The Allure of Albert Schweitzer

In the early 1950s, Albert Schweitzer was a heroic figure, arguably second only to Albert Einstein in renown. Today, many have scarcely heard of him and know nothing of his work as a medical missionary in Equatorial Africa, or of his receipt of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize. Schweitzer's genius flourished when he felt he was able to operate between cultures. Convinced that he was uniquely able to mediate between opposites, whether it was between France and Germany, Jews and Christians, or Western and Eastern spirituality, Schweitzer was a tantalising figure, hovering on the verge of what we would today call 'cross-cultural' dialogue. Here I will examine his intellectual and ethical trajectory, and explore how his reaction to Africa produced an early liberation that stalled due to his inability to engage deeply with Africans and their culture. As the decades passed, he was increasingly cut adrift both from Europe and from changing currents within Africa, and became strangely absorbed in Indian thought, creatively christianising the notion of 'ahimsa' (non-violence) to construct his 'reverence for life'. In an attempt to create his 'ethical personality', he ultimately constructed a colony within a colony, his work frozen in formulations which had been novel prior to World War I.