Born in the Alsace on January 14, 1875, scholar and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer certainly left a multifaceted legacy. He contributed importantly to New Testament scholarship with his books "The Quest for the Historical Jesus" and "The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle." He also contributed to philosophy with his writings on the civilization and on the "reverence for life," which he discovered in a moment of insight as a universal concept for ethics. Schweitzer was an accomplished organist and musicologist who wrote about the music of J. S. Bach. He made recordings that are now on CD. Amid some of this research and other activities, he also earned a medical degree, in order to answer Christ's call of service. Subsequently he and his wife Helene founded a hospital in French Equatorial Africa, now Gabon. Although his hospital was criticized for its sanitary conditions and for Schweitzer's paternalism, the self-funded hospital treated many thousands of patients. He continued to write books throughout his life. He wrote in German and in French. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. And he loved cats....
I've always thought that the last paragraph of "Quest for the Historical Jesus" is inspiring:
“He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those ... who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: 'Follow thou me!' and sets us to the tasks 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.”
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