His life was portrayed in the 1952 movie Il est minuit, Docteur Schweitzer, starring Pierre Fresnay as Albert Schweitzer and Jeanne Moreau as his nurse Marie
Is this movie in English? If so, may be worth the watch to further dive into this research.
His life was portrayed in the 1952 movie Il est minuit, Docteur Schweitzer, starring Pierre Fresnay as Albert Schweitzer and Jeanne Moreau as his nurse Marie
Is this movie in English? If so, may be worth the watch to further dive into this research.
"fishers of men"
A phrase used in the gospels to describe the mandate given by Jesus to his first disciples.
Through concerts and other fund-raising, he was ready to equip a small hospital.[51] In early 1913, he and his wife set off to establish a hospital (Albert Schweitzer Hospital) near an existing mission post. The site was nearly 200 miles (14 days by raft[52]) upstream from the mouth of the Ogooué at Port Gentil (Cape Lopez) (and so accessible to external communications), but downstream of most tributaries, so that internal communications within Gabon converged towards Lambaréné.
This further speaks to his musical abilities and benevolence. Fundraising to establish a hospital in a place of need through your musical abilities is awesome. Additionally, if you were downstream from the hospital in an acute emergency then hopefully you had good local help because a 2 week raft ride upstream doesn't seem reasonable.
Amid a hail of protests from his friends, family and colleagues, he resigned his post and re-entered the university as a student in a three-year course towards the degree of Doctorate in Medicine, a subject in which he had little knowledge or previous aptitude. He planned to spread the Gospel by the example of his Christian labour of healing, rather than through the verbal process of preaching, and believed that this service should be acceptable within any branch of Christian teaching.
This must have been a strong calling for him to pursue a difficult three year degree in a medicine at age of 30 without the supports of his friends, family, and colleagues. I also believe medicine and religion should be intertwined to some extent. Holistic healing is usually a combination of factors including religion. This is awesome.
Schweitzer rapidly gained prominence as a musical scholar and organist, dedicated also to the rescue, restoration and study of historic pipe organs.
Are history pipe organs common amongst religious music? Or was this a sole pursuit of a passion. I am sure his skills as a organist were highly appreciated inside the church.
He spent his childhood in Gunsbach, also in Alsace, where his father, the local Lutheran-Evangelical pastor of the EPCAAL, taught him how to play music.[7] The tiny village would become home to the Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer (AIAS).
I always enjoy hearing stories where someone from a small town will make a name for themselves but never forget their roots. In this instance, how Albert Schweitzer returned and made Alsace the home for the AIAS.
He was a theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician.
This is quite the resume. It is impressive that he was able to find the time to partake in all these endeavors. Contributions to many important fields.
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Strong conclusion to the letter with a optimistic foreshadowing. Overall, I found this letter easy to read and interesting. Gave insight into the mind of MLK.
Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?
True! This letter was very long; however, if I was in a confined jail cell I would do something similar. I like how he acknowledges the length of the letter but also gives good reasoning.
I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.
Demonstrates a level of disappointment and disapproval that segregation has persisted.
we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed,
I enjoy how he uses similes to illustrate the tension that between the races. I also like how it makes it clear how he does not want to incite violence or create additional problems. You must bring attention to issues to be able to solve these issues.
One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
It is interesting to consider the standar of law in this scenario as whites during this time mostly considered these laws just. Also, MLK accepting the penalty knowing the punishment.
Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?
MLK's familiarity of the constitution and foundations in which America was found on truly gives credibility to his argument. This is another example of MLK demonstrating the power that comes with knowledge.
The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
I found this phrasing very powerful. MLK begins to justify why an unjust law is meant to be opposed. Even quoting St. Augustine to refute criticism of his thoughts and planned actions.
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait."
I like how he refers to the constitution and gives a value in 340 years to truly drive home the fact that it is time for social justice.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
MLK describes the waiting vs never amogst the Negro community and how most often they mean the same thing.
"Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.
I like how MLK brings up possible disputes to what his audience could bring up and then dismisses these arguments and justifies there relevance. Specifically, why it is time for direct action.
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.
These steps defined by MLK are direct guidelines on how to structure a nonviolent protest. These steps are likely still true to this day. I wish "direct action" was not so loosely defined; however, it is probably difficult to give a specific meaning given scenarios can differ largely.
The Milgram experiment was a study done in the early 1960s that helped measure a person's moral character.[10] Subjects from different socio-economic groups were tested on their willingness to press a buzzer that caused a participant – posing as a subject – in another room to express great pain and distress for giving a wrong answer to a test question.
I have previously heard of this experiment and makes me question if scientific discovery would accelerate if there wasn't moral/legal barriers on experiments?
"sum of one’s moral habits and dispositions".
It would appear that a singular action is insufficient and a larger sample size of moral habits is a better indicator of a person moral character
philosopher
A psychologist and now a philosopher. I would imagine these are the two professions that are best fit to define oral character
a disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of functions across a range of situations".
Basically a more wordy definition than the first line
Psychologist Lawrence Pervin
Is this guy credible? He is a psychologist so probably so.
unite
Important
soft skills.
What is a soft skill? Reminder to look up definition for this later
he presence or lack of virtues such as empathy, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits,
Can include both pertinent positive and negatives regarding a characters attributes
an individual's steady moral qualities.
Definition of moral character