built their first hospital of corrugated iron , with a consulting room and operating theatre and with a dispensary and sterilising room. The waiting room and dormitory were built, like native huts, of unhewn logs along
1245-646: 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. Schweitzer's first language was the Alsatian dialect of German. At the Mulhouse gymnasium he received his " Abitur " (the certificate at
1328-539: The Royal Academy of Arts , advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process. It was Victoria's son Edward VII who eventually founded the Order of Merit on 26 June 1902 (the date for which his coronation had been originally scheduled ) as a means to acknowledge "exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards
1411-715: The University of Tübingen in 1899. In 1905, Schweitzer began his study of medicine at the University of Strasbourg, culminating in the degree of M.D. in 1913. Schweitzer rapidly gained prominence as a musical scholar and organist, dedicated also to the rescue, restoration and study of historic pipe organs . With theological insight, he interpreted the use of pictorial and symbolical representation in J. S. Bach's religious music. In 1899, he astonished Widor by explaining figures and motifs in Bach's Chorale Preludes as painter-like tonal and rhythmic imagery illustrating themes from
1494-505: The Apostle ); a second edition was published in 1953. In The Quest , Schweitzer criticised the liberal view put forward by liberal and romantic scholars during the first quest for the historical Jesus . Schweitzer maintained that the life of Jesus must be interpreted in the light of Jesus' own convictions, which reflected late Jewish eschatology and apocalypticism . Schweitzer writes: The Jesus of Nazareth who came forward publicly as
1577-434: The Apostle , Schweitzer first distinguishes between two categories of mysticism : primitive and developed. Primitive mysticism "has not yet risen to a conception of the universal, and is still confined to naive views of earthly and super-earthly, temporal and eternal". Additionally, he argues that this view of a "union with the divinity, brought about by efficacious ceremonies, is found even in quite primitive religions". On
1660-621: The Dale Memorial Lectures in the University of Oxford , and from these in the following year appeared Volumes I and II of his great work, The Decay and Restoration of Civilization and Civilization and Ethics . The two remaining volumes, on The World-View of Reverence for Life and a fourth on the Civilized State, were never completed. In 1924, Schweitzer returned to Africa without his wife, but with an Oxford undergraduate, Noel Gillespie, as his assistant. Everything
1743-756: The International Monetary Fund Scott Schweitzer (born 1971), American soccer coach and player Wes Schweitzer (born 1993), American football player for the Washington Commanders Yoram Schweitzer , senior research fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies See also [ edit ] Schweitzer Mountain Resort , a ski resort in Idaho Schweizer (disambiguation) Hôpital Albert Schweitzer –
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#17327662927521826-659: The Jewish pan-Germanist historian Harry Bresslau . In 1912, now armed with a medical degree, Schweitzer made a definite proposal to go as a physician to work at his own expense in the Paris Missionary Society's mission at Lambaréné on the Ogooué river, in what is now Gabon, in Africa (then a French colony). He refused to attend a committee to inquire into his doctrine, but met each committee member personally and
1909-525: The Messiah, who preached the ethic of the kingdom of God, who founded the kingdom of heaven upon earth and died to give his work its final consecration never existed. He is a figure designed by rationalism, endowed with life by liberalism, and clothed by modern theology in a historical garb. This image has not been destroyed from outside; it has fallen to pieces... Instead of these liberal and romantic views, Schweitzer wrote that Jesus and his followers expected
1992-592: The Order of Merit is open to the citizens of 15 countries, each with their own system of orders, decorations, and medals, the order's place of precedence varies from country to country. While, in the United Kingdom, the order's postnominal letters follow those of Knights and Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath , membership in the Order of Merit itself gives members no place in any of the orders of precedence in
2075-425: The Order of Merit, members are entitled to use the post-nominal letters OM and are entrusted with the badge of the order. The insignia consists of a badge, which consists of a golden crown from which is suspended a red enamelled cross pattée , itself centred by a disk of blue enamel, surrounded by a laurel wreath . The obverse of the badge's central disk bears the words FOR MERIT in gold lettering, while
2158-574: The Order, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, when he was 47 years old. Robin Eames , Baron Eames represented the order at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023. All citizens of the Commonwealth realms are eligible for appointment to the Order of Merit. There may be, however, only 24 living individuals in the order at any given time, not including honorary appointees, and new members are personally selected by
2241-519: The Orféo Català at Barcelona , Spain, and often travelled there for that purpose. He and Widor collaborated on a new edition of Bach's organ works , with detailed analysis of each work in three languages (English, French, German). Schweitzer, who insisted that the score should show Bach's notation with no additional markings, wrote the commentaries for the Preludes and Fugues, and Widor those for
2324-634: The Sonatas and Concertos: six volumes were published in 1912–14. Three more, to contain the Chorale Preludes with Schweitzer's analyses, were to be worked on in Africa , but these were never completed, perhaps because for him they were inseparable from his evolving theological thought. On departure for Lambaréné in 1913, he was presented with a pedal piano , a piano with pedal attachments to operate like an organ pedal-keyboard. Built especially for
2407-516: The United Kingdom . However, Stanley Martin says in his book The Order of Merit 1902–2002: One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour , that the Order of Merit is the pinnacle of the British honours system. Similarly, though it was not listed in the Canadian order of precedence for honours, decorations, and medals until December 2010, Christopher McCreery, an expert on Canadian honours and secretary to
2490-564: The advancement of Art, Literature and Science". All modern aspects of the order were established under his direction, including the division for military figures. From the outset, prime ministers attempted to propose candidates or lobbied to influence the monarch's decision on appointments. But, the Royal Household adamantly guarded information about potential names. After 1931, when the Statute of Westminster came into effect and
2573-503: The by then long-widowed Queen a draft constitution for an Order of Merit in Science and Art, consisting of one grade split into two branches of knighthood: the Order of Scientific Merit, for Knights of Merit in Science, with the post-nominal letters KMS , and the Order of Artistic Merit, for Knights of Merit in Art, with the post-nominal letters KMA . However, Frederic Leighton , President of
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2656-548: The call of The Society of the Evangelist Missions of Paris, which was looking for a physician. The committee of this missionary society was not ready to accept his offer, considering his Lutheran theology to be "incorrect". He could easily have obtained a place in a German evangelical mission, but wished to follow the original call despite the doctrinal difficulties. Amid a hail of protests from his friends, family and colleagues, he resigned from his post and re-entered
2739-489: 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. Schweitzer was one of colonialism's harshest critics. In a sermon that he preached on 6 January 1905, before he had told anyone of his plans to dedicate
2822-564: The days before the germ theory of disease came into being." Schweitzer's biographer Edgar Berman, who was a volunteer surgeon at Lambarene for several months and had extended conversations with Schweitzer, has a different perspective. Schweitzer felt that patients were better off, and the hospital functioned better given the severe lack of funding, if patients' families lived on the hospital grounds during treatment. Surgical survival rates were, Berman asserts, as high as in many fully-equipped western hospitals. The volume of patients needing care,
2905-607: The design of the order, with the breast star to have sixteen points, the motto to be the Latin for "Learning improves character" and with membership to include distinguished scientists. Following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, First Lord of the Admiralty Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham and William Pitt exchanged correspondence concerning the possible creation of an order of merit, though nothing came of
2988-434: The difficulty of obtaining materials and supplies, and the scarcity of trained medical staff willing to work long hours in the remote setting for almost no pay all argued for a spartan setting with an emphasis on high medical standards nevertheless. Schweitzer considered his work as a medical missionary in Africa to be his response to Jesus' call to become "fishers of men". Who can describe the injustice and cruelties that in
3071-550: The dying and rising with Christ (most notably through the Sacraments ). On the other hand, the Hellenist "lives on the store of experience which he acquired in the initiation" and is not continually affected by a shared communal experience. Another major difference between Paul's "realism" and Hellenistic "symbolism" is the exclusive nature of the former and the inclusive nature of the latter. Schweitzer unabashedly emphasizes
3154-524: The end of secondary education) in 1893. He studied organ in Mulhouse from 1885 to 1893 with Eugène Munch, organist at the Protestant cathedral, who inspired Schweitzer with his enthusiasm for the music of German composer Richard Wagner . In 1893, he played for the French organist Charles-Marie Widor (at Saint-Sulpice, Paris ), for whom Johann Sebastian Bach 's organ music contained a mystic sense of
3237-579: The eternal. Widor, deeply impressed, agreed to teach Schweitzer without fee, and a great and influential friendship thus began. From 1893 Schweitzer studied Protestant theology at the Kaiser Wilhelm University in Strasbourg . There he also received instruction in piano and counterpoint from professor Gustav Jacobsthal, and associated closely with Ernest Munch, the brother of his former teacher, organist of St William church, who
3320-412: The fact that "Paul's thought follows predestinarian lines". He explains, "only the man who is elected thereto can enter into relation with God". Although every human being is invited to become a Christian, only those who have undergone the initiation into the Christian community through baptism can share in the "realistic" dying and rising with Christ. At the age of 30, in 1905, Schweitzer answered
3403-575: The first nine months, he and his wife had about 2,000 patients to examine, some travelling many days and hundreds of kilometres to reach him. In addition to injuries, he was often treating severe sandflea and crawcraw infections, yaws , tropical eating sores , heart disease, tropical dysentery , tropical malaria , sleeping sickness , leprosy , fevers, strangulated hernias , necrosis , abdominal tumours and chronic constipation and nicotine poisoning , while also attempting to deal with deliberate poisonings, fetishism and fear of cannibalism among
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3486-487: The hospital in Lambaréné were also famously criticized by Nigerian professor and novelist Chinua Achebe in his essay on Joseph Conrad 's novel Heart of Darkness : "In a comment which has often been quoted Schweitzer says: 'The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother.' And so he proceeded to build a hospital appropriate to the needs of junior brothers with standards of hygiene reminiscent of medical practice in
3569-470: The idea. Later, Queen Victoria , her courtiers , and politicians alike, thought that a new order, based on the Prussian order Pour le Mérite , would make up for the insufficient recognition offered by the established honours system to achievement outside public service, in fields such as art, music, literature, industry and science. Victoria's husband, Albert, Prince Consort , took an interest in
3652-567: The ideal of the philosopher-scientist. By extreme application and hard work, he completed his studies successfully at the end of 1911. His medical degree dissertation was another work on the historical Jesus, Die psychiatrische Beurteilung Jesu. Darstellung und Kritik [The psychiatric evaluation of Jesus. Description and criticism] (published in English in 1948 as The Psychiatric Study of Jesus. Exposition and Criticism ). He defended Jesus' mental health in it. In June 1912, he married Helene Bresslau , municipal inspector for orphans and daughter of
3735-693: The imminent end of the world. Schweitzer cross-referenced the many New Testament verses declaring imminent fulfilment of the promise of the World's ending within the lifetime of Jesus's original followers. He wrote that in his view, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus speaks of a "tribulation", with his "coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (St. Mark), and states that it will happen but it has not: "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (St. Matthew, 24:34) or, "have taken place" (Luke 21:32). Similarly, in 1st Peter 1:20, "Christ, who verily
3818-514: The lake-side, He came to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: 'Follow thou me' and sets us to the task which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is." In The Mysticism of Paul
3901-414: The last person so honoured. Honorary members form another group, to which there is no numerical limit, though such appointments are rare; individuals from countries in the Commonwealth of Nations that are not headed by King Charles are therefore considered foreigners, and thus are granted only honorary admissions, such as Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and Mother Teresa (India). Upon admission into
3984-587: The major Chorale Preludes for her at the Temple Neuf . Schweitzer's interpretative approach greatly influenced the modern understanding of Bach's music. He became a welcome guest at the Wagners' home, Wahnfried . He also corresponded with composer Clara Faisst , who became a good friend. His pamphlet "The Art of Organ Building and Organ Playing in Germany and France" (1906, republished with an appendix on
4067-475: The matter; it was recorded in his diary that he met Sir Robert Peel on 16 January 1844 to discuss the "idea of institution of a civil Order of Merit" and, three days later, he conferred with the Queen on the subject. Though nothing came of the idea at the time, the concept did not wither and, more than 40 years later, on 5 January 1888, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury submitted to
4150-643: The mystery of Jesus is only possible within the solidarity of the Christian community. One of Schweitzer's major arguments in The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle is that Paul's mysticism, marked by his phrase "being in Christ", gives the clue to the whole of Pauline theology. Rather than reading justification by faith as the main topic of Pauline thought, which has been the most popular argument set forward by Martin Luther , Schweitzer argues that Paul's emphasis
4233-505: The mystical union with Christ". He summarizes Pauline mysticism as "being in Christ" rather than "being in God". Paul's imminent eschatology (from his background in Jewish eschatology ) causes him to believe that the kingdom of God has not yet come and that Christians are now living in the time of Christ. Christ-mysticism holds the field until God-mysticism becomes possible, which is in the near future. Therefore, Schweitzer argues that Paul
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#17327662927524316-440: The order, the Order of Merit's precedence among other honours differs between countries. In around 1773, George III considered establishing an order of knighthood to be called the "Order of Minerva " with membership restricted to 24 distinguished artists and authors. Knights would be entitled to the post-nominal letters KM , and would wear a silver nine-pointed breast star with the image of Minerva at its centre, along with
4399-477: The other hand, a more developed form of mysticism can be found in the Greek mystery-cults that were popular in first-century A.D. society. These included the cults of Attis , Osiris , and Mithras . A developed form of mysticism is attained when the "conception of the universal is reached and a man reflects upon his relation to the totality of being and to Being in itself". Schweitzer claims that this form of mysticism
4482-568: The particular refraction which he requires. Schweitzer contrasts Paul's "realistic" dying and rising with Christ to the "symbolism" of Hellenism . Although Paul is widely influenced by Hellenistic thought, he is not controlled by it. Schweitzer explains that Paul focused on the idea of fellowship with the divine being through the "realistic" dying and rising with Christ rather than the "symbolic" Hellenistic act of becoming like Christ through deification . After baptism, Christians are continually renewed throughout their lifetimes due to participation in
4565-513: The person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schweitzer&oldid=1247558190 " Categories : Surnames German-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer OM ( German: [ˈalbɛʁt ˈʃvaɪtsɐ] ; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965)
4648-460: The promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII , admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign—currently Edward VII's great-great-grandson Charles III —and is restricted to a maximum of 24 living recipients from the Commonwealth realms, plus honorary members. While all members are awarded the right to use the post-nominal letters OM and wear the badge of
4731-447: The reigning monarch of the realms, currently Charles III , with the assistance of his private secretaries; the order has thus been described as "quite possibly, the most prestigious honour one can receive on planet Earth." Within the limited membership is a designated military division, with its own unique insignia; though it has not been abolished, it is currently unpopulated, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma having been
4814-731: The rest of his life to work as a physician 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 colour 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
4897-414: The reverse bears the royal cypher of the reigning monarch in gold. The insignia for the military grouping is distinguished by a pair of crossed swords behind the central disk. The ribbon of the Order of Merit is divided into two stripes of red and blue. The neck ribbon is 50mm in width, while the ribbon bar width is the standard British 32mm size for military or civilian wear. Men wear their badges on
4980-583: 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
5063-618: The same music together. Schweitzer also studied piano under Isidor Philipp , head of the piano department at the Paris Conservatory . In 1905, Widor and Schweitzer were among the six musicians who founded the Paris Bach Society , a choir dedicated to performing J. S. Bach 's music, for whose concerts Schweitzer took the organ part regularly until 1913. He was also appointed organist for the Bach Concerts of
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#17327662927525146-538: 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
5229-557: The state of the organ-building industry in 1927) effectively launched the 20th-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 had intended. In 1909, he addressed the Third Congress of the International Society of Music at Vienna on the subject. Having circulated
5312-419: 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
5395-440: The terrible 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 ... Member of the Order of Merit The Order of Merit (French: Ordre du Mérite ) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms , recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or
5478-448: The tropics, it was delivered by river in a huge dug-out canoe to Lambaréné, packed in a zinc-lined case. At first, he regarded his new life as a renunciation of his art, and fell out of practice, but after some time he resolved to study and learn by heart the works of Bach, Mendelssohn , Widor, César Franck , and Max Reger systematically. It became his custom to play during the lunch hour and on Sunday afternoons. Schweitzer's pedal piano
5561-474: The university as a student in a three-year course towards the degree of Doctorate in Medicine, a subject in which he had little knowledge or previous aptitude. He planned to spread the Gospel by the example of his Christian labour of healing, rather than through the verbal process of preaching, and believed that this service should be acceptable within any branch of Christian teaching. Even in his study of medicine, and through his clinical course, Schweitzer pursued
5644-450: The words of the hymns on which they were based. They were works of devotional contemplation in which the musical design corresponded to literary ideas, conceived visually. Widor had not grown up with knowledge of the old Lutheran hymns. The exposition of these ideas, encouraged by Widor and Munch, became Schweitzer's last task, and appeared in the masterly study J. S. Bach: Le Musicien-Poète , written in French and published in 1905. There
5727-476: Was 78) and found significant flaws in the practices and attitudes of Schweitzer and his staff. The hospital suffered from squalor and was without modern amenities, and Schweitzer had little contact with the local people. Cameron did not make public what he had seen at the time: according to a BBC dramatisation, he made the unusual journalistic decision to withhold the story, and resisted the expressed wish of his employers to publish an exposé. The poor conditions of
5810-430: Was a German-born 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
5893-514: Was a free man again. At this time Schweitzer, born a German citizen, had his parents' former (pre-1871) French citizenship reinstated and became a French citizen. Then, working as a medical assistant and assistant-pastor in Strasbourg , he advanced his project on the philosophy of civilization, which had occupied his mind since 1900. By 1920, his health recovering, he was giving organ recitals and doing other fund-raising work to repay borrowings and raise funds for returning to Gabon. In 1922, he delivered
5976-528: Was also a passionate admirer of J. S. Bach's music. Schweitzer served his one-year compulsory military service in 1894. Schweitzer saw many operas of Richard Wagner in Strasbourg (under Otto Lohse ) and in 1896 he managed to afford a visit to the Bayreuth Festival to see Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal , both of which impressed him. In 1898, he returned to Paris to write
6059-617: Was at last accepted. Through concerts and other fund-raising, he was ready to equip a small hospital. In early 1913, he and his wife set off to establish a hospital (the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer ) near an existing mission post. The site was nearly 200 miles (14 days by raft ) upstream from the mouth of the Ogooué at Port Gentil ( Cape Lopez ) (and so accessible to external communications), but downstream of most tributaries, so that internal communications within Gabon converged towards Lambaréné. In
6142-630: Was caused by a paracholera vibrion (facultative anaerobic bacteria). With the new hospital built and the medical team established, Schweitzer returned to Europe in 1927, this time leaving a functioning hospital at work. He was there again from 1929 to 1932. Gradually his opinions and concepts became acknowledged, not only in Europe, but worldwide. There was a further period of work in 1935. In January 1937, he returned again to Lambaréné and continued working there throughout World War II . The journalist James Cameron visited Lambaréné in 1953 (when Schweitzer
6225-589: Was conductor and composer Hans Münch . In 1899, Schweitzer became a deacon at the church of Saint Nicholas in Strasbourg. In 1900, with the completion of his licentiate in theology, he was ordained as curate , and that year he witnessed the Oberammergau Passion Play . In the following year, he became provisional Principal of the Theological College of Saint Thomas , from which he had just graduated, and in 1903 his appointment
6308-429: Was expanded to include members of the Commonwealth of Nations that are not realms. The order has always been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, in 1907. Several individuals have refused admission into the Order of Merit, including Rudyard Kipling , A. E. Housman , and George Bernard Shaw . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , remains the youngest person ever inducted into
6391-401: Was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you", as well as "But the end of all things is at hand" (1 Peter 4:7) and "Surely, I come quickly." (Revelation 22:20). Schweitzer concluded his treatment of Jesus with what has been called the most famous words of twentieth-century theology: "He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by
6474-556: Was great demand for a German edition, but, instead of translating it, he decided to rewrite it. The result was two volumes ( J. S. Bach ), which were published in 1908 and translated into English by Ernest Newman in 1911. Ernst Cassirer , a contemporaneous German philosopher, called it "one of the best interpretations" of Bach. During its preparation Schweitzer became a friend of Cosima Wagner , then resident in Strasbourg, with whom he had many theological and musical conversations, exploring his view of Bach's descriptive music, and playing
6557-507: Was heavily decayed, and building and doctoring progressed together for months. He now had salvarsan for treating syphilitic ulcers and framboesia . Additional medical staff, nurse (Miss) Kottmann and Dr. Victor Nessmann, joined him in 1924, and Dr. Mark Lauterberg in 1925; the growing hospital was staffed by native orderlies. Later Dr. Trensz replaced Nessmann, and Martha Lauterberg and Hans Muggenstorm joined them. Joseph also returned. In 1925–6, new hospital buildings were constructed, and also
6640-694: Was made permanent. In 1906, he published Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung [History of Life-of-Jesus research]. This book, which established his reputation, was first published in English in 1910 as The Quest of the Historical Jesus . Under this title the book became famous in the English-speaking world. A second German edition was published in 1913, containing theologically significant revisions and expansions: this revised edition did not appear in English until 2001. In 1931, he published Mystik des Apostels Paulus ( The Mysticism of Paul
6723-429: Was on the mystical union with God by "being in Christ". Jaroslav Pelikan , in his foreword to The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle , points out that: the relation between the two doctrines was quite the other way around: 'The doctrine of the redemption, which is mentally appropriated through faith, is only a fragment from the more comprehensive mystical redemption-doctrine, which Paul has broken off and polished to give him
6806-513: Was still in use at Lambaréné in 1946. According to a visitor, Dr. Gaine Cannon, of Balsam Grove, N.C., the old, dilapidated piano-organ was still being played by Dr. Schweitzer in 1962, and stories told that "his fingers were still lively" on the old instrument at 88 years of age. Sir Donald Tovey dedicated his conjectural completion of Bach's The Art of Fugue to Schweitzer. Schweitzer's recordings of organ music, and his innovative recording technique, are described below . One of his pupils
6889-739: 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). 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
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