A conference entitled ‘Albert Schweitzer's responsibility and commitment in his correspondence’ will be hosted at the Université de Haute-Alsace from 4th-6th June 2025.
They are calling for papers that explore the vast number of letters that Schweitzer wrote in his lifetime, most of which have not yet been studied. Proposals for papers (1,500 to 2,000 characters including spaces), accompanied by a brief bio-bibliography, should be emailed to [email protected] before 30 November 2024. Working languages: French, German, English.
For more information:
Website: www.ille.uha.fr
Email: Regine Battison and Regis Boulat at [email protected]
Schweitzer’s letters can be found in archives such as:
Maison Albert Schweitzer at Günsbach
The Johns Hopkins University Special Collections, Milton S. Eisenhower Library
Conference details:
The double jubilee of Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) in 2025 (150 years since his birth and 60 years since his death) gives us the opportunity to revisit his life, thought and work in the light of our times.
His life is well documented in all its important aspects, especially as he wrote several autobiographical works. His work has also been widely discussed and commented on in all the major fields (medical, philosophical, ethical, theological, musical, etc.). His correspondence, however, represents a vast field yet to be explored.
Indeed, what enabled Schweitzer to acquire phenomenal international stature, in addition to his work as a theologian, philosopher and musicologist, as well as his reputation as a doctor in Lambaréné, was undoubtedly his epistolary networks, which prefigured, more than half a century ahead of time, the digital revolution of social networks.
They put him in touch with many and varied correspondents, to address his day-to-day needs as a doctor to support his hospital, and to engage in intellectual and ethical conversations. Schweitzer, who was a man of conviction and an immense worker devoted to the cause he had set himself, sparing no effort, was also, and this is less well known, an immense letter-writer; he wrote his letters in French as well as in German, and has to his credit tens of thousands of letters (with almost 10,000 correspondents...), of which only a very small number have been studied.
For this reason, this conference aims to explore this aspect of his work, which is still too little known. The insight gained from his correspondence reveals some previously unpublished and even surprising aspects, which, through his personal writings, highlight the link between his ethical and philosophical demands and his commitment.
This abundant correspondence reveals the behind-the-scenes story of a man who was always in touch with the world, whether from his home in Strasbourg in the early days, his hospital in Lambaréné, his house in Gunsbach in Alsace or Königsfeld in Germany, or the various places around the world where he stayed during his travels. Through all these letters, we can see the will of a man committed to his cause and working tirelessly on it, with his many and sometimes very surprising contacts.
Among all the subjects he addressed in his letters, we want to examine the concepts of responsibility and commitment to the Other, to living beings in their entirety: they underpin all his actions, and their facets in his vast epistolary activity remain to be discovered.
His many networks can be grouped into different branches, such as useful and professional correspondence (including with doctors, suppliers and pharmacists), which forms a very large part of his legacy; correspondence with his publishers, his books being a significant source of income to support his activity; correspondence for humanitarian aid and relief and correspondence on ecology and the protection of nature and living things (including animals); in the early days, philosophical correspondence which fuelled a conversation that enabled him to develop his thinking (always emphasising freedom of thought and religion, inter-religious dialogue and knowledge of the Other) and for a “world philosophy” (Weltphilosophie); professional correspondence with musicians, musicologists and organ builders, among others, for the preservation of old organs and for an understanding of the music of J. S. Bach; private correspondence with his family, his wife and close friends, of course, and collaborators.
For a long time, he kept his distance from the world of politics, having only rare contacts with politicians, but the use of the atomic bomb and nuclear testing prompted his public commitment against nuclear power in the face of global conflict during the Cold War. His correspondence with some of the world's leading scientists in this field, as well as with the politicians involved, is of major interest.
In hindsight, Albert Schweitzer's correspondence appears to be a literary phenomenon, adding to all his published work in the theological, philosophical, musical and medical fields. His whole life was one of commitment, based on great tenacity in the face of many difficulties that history has forgotten, and guided by a Christian faith that is reflected in his sermons and theoretical writings. It was based on his work in action and on the motto that is the foundation of his commitment: ‘Reverence for Life’ / Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben’.
While his commitment is of burning relevance today, the aim of this conference is also to bring Albert Schweitzer closer, making him more accessible and more tangible.
The aim of the conference is to highlight the important or, on the contrary, the anecdotal but significant aspects of certain correspondences, their type and duration, and the relationship established between the two correspondents, showing the different facets of the responsibility and commitment of Albert Schweitzer, winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, to the cause he had embraced.
Committee:
Matthieu Arnold, Université de Strasbourg
Régine Battiston, ILLE – Université de Haute-Alsace
Régis Boulat, CRESAT – Université de Haute-Alsace
James Carleton Paget, Peterhouse, Cambridge University
Predrag Cicovacki, College of the Holy Cross (USA)
Romain Collot, archiviste, Maison Albert Schweitzer, F-Gunsbach
Percy Mark, Past chair of Reverence for Life UK, translator of Albert Schweitzer
Thierry Mechler, Musikhochschule, D-Cologne
Renaud Meltz, CRESAT – Université de Haute-Alsace
Jan Helge Solbakk, Centre for Medical Ethics- University of Oslo
Jean-Paul Sorg, philosophe et traducteur d’Albert Schweitzer
Hubert Steinke, Institut für Medizingeschichte – Universität Bern
Judith Syga-Dubois, ILLE – Université de Haute-Alsace
Roland Wolf, Vorsitzender des Deutschen Hilfsvereins für das Albert-Schweitzer-Spital in Lambarene