Albert Schweitzer

Who was Albert Schweitzer?

Albert Schweitzer, OM was a German—and later French—theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa, also known for his interpretive life of Jesus. He was born in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire. Schweitzer, a Lutheran, challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by historical-critical methodology current at his time in certain academic circles, as well as the traditional Christian view. He depicted Jesus as one who literally believed the end of the world was coming in his own lifetime and believed himself to be a world savior.

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. As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ reform movement.

Famous Quotes:

• A man can do only what a man can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.