James Brabazon – Albert Schweitzer: A Biography - Review

 

This second edition of Brabazon's incredible biography contains new material regarding the relationship between Schweitzer and his wife, Helene, due to the discovery of numerous letters between them. The author also adds material in the later chapters, focusing on the antagonism that erupted between the United States government and the old doctor, as Schweitzer and other activists, such as Albert Einstein and philosopher Bertrand Russell exposed the public at large to the fall-out hazards of the hydrogen bomb testing that the government wanted to keep secret, as the Cold War was then in full swing. This new material is rich in insight, revealing that Albert. Schweitzer the myth, the modern saint, "The Greatest Man in the World", was indeed human, and whose long and arduous work in West Africa paved the way, or at least set an example for present day and future humanitarians.

What is most striking about this man was his incredible capacity for work. He held Doctorates in three major subjects - theology, philosophy and medicine and was an accomplished organist and world expert on Bach. Schweitzer's published works in theology, philosophy, and music remain in circulation, shedding light on these areas. His "Reverence for Life" philosophy, on the surface, appears almost too simplistic. Still, on closer examination, it is a worldview that encompasses an attitude of mind that could radically change the world for the better if practiced. Schweitzer was not a philosopher of the abstract variety, at home in an ivory tower creating complex theories that only a select few would understand. As the man said and wrote many times, "he lived his argument," and his accomplishments certainly prove this.

Brabazon's biography of this great man is thorough. He delightfully brings together Schweitzer's letters, books, articles, and interviews with friends, colleagues, and family, including sermons from his early career as a young minister that tells us that his love of Jesus and the foundations of his philosophy were already set in his mind and spirit, well before embarking into his long and productive life. Brabazon brings Schweitzer to life in these pages as only a great biographer wholly connected to their subject can do. It is extremely well written and engaging.

If you are only slightly interested in one of the great humanitarians of the twentieth century, an intellectual, a man of God, Samaritan, healer and example of goodness, read this engrossing biography - a labor of love and inspiring in every sense.