The legacies of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered PDF
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The legacies of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered The legacies of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Book Series 1 EDITED BY IZAK SPANGENBERG CHRISTINA LANDMAN Head Office AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, Postnet Suite #110 Private Bag X19 Durbanville 7551 South Africa Tel: +27 21 975 2602 Fax: +27 21 975 4635 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aosis.co.za © Izak Spangenberg & Christina Landman 2016. Licensee: AOSIS (Pty) Ltd The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. First Edition published in 2016 Impression: 1 Listed in OAPEN (http://www.oapen.org), DOAB (http://www.doabooks.org/) and indexed by Google Scholar. Some rights reserved. This is an open access publication. Except where otherwise noted, this work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), a copy of which is available at https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. It is permitted to reuse, share and adapt this work, subject to the following terms: Attribution - appropriate credit is given to the original work, the copyright holder and creator, and any changes made to the work are properly indicated. Non-Commercial - the work, or any adaptation of the work, may not be used, distributed or reproduced in any format, by any means, for commercial purposes. Share-Alike - the work, or any adaptation of the work is distributed under the same license terms as the original, with a URL link provided to the license. Enquiries outside the terms of the Creative Commons license should be sent to the Rights Department, AOSIS, at the above address or to [email protected] Published in South Africa by AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville, Cape Town, 7550. Book Title: The legacies of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered ISBN: 978-1-928396-03-1 (pdf) ISBN: 978-1-928396-04-8 (e-book) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2016.tlasr11 How to cite this work Spangenberg, I. & Landman, C. (eds.), 2016, The legacies of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered (Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae Book Series 1), AOSIS, Cape Town. Printed and bound by PRINT ON DEMAND, South Africa Cover artwork by Cecile de Villiers This cover artwork is based on a portrait of ‘Albert Schweitzer’ provided by the ‘German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-D0116-0041-019)’ under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any statement made or opinion expressed in this publication. Consequently, the publishers and copyright holder will not be liable for any loss or damage sustained by any reader as a result of his or her action upon any statement or opinion in this work. Links by third party websites are provided by AOSIS in good faith and for information only. AOSIS disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. Every effort has been made to protect the interest of copyright holders. Should any infringement have occurred inadvertently, the publisher apologises and undertakes to amend the omission in the event of a reprint. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Book Series 1 Religious Studies Domain Editorial Board at AOSIS Chief Editor: Scholarly Books Andries van Aarde, Post Retirement Professor in the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa Board Members Warren Carter, Professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, United States Christian Danz, Dekan der Evangelisch-TheologischenFakultät der Universität Wien and Ordentlicher Universitätsprofessor für Systematische Theologie und Religionswissenschaft, University of Vienna, Austria Pieter G.R. de Villiers, Associate Editor, Extraordinary Professor in Biblical Spirituality, Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, South Africa Musa W. Dube, Department of Theology & Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Botswana, Botswana David D. Grafton, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Jens Herzer, Theologische Fakultät der Universität Leipzig, Germany Jeanne Hoeft, Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Saint Paul School of Theology, United States Dirk J. Human, Associate Editor, Deputy Dean and Professor of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa D. Andrew Kille, Former Chair of the SBL Psychology and Bible Section, and Editor of the Bible Workbench, San Jose, United States William R.G. Loader, Emeritus Professor Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia Isabel A. Phiri, Associate General Secretary for Public Witness and Diakonia, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland Marcel Sarot, Emeritus, Professor of Fundamental Theology, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, the Netherlands Corneliu C. Simut, Professor of Historical and Dogmatic Theology, Emanuel University, Oradea, Bihor, Romania Rothney S. Tshaka, Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Elaine M. Wainwright, Emeritus Professor School of Theology, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Executive Leader, Mission and Ministry, McAuley Centre, Australia Gerald West, Associate Editor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics in the College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Peer review declaration The Publisher (AOSIS) and the Domain Editorial Board certify that the manuscript was subjected to a rigorous peer review process prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the book’s author. The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or author in question. The reviewers were selected by the editorial board of Studia Historia Ecclesiasticae as content experts in the field of Albert Schweitzer studies. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript, and recommended that the manuscript be published. Where the reviewers recommended publication subject to specified revisions for improving the manuscript, the author has responded adequately to the recommendations. Research Justification This book on the legacy of Albert Schweitzer contextualises this remarkable intellectualist, humanist, medicine- man, theologian and Nobel Prize winner. This collected work is aimed at specialists in the humanities, social sciences, education, and religious studies. The authors embrace philanthropic values to benefit Africa and the world at large. The publication engages with peers on the relevance of Schweitzer’s work for humanitarian values in Africa. The essays in the book stimulate further research in the various fields in which Schweitzer excelled. Its academic contribution is its focus on the post-colonial discourse in contemporary discussions both in South Africa and Africa at large. The book emphasises Schweitzer’s reverence for life philosophy and demonstrates how this impacts on moral values. However, the book also points to the possibility that Schweitzer’s reverence for life philosophy is embedded in a typically European appreciation of ‘mysticism’ that is not commensurate with African indigenous religious values. From an African academic perspective, the book advocates the view that Schweitzer’s concept of the reverence for life supports not only the Biblical notion of imago Dei but also the African humanist values of the preservation and protection of life, criticising the exploitation of the environment by warring factions and large companies, especially in oil-producing African countries. It also argues that Schweitzer’s disposition on ethics was influenced by the Second World War, his sentiments against nuclear weapons and his resistance to the Enlightenment view of ‘civilisation’. With regard to Jesus studies the book elucidates values promoted by Schweitzer by following in Jesus’ steps and portraying Jesus’ message within a modern world view. Taken over from Schweitzer, the book argues that Jesus’ moral authority resides in his display of love and his interaction with the poor and marginalised. The book demonstrates Schweitzer’s understanding of Jesus as the one who sacrifices his own life to bring the Kingdom of God to realisation in this world. The book commends Schweitzer’s insight that we know Jesus through his toils on the one hand, and through our own experiences on the other. It is in a mixture between the two that the hermeneutical gap between then and now is bridged. It is precisely in bridging this gap that Schweitzer sees himself as an instrument of God’s healing. It defines Schweitzer as the embodiment of being a healer, educationalist and herald of the greening of Christianity. His philosophy on the reverence for life prepares a foundation for Christians to think ‘green’ about human life within a greater environment. He advocates aspects of education such as lifelong learning, holistic education and a problem-based approach to education. Finally, the book analyses both critically and appreciatively Albert Schweitzer’s contribution to the concepts of religious healing prevalent in African Christianity today. Izak Spangenberg & Christina Landman Professors and Research Project Leaders attached to the Research Institute for Theology and Religion and Biblical Studies at the University of South Africa, under the auspices of the Church History Society of Southern Africa Contents List of abbreviations appearing in the Text and Notes xv Notes on Contributors xvi Part 1: The legacies of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered 1 Chapter 1 Post-colonialism and the deconstruction of moral imperialism: The case of Albert Schweitzer and his 3 ethics of reverence for life - by Cornel du Toit Introduction: colonialism, post-colonialism and new-imperialisms 3 Knowledge (truth) imperialism? 6 Schweitzer in context 12 What drove Albert Schweitzer to Africa? 12 The question of race in colonial and post-colonial politics: the German example 14 Schweitzer’s relationship with Africans 19 Reverence for life as ethical imperialism? 26 Schweitzer’s ethical model as response to the philosophy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 26 Imperialist ethics? 31 Evaluation 38 Chapter 1: Summary 41 ix
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