Awards

• Winner of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2017.

Overview

This biography provides a versatile insight into the life, work, and thought of Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965). Nils Ole Oermann offers a detailed account of the multifaceted life of Albert Schweitzer who was a theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. Schweitzer's life was not a straight path from the parsonage in Alsace to the University of Strasbourg, then on to the hospital in Lambarene, and ending with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. In every life there are highs and lows, victories and defeats--and Schweitzer's life was no exception. These ups and downs, however, are barely discernible in Schweitzer's 1931 autobiography, Out of my Life and Thought, where he presents his life as an enormous, purposefully constructed edifice, the cornerstone of which was the principle of Reverence for Life, and the almost inevitable outcome of which was the Nobel Peace Prize. To date, biographers, journalists, and hagiographers have told and retold the story of Schweitzer following this basic pattern with relatively little critical modification. Their Schweitzer was a man whose demeanour and charisma set him apart from other intellectual giants of his time. But not everything Schweitzer records in his autobiography corresponds with what is found in the archives and in his unpublished writings. It is on the basis of these historical sources and more recent publications that Oermann attempts to sketch a more realistic picture of Albert Schweitzer. Oermann draws on newly uncovered personal papers which shed light on Schweitzer's dealings with the East German authorities and his role in the anti-nuclear movement. He also builds on a number of interviews from those associated with Schweitzer--most notably his daughter.

Full Product Details

Author:   Nils Ole Oermann (, Leuphana University, Lüneburg) ,  Paul Lauer
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 13.20cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 20.30cm
Weight:   0.398kg
ISBN:  

9780198784227

ISBN 10:   0198784228
Pages:   282
Publication Date:   24 November 2016
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1: A sense of devotion: from the parsonage to theology (1875 1903) A pastor s son in Alsace Schooling and early years A student of theology, philosophy, and music Kant Curate, doctoral student, and outsider Theologian or mystic? 2: Saving the whole: from theology to Bach and then to medicine (1903 1912) Bach, or the art of playing the organ The path to a decision The study of medicine The loyal comrade 3: The spiritual adventurer: from Strasbourg to the rainforest and back again (1912 1917) Departure to equatorial Africa Lambarene The outbreak of war and deportation 4: It is good to preserve life: Albert Schweitzer s philosophy of civilisation We are all of us just nothing but epigoni Reverence for life Philosophy of civilisation and religion The importance of animals 5: The iron door opens: crisis and breakthrough (1917 1932) Return to Alsace The lost penny Back in Lambarene On the right treatment of natives 6: With greetings from Central Africa: the time of the Third Reich (1933 1945) The calm before the storm Lambarene during the war 7: Exorcising the ghost of the nuclear war: Schweitzer in the Cold War (1945 1957) The greatest man in the world The Nobel Peace Prize and its consequences Schweitzer, Einstein, and the bomb A bell from the German Democratic Republic Homo politicus 8: How beautiful! The last years (1957 1965) Decolonization and criticism The ninetieth birthday Epilogue: myth and reality Timeline Explanatory Notes

Reviews

[Nils Ole Oermann's] book will continue to be the go to biography on Schweitzer for many years ... In a relatively brief compass, [Oermann] has succeeded in giving his reader a real flavour of this most intriguing of public intellectuals and has done so while avoiding the temptation to thoughtless praise or denunciation. * James Carleton Paget, Theologische Literaturzeitung *

Author Information

Nils Ole Oermann is a Professor at Leuphana University of Lüneburg.

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