This Week in Church History: Schweitzer and Teresa
History teaches us the impact of cultures, religions, and individuals on society and its future. Christian individuals, especially in Europe and America, have shaped the direction of business, education, medicine, and politics. Through the lives of Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa, we better understand the impact of the individual.
T.S. Eliot wrote, “It is in Christianity that our arts have developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe – until recently – have been rooted. It is against a background of Christianity that all of our thought has significance.” Our look at the past week in church history aims a spotlight on individuals who changed their worlds because of their faith.
September 4, 1965
Albert Schweitzer, medical doctor, humanitarian, and winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize passed away in what is now Gabon in Central Africa. Schweitzer was born into an Alsatian family which for generations had been devoted to education, music, and religion. You may not be aware of the strong ties of faith which directed this man’s steps.
Schweitzer entered into intense theological studies at the University of Strasbourg in 1893. Six years later, he obtained doctorates in both philosophy and religion. His studies resulted in his ordination into the Lutheran ministry. In 1906 he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus which established him as a devoted theological researcher and scholar.
The family’s interest in music impacted Schweitzer at an early age as he mastered both the organ and the piano. At the age of nine, he performed on the organ at his father’s church. He was considered a concert organized throughout the world into his middle eighties. At the same time that he was completing his theological education, he published a biography of Johann Sebastian Bach in French, a book on organ building and playing, and then rewrote the Bach book in German.
Because of his faith, Schweitzer decided to go to Africa as a missionary but realized he would have more impact on people as a doctor rather than as a pastor. In 1905 he began the study of medicine at Strasbourg. Eight years later he obtained his M.D. degree and left for Africa. He founded a hospital at Lambarene.
In the French African town, Schweitzer served as doctor and surgeon at the hospital, pastored a congregation, served as an administrator for the village, was the hospital’s buildings and groundskeeper, wrote scholarly books on history, performed as a musician, and served as a host to a countless number of government statesmen and dignitaries. With the prize money he received from the Nobel Peace Prize, he started specific medical programs for leprosy.
September 5, 1997
Mother Teresa, Catholic nun and winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, passed away in Calcutta, India. She was the founder of the Missionaries of Charity which now has over five hundred missions around the world. Christianity Today magazine named her one of The Ten Most Influential Christians of the Twentieth Century.
She was born into a family of Albanian descent and says she felt the call of God on her life at the age of twelve. By the age of twenty, she was confirmed as a nun and taught at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta. The suffering and poverty of those outside the convent walls made such an impression on her that by 1948 she requested permission from her superiors to leave the school and to devote herself to working among the poor in the slums of Calcutta.
By 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from Rome to start her own order, “The Missionaries of Charity,” to love and care for the people that no one was prepared or able to look after. In 1965, the order became an International Religious Family by the decree of Pope Paul VI.
This society spread all over the world. Their work touched the poor in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia. In the latter three areas, their work focused on alcoholics, the homeless, and those who suffer from AIDS. In the former areas, their relief centers provide help in the wake of floods, epidemics, famine, and for refugees.
Your sphere of influence may barely extend beyond your immediate family instead of the entire world. How will your circle be influenced by the impact of faith upon the steps of your life?
Last week our trivia asked about the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119. Here are a couple of facts that you might find interesting. All of the 176 verse of the chapter develops a strict theology of the importance of following the “law” or ordinances of God. While readers today often do not share such an unwavering commitment, the ancient readers would have been compelled by its bold claims about how to live a peaceful life.
Psalm 119 is considered an alphabetic acrostic poem. In these poems, each verse begins with a successive letter in the Hebrew alphabet. In English, the first verse would begin with an A, the second verse a B, and so on through the alphabet.
Psalm 119 is even more unique in the entire stanza begins with the same letter. In Hebrew, the first eight verses begin with the Hebrew “aleph” and the next eight verses with “beth,” all the way through the Hebrew alphabet.
Why would a poet take so much trouble in writing this way?
Like all of us, the ancient Israelites had to learn their alphabet. Reciting and writing the alphabet was a foundational part of early education. This psalm provided a way to instruct people in grammar while at the same time celebrating the Law of God. From “a to z,
Psalm 119 is a song about God’s Laws – an orderly way to present an order for life.
Next week, can you name the last prophet of the Old Testament?
