Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer was a German-born French theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in a Lutheran parsonage in Kaysersberg-Vignoble, France, in 1875. He studied theology and philosophy at the universities of Strasbourg, Paris, and Berlin, and became a pastor and a professor of theology. He was also an acclaimed concert organist and a music scholar who wrote extensively on the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1905, he decided to pursue a medical degree with the aim of becoming a missionary in Africa. He married Helene Bresslau, a nurse, in 1912, and they moved to French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon) in 1913. There he founded the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, where he treated many patients suffering from leprosy, malaria, and sleeping sickness. He also built a leprosarium with the money he received from the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. Schweitzer was a prolific writer and a influential thinker. He developed a ethical philosophy called "Reverence for Life", which advocated respect and compassion for all living beings. He also challenged the historical-critical approach to the study of Jesus and proposed his own interpretation of Jesus as an eschatological prophet who expected the imminent end of the world. He was a vocal critic of nuclear weapons and colonialism, and advocated for world peace and human rights. Schweitzer died of a stroke in 1965 at his hospital in Lambaréné. He was buried in the hospital grounds next to his wife. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest humanitarians and moral leaders of the 20th century.