From Publishers Weekly
"I am writing you today to inquire whether you might need someone for missionary work in the Congo." From this opening declaration in a letter dated Jan. 9, 1905, through 50 years of missionary correspondence, Schweitzer's voice and themes remain constant. The music of Bach, hospital logistics, the social obligations of his travels in Europe and America, and critiques of theology, books and music are the topics that mainly concern him in this collection of social correspondence. He reserved his formal themes for his books, but readers who know his theology will also hear, like a resonant low note, "the reverence for all life" on which Schweitzer insisted, but did not proselytize. Only when opposing forces of the outside world reach crises of spiritual proportions--nuclear armaments, the Holocuast--do they appear in Schweitzer's handwritten map of his life. In this age of televangelists, the insistent goodness and simplicity Schweitzer demonstrates here refresh the spirit. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize winner, was renowned as a missionary doctor, founder, and chief of a hospital in Lambarene, Gabon (1913-65) and as a peace activist. What many people do not know is that he was also a respected theologian and pastor, organ builder and concert organist, and author of many works on Johann Sebastian Bach. Schweitzer was also an avid and voluminous letter writer: He, or occasionally his assistant, answered every letter he received. In some letters he recalls his activities and writes about issues important to him; other letters are to publishers discussing his books or to organ builders about a vital element in organ construction. The collection of letters amounts to a well-rounded autobiography of Schweitzer, describing his travels, accomplishments, and philosophy, but it does not achieve the same level of self-contemplation as his true autobiographical work, written in 1933, Out of My Life and Thought (Holt, 1990). While Letters could stand on its own, it is better as a companion book to a biography such as James Brabazon's Albert Schweitzer ( LJ 7/75. o.p.) or James Bentley's Albert Schweitzer: The Enigma ( LJ 3/15/92).
- Eric D. Albright, Galter Health Sciences Lib., Northwestern Univ., Chicago
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Eric D. Albright, Galter Health Sciences Lib., Northwestern Univ., Chicago
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
