Agnostic in the Fellowship of Christ

This book details the theology, ethics, and philosophy of the Nobel Peace Prize Laurette Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965). It surveys his entire corpus of religious writings, including his unfinished estate works (Nachlaß), and explores the intellectual history behind his distinctive theological synthesis. This book also traces Schweitzer’s own intellectual and spiritual development from childhood, to his academic years, and throughout his time at the African medical mission. It also places Schweitzer into dialogue with other Protestant theologians including Martin Luther, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Thomas Altizer, as well as with contemporary philosophers like Jacques Derrida. The aim is to reveal what a living faith and mysticism can mean for the modern world, and where common ground can be found for traditional and liberal Protestant theology today.

We often think of Schweitzer in terms of one of his many areas of activity. An Agnostic in the Fellowship of Christ demonstrates the seamlessness of all his endeavors: how each contributes to, and is sustained by, Schweitzer’s ethics of Reverence for Life, and how that philosophy is rooted in a theology of Ethical Mysticism in the Christian Church. Goodin characterizes Schweitzer’s search for middle ground between religious retrenchment and skeptical nihilism as a philosophical approach to theology, rooted in the rationalism of the late nineteenth century. Now, in a time when Schweitzer’s life work is once again astonishingly revelatory, Goodin re‐introduces the thought of this complex, charismatic and compelling man, in a way that is both accessible and inspiring., Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), physician, philosopher, antinuclear activist, and 1952 Nobel Peace laureate, was arguably the most widely admired person in the world in the mid-20th century. President John F. Kennedy called him “one of the transcendent moral influences of our century”. Rachel Carson dedicated her book Silent Spring, which catalyzed the modern environmental movement, to him, explaining that “Dr. Schweitzer is the one truly great individual our modern times have produced.” In this remarkable book, David Gooden brings Dr. Schweitzer to life for the 21st century, when we need him more than ever. Who was this man who left behind fame and worldly success in Europe – as a scholar and a musician -- to dedicate the last five decades of his life to direct medical service to the most vulnerable, in rural equatorial Africa? What unifying principles, vision and energy – intellectual, moral, spiritual, and yet always concrete and practical – inspired and fueled everything he did? What did he mean when he called himself a “disciple of Jesus”, and insisted that all true ethics is ultimately anchored in “mysticism”? As Goodin writes, Schweitzer “wove many seemingly disparate threads into a singular magnificent tapestry that was his life.” In this book, Goodin examines and explains each of those threads – philosophical and theological; medical and musical; moral and spiritual; and most of all biographical and practical, since Dr. Schweitzer insisted that “My life is my argument.” Most importantly, Goodin shows how each thread is connected to and reinforces the others, all contributing to the depth, strength, and potentially world-transforming power of what Dr. Schweitzer considered his most important legacy – his philosophy of Reverence for Life. In doing so, Goodin does far more than enhance our understanding of an extraordinary historical figure. He shows convincingly why rediscovering Albert Schweitzer is so important for all of us in the 21st century.

David K. Goodin is lecturer for the McGill School of Religious Studies, Professeur Associé at the Université Laval, Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe de Montréal, and instructor for the Pappas Patristic Institute at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.