The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship

ESSENTIAL CHRISTIANITY

The essential element in Christianity as it was preached by Jesus and as it is comprehended by thought, is this, that it is only through love that we can attain to communion with God. All living knowledge of God rests upon this foundation: that we experience Him in our lives as will-to-love. (Out of My Life and Thought, p. 277.)

Jesus as a concrete historical personality remains a stranger to our time, but His spirit, which lies hidden in His words, is known in its simplicity, and its influence is direct. (Quest of the Historical Jesus, p. 399.)

A Christian is one who has the spirit of Christ. This is the only theology. (The Schweitzer Album, p. 37.)

An injured patient arrived in a boat one day. "Refuse him, Doctor," urged a hospital attendant. "He was here before and stole the very drugs he was healed with and sold them in the village. A thief he is and has no claim on us again." Schweitzer responded:

What would the Lord Jesus have answered when someone came to Him in pain? Quick, waste no time. Get him to the operating room. “Whatever you do unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” [Gospel of Matthew 25:40] This is my image of the Kingdom of God -- not the Apocalypse -- only this is the right meaning. (The Schweitzer Album, p. 38)

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: “Follow thou me!” and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is. (Concluding paragraph, Quest of the Historical Jesus.)

How is Jesus alive for us? Do not attempt to prove his presence by formulations, even if they are sanctified by the ages. Of late I have very nearly lost my temper when some pious soul has come to me saying that no-one can believe in the living presence of Jesus if they do not believe in his physical resurrection and the eternal existence of his glorified body. Jesus lives for everyone whom he directs, in matters great and small, as if he were here among us. He tells them ''Do this or that.'' And they answer, quite simply, ''Yes!" and go about their job, humble and busy… The fact that the Lord still, in our days, gives his orders, proves to me - and for me it is the only proof - that he is neither a ghost nor dead, but that he lives.

If you will let me explain in my way this living presence, I will say to you: ''The eternal body of Jesus is simply his words; for it was about them that he said 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away!’ ” (Sermon preached on November 19, 1905; cited in Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings. )