Spiritual Life of Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Study of the Bible and especially the Gospel has become very popular during 19th and 20th centuries. One of the most interesting parts for scholars has always been the Gospel. Many people devote all their lives to the matter of studying it. One of those was Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Analyzing the Gospel Schweitzer came to an opinion that the main message of Jesus was eschatological. It basically means that Jesus believed that the approaching end of the world. Schweitzer was a son of Lutheran pastor, which is probably why he got attached to the studying of Bible from his early years. In 1899 Albert Schweitzer received PhD in philosophy from the University of Strasbourg. He later taught theological courses at the same university.
During his career Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote a number of books that greatly influenced some people’s view of God, Jesus, and Christianity as a whole. One of the most famous books that Schweitzer wrote on the Gospel is The Quest of the Historical Jesus. Schweitzer observed that Jesus' apocalyptic message was simply too foreign and strange to be grasped by rationalistic, Enlightenment-influenced historical-critical scholars.
While they observed the formation of an original mythology, Schweitzer only saw the mediator between God who asserted on his own divinity and the approaching of God’s kingdom. Jesus' parables, ethics and religious teachings, Schweitzer disputed, were all conditioned by the belief that the end of the world would occur during or curtly after Jesus' era. Another important work of Dr. Albert Schweitzer is The Mystery of the Kingdom of God. As well as in The Quest of the Historical Jesus this book highlighted the apocalyptic message of Jesus.
The Mystery of the Kingdom of God presented a completely new for its time and it greatly changed theological studies, and even still is often referenced by some theologians. According to Schweitzer, Jesus expected The Kingdom of God early in his ministry. It was actually supposed to be a Judgment Day for all people and it could have happened any time. Schweitzer suggested that Jesus expected for the end of the world to happen when he sent his disciples to preach the Kingdom, Repentance, and the Judgment.
When it did not happen, Jesus understood that his own death was necessary. Thus, he did not anything to deter it but even encouraged that to happen. During the time of Jesus’ Passion he expected the Kingdom (which meant the actual end of the world) to come immediately after his death. To protect his point of view, Schweitzer portrays Jesus as fundamentally mistaken in the things that he expected to happen, however, it does not mean that Jesus was wrong in his ethics. He supports the point with the following idea, “In what relation, however, did [Jesus'] ethics and his eschatology stand to each other? So long as one starts with the ethics and seeks to comprehend the eschatology as something adventitious, there appears to be no organic connection between the two, since the ethics of Jesus, as we are accustomed to conceive it, is not in the least accommodated to the eschatology but stands upon a much higher level.

One must therefore take the opposite course and see if the ethical proclamation in essence is not conditioned by the eschatological view of the world.” in The Mystery of the Kingdom of God. The Schweitzer’s point of view was widely acceptable during the 20th century. Currently, however, Schweitzer’s hypothesis was dismissed. Mainly because most of New Testament scholars nowadays believe that eschatological points were added much later in the history by the Church that somehow wanted to expand its influence and control over the believers. Most of Biblical scholars now think that Jesus’ teachings were aimed to help people live better lives (meaning spiritually) and in no case preaching that they will shortly die. Even though, we have a number of Schweitzer’s followers today that fully believe in doctor’s ideas. Bibliography 1. Dale Allison. The Eschatological Jesus. October 1996 issue of Bible Reviews. Retrieved on April 5, 2005 from http://home.pcisys.net/~jnf/index.html 2. Reviews of and Quotes From Dr. Schweitzer's Books. Retrieved on April 5, 2005 from http://home.pcisys.net/~jnf/schauth/rq2.html 3. Albert Schweitzer. The Mystery of the Kingdom of God. 1914. Translated by Walter Lowrie. Prometheus Books, 1985
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