Out of My Life and Thought
An Autobiography
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Published to commemorate Albert Schweitzer's only visit to the United States 60 years ago, this anniversary edition of his autobiography gives 21st-century readers a unique and authoritative account of the man John F. Kennedy called "one of the transcendent moral influences of our century."
Schweitzer is celebrated around the world as a European pioneer of medical service in Africa, a groundbreaking philosopher and musical scholar, and a catalyst of environmental and peace activism. Yet people most revere Schweitzer for his dedication to serving others and his profound and influential ethic of reverence for life. For Schweitzer, reverence for life was not a theory or a philosophy but a discovery—a recognition that the capacity to experience and act on a reverence for all life is a fundamental part of human nature, a characteristic that sets human beings apart from the rest of the natural world.
This anniversary edition coincides with several high profile celebrations of his 1949 visit, as well as the release of a new feature film starring Jeroen Krabbe and Barbara Hershey. In addition to a foreword by Nobel Laureate and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, this edition features a new foreword by Lachlan Forrow, president of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Even in our cynical age, the legendary story of jungle doctor Albert Schweitzer, self-sacrificingly devoted to the service of humanity, inspires. Out of print since the early 1970s, his classic autobiography, first published in 1933, speaks directly to modern readers in its searching appraisal of this ``period of spiritual decline for mankind,'' an age in which science, technology and power seem divorced from ethical standards. In earnest prose Schweitzer discusses his research into primitive Christianity and his search for the historical Jesus; his love of Bach, ``poet and painter in sound''; his fancy for rebuilding old church organs. His philosophy, which he called ``Reverence for Life,'' blends mysticism and rationalism, with an impulse to release the ``active ethic'' he sees latent in Christianity. For this fluid new translation, Schweitzer's own corrections made between original publication and 1960 have been incorporated. Photos.
