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Answering the Call

The Doctor Who Made Africa His Life: The Remarkable Story of Albert Schweitzer

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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
A Christian author's inspiring biography of the Nobel Peace Prize–winning theologian and physician who built a hospital in French Equatorial Africa.
As a young man, Albert Schweitzer seemed destined for greatness. His immense talent and fortitude drove him to become one of twentieth century Europe's most renowned philosophers, theologians, and musicians. Yet Schweitzer shocked his contemporaries by forsaking worldly success and embarking on an epic journey into the wilds of French Equatorial Africa, vowing to serve as a lifelong physician to "the least of these" in a land rife with famine, sickness, and superstition.
Schweitzer was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. His legacy endures in the thriving African hospital community that began in a chicken coop, the millions who have drawn inspiration from his example, and the timeless wisdom and compassion of his writings. In this vividly narrated biography, Ken Gire sheds new light on Schweitzer's faith-in-action ethic and his commitment to honor God by celebrating the sacredness of all life.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 11, 2013
      Renaissance man Albert Schweitzer’s long and storied life (1876–1965) as a missionary, doctor, philosopher, and organist is distilled into a concise parable, centered around his multiple sojourns in West Africa, where he established a hospital. A Christian author and speaker, Gire (At Peace in the Storm) delivers Schweitzer’s life as a homily, presenting his subject’s “philosophy of reverence for life” in potent, accessible imagery: treating patients, personally laboring in hospital construction, nurturing injured animals. Clear prose and spiritual inspiration generally supersede details and absolute fact. Conversations are “surmised and assumed,” and “a couple of characters” are admitted to be inventions (though it isn’t clear which ones). Through such literary liberties, Schweitzer is given an expository voice, using casual conversations to provide backstory to his rich life. Though his depiction of the doctor is a generally objective narrative, Gire’s faith occasionally emerges in religious phrasing, which may alienate non-Christians. The birth of Schweitzer’s daughter becomes the “promise of God,” and a financial boon at his mission hospital makes it a “great day for the kingdom of God.” This approach condenses the 90-year life of a noble humanitarian into a brief motivational sermon, an uncomplicated summation of Schweitzer’s life suitable for an interested Christian fellowship. Agent: Greg Johnson, WordServe Literary

    • Library Journal

      April 1, 2013

      Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Albert Schweitzer's emigration to Gabon (formerly part of French Equatorial Africa), to found a hospital, Gire ("Moments with the Savior" series) digs into Schweitzer's motivation to give up conventional medical practice and live a life of service in the Gabon rain forest well before medical missions were usual. Gire illuminates the fascinating life of this 1952 Nobel Prize recipient, albeit with the addition of a couple of fictional characters and imagined dialog. Beginning with his subject's birth in Gunsbach, Alsace, the son of a pastor, Gire artfully describes Schweitzer's studies in theology, philosophy, and music, and his eventual calling to aid the people of Lambarene. Schweitzer's work among the sufferers of malaria, sleeping sickness, and leprosy is especially poignant considering the extreme difficulties of working with impoverished people in the rain forest of equatorial Africa in the early 1900s. Schweitzer gave more than 50 years of service, enduring two world wars and eventually dying in the place he had grown to love. VERDICT The addition of fictional characters and dialog makes this more of a story than a serious research piece on Schweitzer, but general readers who enjoy a popular approach to Christian spiritual narrative will enjoy this.--Holly Hebert, Brentwood P.L., TN

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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