2024/05/30

Reverence for Life - Wikipedia Schweitzer

Reverence for Life - Wikipedia


Reverence for Life

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The phrase Reverence for Life is a translation of the German phrase: "Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben." These words came to Albert Schweitzer on a boat trip on the Ogooué River in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon), while searching for a universal concept of ethics for our time. In Civilization and Ethics, Schweitzer wrote:

Ethics is nothing other than Reverence for Life. Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil.[page needed]

James Brabazon, author of Albert Schweitzer: A Biography, defined Reverence for Life as follows:

Reverence for Life says that the only thing we are really sure of is that we live and want to go on living. This is something that we share with everything else that lives, from elephants to blades of grass—and, of course, every human being. So we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect, that we wish for ourselves.[page needed]

Schweitzer made Reverence for Life the basic tenet of an ethical philosophy, which he developed and put into practice. He gave expression to its development in numerous books and publications during his life and also in manuscripts which have recently been published; the main work being his unfinished four-part Philosophy of Culture (GermanKulturphilosophie) subtitled: "The World-view of Reverence for Life". He also used his hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, to demonstrate this philosophy in practice.

Origins[edit]

Albert Schweitzer believed that ethical values which could underpin the ideal of true civilization had to have their foundation in deep thought and be world- and life-affirming. He therefore embarked on a search for ethical values in the various major religions and world-views accessible to him, but could not find any that were able, unequivocally, to combine ethics with life-affirmation. It was not until two years after moving out to Gabon to establish the Albert Schweitzer Hospital that he finally found the simple statement which answered his quest.

In his autobiography Out of My Life and Thought, Schweitzer explains this process: "Having described how at the beginning of the summer of 1915 he awoke from some kind of mental daze, asking himself why he was only criticizing civilization and not working on something constructive.".[1] He relates how he asked himself the question:

But what is civilization?

The essential element in civilization is the ethical perfecting of the individual as well as society. At the same time, every spiritual and every material step forward has significance for civilization. The will to civilization is, then, the universal will to progress that is conscious of the ethical as the highest value. In spite of the great importance we attach to the achievements of science and human prowess, it is obvious that only a humanity that is striving for ethical ends can benefit in full measure from material progress and can overcome the dangers that accompany it. The present situation was terrible proof of the misjudgment of the generation that had adopted a belief in an immanent power of progress realizing itself, naturally and automatically, and which thought that it no longer needed any ethical ideals but could advance toward its goals by means of knowledge and work alone.

The only possible way out of chaos is for us to adopt a concept of the world based on the ideal of true civilization.

But what is the nature of that concept of the world in which the will to the general progress and the will to the ethical progress join and are linked?

It consists in an ethical affirmation of the world and of life.

What is affirmation of the world and of life?....[2]

In that mental state, I had to take a long journey up the river ... Lost in thought, I sat on deck of the barge, struggling to find the elementary and universal concept of the ethical that I had not discovered in any philosophy. I covered sheet after sheet with disconnected sentences merely to concentrate on the problem. Two days passed. Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase: "Reverence for Life". The iron door had yielded. The path in the thicket had become visible. Now I had found my way to the principle in which affirmation of the world and ethics are joined together!"[3]

According to some authors, Schweitzer's thought, and specifically his development of Reverence for Life, was influenced by Indian religious thought and in particular Jain principle of ahimsa (non-violence).[4] Albert Schweitzer has noted the contribution of Indian influence in his book Indian Thought and Its Development:[5]

The laying down of the commandment to not kill and to not damage is one of the greatest events in the spiritual history of mankind. Starting from its principle, founded on world and life denial, of abstention from action, ancient Indian thought – and this is a period when in other respects ethics have not progressed very far – reaches the tremendous discovery that ethics know no bounds. So far as we know, this is for the first time clearly expressed by Jainism.

It should not be overlooked, however, that as a child Schweitzer felt deeply for the suffering of all the creatures around him. He wrote, "As far back as I can remember I was saddened by the amount of misery I saw in the world around me. Youth's unqualified joie de vivre I never really knew...One thing especially saddened me was that the unfortunate animals had to suffer so much pain and misery....It was quite incomprehensible to me – this was before I began going to school – why in my evening prayers I should pray for human beings only. So when my mother had prayed with me and had kissed me good-night, I used to add silently a prayer that I composed myself for all living creatures. It ran thus: "O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in peace...."[6]

Schweitzer twice went fishing with some boys "because they asked [him] to" and "this sports was soon made impossible for me by the treatment of the worms that were put on the hook...and the wrenching of the mouths of the fishes that were caught. I gave it up...From experiences like these, which moved my heart....there slowly grew up in me an unshakeable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature, and that we ought all of us to feel what a horrible thing it is to cause suffering and death..."[6]

This awareness affected him throughout his life, as when he would carefully, gently scoop a spider out of a hole it had fallen into before planting a crop there, to feed his patients and their families who also worked on the hospital farm. He wrote that, just as our own existence is significant to each of us, "[a creature's] existence is significant to it."[7] He wrote that "...my relation to my own being and to the objective world is determined by reverence for life. This reverence for life is given as an element of my will-to-live..." and this will-to-live existed in all creatures and was to be respected.[8]

In his book The Philosophy of Civilization, Schweitzer wrote, "Ethics are responsibility without limit toward all that lives....Love means more, since it includes fellowship in suffering, in joy, and in effort...[9]

The will to live[edit]

Schweitzer held the view in the 1920s that people had largely lost touch with their own will, having subjugated it to outside authority and sacrificed it to external circumstances. He therefore pointed back to that elemental part of ourselves that can be in touch with our will and can exercise it for the good of all.

In Out of My Life and Thought, Schweitzer wrote:[10]

The most immediate fact of man's consciousness is the assertion "I am life that wills to live in the midst of life that wills to live"

Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to give it true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live.

At the same time the man who has become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give to every will to live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own.[...] This is the absolute, fundamental principle of ethics, and is a fundamental postulate of thought.

In his search for an answer to the problems posed by what was to him the obvious decline of western civilization, Albert Schweitzer was not prepared to give up the belief in progress which is so much taken for granted by people of European descent. Rather, he sought to identify why this 'will to progress' was seemingly going off the rails and causing the disintegration of European civilization.

He came to the following conclusion in Out of my Life and Thought:[11][12]

By itself, the affirmation of life can only produce a partial and imperfect civilization. Only if it turns inward and becomes ethical can the will to progress attain the ability to distinguish the valuable from the worthless. We must therefore strive for a civilization that is not based on the accretion of science and power alone, but which cares most of all for the spiritual and ethical development of the individual and of humankind.

Standing, as all living beings are, before this dilemma of the will to live, a person is constantly forced to preserve his own life and life in general only at the cost of other life. If he has been touched by the ethic of reverence for life, he injures and destroys life only under a necessity he cannot avoid, and never from thoughtlessness.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography. [Aus meinem Leben und Denken.] Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). p147. ISBN 0801894123
  2. ^ Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography. [Aus meinem Leben und Denken.] Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). p148.
  3. ^ Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography. [Aus meinem Leben und Denken.] Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). pp154-55. Emphasis added. [This edition leaves out the original German phrase, so another edition needs to be cited as well which contains the German phrase as shown above.]
  4. ^ Ara Paul Barsam (2002) "Albert Schweitzer, jainism and reverence for life" in:Reverence for life: the ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the twenty-first century Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0-8156-2977-1 p. 207-08
  5. ^ Albert Schweitzer and Charles Rhind Joy (1947) Albert Schweitzer: an anthology Beacon Press
  6. Jump up to:a b Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings, compiled by James Brabazon. p. 117–120
  7. ^ Reverence for Life: The Words of Albert Schweitzer. compiled by Harold E. Robles. Pub. Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1993). ISBN 0060670983
  8. ^ The Philosophy of Civilization. Albert Schweitzer. Prometheus Books (March 1, 1987). ISBN 0879754036. p xv. See also this same topic of will-to-live in Out of My Life and Thought.
  9. ^ The Philosophy of Civilization. Albert Schweitzer. Prometheus Books (March 1, 1987). ISBN 0879754036. p 317.
  10. ^ A. Schweitzer, Out of my Life and Thought (Johns Hopkins University Press 1998), 156-157.
  11. ^ A. Schweitzer, Out of my Life and Thought (Johns Hopkins University Press 1998), 152.
  12. ^ A. Schweitzer, Out of my Life and Thought (Johns Hopkins University Press 1998), 236.

Further reading[edit]

  • Ara Paul Barsam (2008). Reverence for Life: Albert Schweitzer's Great Contribution to Ethical Thought. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-532955-1.
  • Albert Schweitzer (1961). The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization. Unwin Books.
  • Albert Schweitzer (1966). The Teaching of Reverence for Life. Peter Owen Limited.
  • James Brabazon (2000). Albert Schweitzer, A Biography. New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0675-3.
  • James Brabazon (2005). Albert Schweitzer, Essential Writings. New York: Orbis Books. ISBN 1-57075-602-3.
  • Marvin Meyer; Kurt Bergel (2002). Reverence for Life, the ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the twenty-first century. New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-2977-X.
  • "Reverence and Compassion for All Life -- A Spiritual Path for the 21st Century"Building on Muir, Schweitzer and Carson, explores and documents contemporary approaches to Reverence for Life, such as Deep Ecology and Eco-spirituality.

External links[edit]

Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters) : James Brabazon: Amazon.com.au: Books

Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters) : James Brabazon: Amazon.com.au: Books

https://archive.org/details/albertschweitzer0000schw_r2o7/mode/2up



Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters) Paperback – 31 October 2005
by James Brabazon (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)--theologian, physician, Nobel laureate--was a remarkable figure of the twentieth century. An ordained pastor and theologian, he was also a renowned musician. He gave up this success to become a missionary doctor and founded a hospital in Africa. He is famous for his compassionate service and his Reverence for Life philosophy. These selections from Dr Schweitzer's writings provide the perfect introduction to an extraordinary humanitarian.
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Review
The world needs [my father's] all-embracing philosophy of Reverence for Life more now than ever, and I hope that this book will bring many more people to adopt it and make it a foundation for their lives. --Rhena Schweitzer-Miller

Schweitzer's exemplary conduct, his philosophy of Reverence for Life, and his campaign against nuclear weapons . . . remain sources of great inspiration today. --H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama

Arguably the best English-language gateway into Dr. Schweitzer's thought. --Dr. Lachlan Forrow
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About the Author
James Brabazon is a British writer whose career has spanned stage, film, and television, as actor, director, and producer, including The Six Wives of Henri VIII. He is author of biographies of Schweitzer and Dorothy Sayers.

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Nicole Marie
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Writings
Reviewed in the United States on 6 October 2011
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"A man's life should be the same as his thought. I have made my life my argument." - Dr. Albert Schweitzer

This quotation is absolutely fundamental to understanding how Dr. Schweitzer theorized, postulated, and deduced the meaning of life and formulated his famous `Reverence for Life' concept. More than that, it reveals how he practiced and applied these philosophies to his own life. After exhausting one academic tome after another, Dr. Schweitzer slowly came to the conclusion that mysteries of the world cannot be merely intellectually reasoned and rationalized. The book `Essential Writings' is a compilation of Dr. Schweitzer's most critical and illuminating thoughts concerning not only his passionate methods but how he arrived at the pioneering conclusions which made him such a well respected scholar and beloved humanitarian.

`Essential Writings' is divided into four sections which reflect Dr. Schweitzer's most vital beliefs. The subject of the first part is no less than `Jesus and the Kingdom of God.' These writings examine and attempt to clarify many of the false interpretations of Jesus' teachings. He raises questions such as `Why did Jesus keep his messiah-hood a secret?' and `If one psychologically examined Jesus would they find any evidence of mental illness?` Using logic as his base, Dr. Schweitzer respectfully proves that the `spirit of Jesus' is more important than even the actual historical figure. "Historical truth not only creates difficulties for faith; it also enriches it, by compelling it to examine the importance of the work of the Spirit of Jesus for its growth and continuance." He views faith as an ever-evolving force that works within and transforms people. This notion bridges into the next chapter `The Inner Schweitzer.' In this section the reader discovers Dr Schweitzer's insecurities, his lack of enthusiasm and a certain disillusionment with respect to his sermons. Many of these reflections are in letter form to his beloved wife Helene; though others are sermons he gave to an audience. Despite these angry or depressed sentiments, Dr. Schweitzer's words reveal to us that he is in fact a human being subjected to many of the same doubts and fears we all face in our lives. It spells out for his readers that no one is perfect and these counterproductive thoughts and feelings can weigh the best of us down, however everyone has such great potential inside them if they have the wisdom to cultivate it.

The second section of this book is concerned with `Music and Its Meaning.' Dr. Schweitzer outlines his first experiences and reactions to hearing the classical composers, Beethoven, Bach, and Wagner. Not only was he inspired by this timeless music, but also by the musicians themselves and their execution of those masterful compositions. Schweitzer was absolutely fascinated by Bach and studied his life along with his music. Yet one of the aspects of Bach which impressed him the most was his piety. "Music is an act of worship with Bach. His artistic activity and his personality are both based on his piety. For him, art was religion and so had no concern with the world or with worldly success. It was an end in itself." Dr. Schweitzer finds a kindred mystic spirit with Bach which is probably why he seeks to understand him. In doing so, he may have unlocked a secret within himself.

The third part is an account of Dr. Schweitzer's journey to Africa as well as his reasons for going. He made a huge leap of faith by leaving the academic world behind and entering into the cultural and biological unknown. However, he made it clear that he thought it was important to continuously attempt to "be human, plainly human in the sense in which Jesus was." Dr. Schweitzer is horrified at how Western culture has classified societies into `civilized' and `other.' These categories in turn dictate how the `civilized' treat the `other' without respect or dignity. He defended his missionary work by stating, "True religion is also humanitarianism" and "missionary work is simply an atonement for the crimes of violence done in the name of Christian nations." He makes an excellent point here and is not afraid to admit the injustices and brutality which have been committed in the name of Christianity. Dr. Schweitzer, realizing this, decided to actually go and do something to right these wrongs that he himself did not commit. Not only in the name of Christianity, but also in the name of humanitarian efforts. He is once again living his philosophy rather than just preaching it. According to his writings, Dr. Schweitzer treated close to 2,000 patients in his first 9 months encountering all kinds of diseases both native to Africa and many which were transported from Europe. Despite these `good works' Dr. Schweitzer also dealt with disenchantment: "those who now speak savagely about the natives may have come out to Africa full of idealism but in the daily contest have become weary and hopeless, losing little by little what they once possessed of spirituality."

Yet it is there in Africa where Dr. Schweitzer's central philosophy is discovered. While taking a journey with his wife on a river to visit his friend Madame Pelot, Dr. Schweitzer writes, "Lost in thought I sat on the deck of the barge struggling to find the elementary and universal conception of the ethical which I have not discovered in any philosophy. Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase, `Reverence for Life.' The iron door had yielded: the path in the thicket had become visible." The remainder of the book takes one into a detailed look at what this philosophy implies and entails. Dr. Schweitzer explains how he had been unknowingly searching for this concept even during his early childhood on through to his academic studies. This understanding of ethics brought about a new vision concerning each person's responsibility to their fellow creature. Although it is necessary to go beyond this text and read "Reverence for Life" in its entirety, this book gives us a powerful insight into that sweet and pure philosophy.

`Essential Writings' is exactly as its title implies. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a solid introduction to Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his most relevant philosophical and passionate pursuits. James Brazabon, the book's editor, has a solid understanding on many of Dr. Schweitzer motives and prefaces each chapter with `down to earth' contextual explanations. This compilation serves as a valuable reference book in which one may find poignant, pertinent and inspiring quotations for deeper contemplation concerning our ethics and how we live out our own thoughts and beliefs through our actions.
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Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography eBook : Schweitzer, Albert: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography eBook : Schweitzer, Albert: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

https://www.scribd.com/document/388242141/4-AlbertSchweitzer-OutOfMyLifeThought-AnAutobiography

https://www.scribd.com/document/150795964/Albert-Schweitzer-An-Autobiography


https://archive.org/details/outofmylifethoug00schw_0/page/8/mode/2up
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Kindle
$17.16





Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography Kindle Edition
by Albert Schweitzer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition


4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 101 ratings
==
Published to commemorate Albert Schweitzer's only visit to the United States 60 years ago, this anniversary edition of his autobiography gives 21st-century readers a unique and authoritative account of the man John F. Kennedy called "one of the transcendent moral influences of our century."
Schweitzer is celebrated around the world as a European pioneer of medical service in Africa, a groundbreaking philosopher and musical scholar, and a catalyst of environmental and peace activism. Yet people most revere Schweitzer for his dedication to serving others and his profound and influential ethic of reverence for life. For Schweitzer, reverence for life was not a theory or a philosophy but a discovery—a recognition that the capacity to experience and act on a reverence for all life is a fundamental part of human nature, a characteristic that sets human beings apart from the rest of the natural world.
This anniversary edition coincides with several high profile celebrations of his 1949 visit, as well as the release of a new feature film starring Jeroen Krabbe and Barbara Hershey. In addition to a foreword by Nobel Laureate and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, this edition features a new foreword by Lachlan Forrow, president of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Review
"Of the many highly esteemed books Albert Schweitzer penned in his life, he valued his autobiography the most. He had become a legend and he wanted to remind readers that he was just a man, and a man who had learned from many others. He had been fortunate to be in the right places at the right times, to meet people of thoughtfulness and sympathy. He wanted to report his debts to them. He wanted to clarify the reasons and methods for his undertakings and to respond to some of his critics. And, he wished to honor something greater than he was--life. 'Reverence for Life' became his life's motto and it brought him pain as well as joy as he sought to respect how precious and unique each life is. Schweitzer believed there was a way to live in the world, accept it, take joy from it--and whoc could know this better than a man who had placed himself so much in it, given so much to it, and been ready to receive experience as a gift for which to be thankful. First published in 1931, this edition of Albert Schweitzer's 'Out Of My Life And Thought' incorporates the great man's own revisions and aditions over thirty years, as well as an informative new foreword by Jimmy Carter. 'Out Of My Life And Thought' is 'must' reading for anyone who wants to know more about the life of this Nobel Peace Prize winner and his remarkable achievements and sacrifices." --'The Midwest Book Review'

About the Author
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1952. Although he proved himself highly gifted in science, theology, and music, and as an author, Schweitzer dedicated the later part of his life to medicine and to a hospital he founded in French Equatorial Africa. A true humanitarian, he used his Nobel Prize stipend to expand the hospital and to build a leper colony. His other titles available from Johns Hopkins University Press include 'The Quest of the Historical Jesus', 'The Primeval Forest', and 'The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle'.


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From other countries
Robert Lee
5.0 out of 5 stars He was very happy with it
Reviewed in Canada on 26 January 2017
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Purchased as a Christmas present for brother-in-law who had been looking for a copy. He was very happy with it :)
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Aran Joseph Canes
5.0 out of 5 stars The Twentieth Century’s Epitome of the Enlightenment
Reviewed in the United States on 22 October 2023
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Albert Schweitzer was a paragon of the twentieth century. A humanitarian devoted to treating the poor in Africa, an intellectual with important studies of early Christianity, one of the foremost interpreters of J.S. Bach and a man with a unique credo he hoped would reinvigorate world culture. While whole books could be written on any one of these, I will focus on the last; in particular whether his creed still bears relevance to the world of today.


In his early Christian studies, Schweitzer emphasized the eschatological: that is, he argued that the early Christians, including Jesus himself, believed in the prevalent Jewish worldview that the world was coming to an end. But Schweitzer thought the ethical teachings of Jesus endured, through the world of the Church Fathers, to the Middle Ages, to the current day.


A thorough man of the Enlightenment, he lamented that citizens of the twentieth century relied on prevalent opinions and did not think things through for themselves. Long germinating on a personal credo, Schweitzer found it in the ethos of reverence for life. All human beings should love the world: from microscopic organisms to high culture. Schweitzer thought this was fleshed out by the ethical teachings of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mount.


Clearly influenced by his vehement rejection of early Christian end of the world prophecy, he argued that the affirmation of this world, with all its suffering, was key to the right stance for modernity.


As for whether his credo still bears relevance, a dedogmatized Christianity that instead focuses on effecting positive change in the world seems precisely what most Christian churches are turning to. I question whether the historical Jesus would have allowed a separation from belief in his person and his ethics but that is another essay entirely.


As a critic, intellectual and humanitarian Schweitzer remains arguably the epitome of the Enlightenment in the 20th century. Encountering his life and thought is recommended to all.
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Tyler Wellman
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique window into the mind of Schweitzer and how he saw the world
Reviewed in the United States on 20 April 2013
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This book is valuable and deserving of five stars because it is the best place to get a window into Schweitzer's mind. It too helps you to see how and what he thought about him self, what was important in his life as he looked back on it.


It was surprising and somewhat discouraging to me how little he wrote about his wife. There is a bit about her early on, but very little towards the end as he more fully engaged in his ministry. I think it is indicative of the health of their marriage over time.


There are a few places in the book I became disengaged, namely where he goes on about his work with Bach and with organs.


Overall though I am so grateful for the book, it's influence on me, and that he took the time to write it.
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Dt65
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2013
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Great book about a great man. I love the introduction of Jimmy Carter, one of the best president of the United States, a man of peace!
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craigr1971
4.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth a Look
Reviewed in the United States on 12 January 2014
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A very interesting look inside the mind of an iconic man of his time. To understand his thoughts and see how he dealt with obstacles is fascinating. A must for an history buff, medical enthusiast, or biography fan.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite phrase
Reviewed in the United States on 10 February 2016
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My favorite phrase among Schweitzer's words is the following (See page 157 of this book.), which I applied to my children.
"The man who has become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give to every will-to-live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own. He experiences that other life in his own. He accepts as good preserving life, promoting life, developing all life that is capable of development to its highest possible value. He considers as evil destroying life, injuring life, repressing life that is capable of development. This is the absolute, fundamental principle of ethics, and it is a fundamental postulate of thought."
24 people found this helpful
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Sharidean Flint
3.0 out of 5 stars Great man! Tough to read...
Reviewed in the United States on 30 April 2015
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This book was tough to read because it is soooo philosophical. He lived an amazing life and managed to making pretty boring. The last chapters are the best and if you can make it that far it is worth the read, but it is mostly uphill until then. A very inspiring life lived mostly for others and a truly Christian man.
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Grant H Abbott
5.0 out of 5 stars Reverence for Life
Reviewed in the United States on 6 October 2021
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Read the autobiography of this genius to learn where the idea of “reverence for life” came from and why it matters.
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Linda
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Instructive
Reviewed in the United States on 19 June 2013
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I have found this book very instructive and enjoyable. I had no idea that Dr. Schweitzer had such a well developed interest in many subjects at a younger age before he decided to go to medical school and then Africa. It has prompted me to read further biographies of his life.
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Renato S. N. Costa
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
Reviewed in the United States on 16 May 2010
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Reading the autobiography of any special woman or man, understanding "special" as someone whose thoughts and/or actions help to lead mankind to a happier future, is always moving and inspiring. Trying to emulate them is a must if we expect to prepare a better world for our children even knowing how far we still are of being like them.
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2024/05/29

Albert Schweitzer on Vimeo 1957. Oscar-winning

Albert Schweitzer on Vimeo

Albert Schweitzer
Jerome Foundation
1957. USA. Produced and directed by Jerome Hill. Cinematography by Erica Anderson. Music by Alec Wilder. Narrated by Burgess Meredith and Fredric March. Oscar-winning documentary traces the life and work of the French philosopher, physician, and missionary. 82 min.