Diss.--Fakultät fur Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft--Universität Bayreuth, 2001. / Bibliogr. p. 275-292. Index.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2008

While throughout the ages prominent thinkers have denounced for various reasons mistreatment and killing of animals for food or sacrifice, the dominant western view has been that only rational beings merit moral respect and value. Augustine developed, from Aristotle‘s thought of a hierarchy of souls as well as from the Stoic concept of animals‘ irrationality, the idea that animals share no fellowship with humans and thus are to be excluded from moral consideration. In Aquinas‘ thinking the difference between rationality and irrationality became the difference between immortal and mortal souls. This view furthered the development of an instrumental view of animals. The perception that lower species are created to benefit the higher species has become a dominant part of western Christian thought. The main aim of this study is to investigate whether a respectful attitude towards animals, as lived by Francis of Assisi and Albert Schweitzer, has a mystical basis (following the model of Evelyn Underhill), and subsequently to consider whether and how mystical qualities as lived by Francis and Schweitzer may contribute to an animal spirituality. In this thesis I explore the moral valuation of animals in the Christian biblical and spiritual tradition, and further present the outcome of this exploration as an alternative to an anthropocentric tradition and as a contribution to contemporary protectionist approaches. Franciscan sources and Schweitzer‘s oeuvre have been examined while applying Underhill‘s concept of various characteristics and stages of the mystic way. I conclude that both Francis and Schweitzer in their own unique ways qualify to be categorized as ‗mystics‘. Not through rationality, but through experience and feeling, both have achieved real contact with other beings and attained to the Mystery of life. Through their purified view they have been able to perceive animals in a non-instrumental way and through their mystical experiences of union they have sensed the common ontological basis and kinship between humans and animals—our interdependency, utility, aesthetic value and theophany. On the basis of scrutiny of biblical texts which touch upon the relations of humans and animals with God I observe that an animal-inclusive moral concern, as demonstrated by Francis and Schweitzer, finds biblical support. Each creature, as created and animated by God‘s rûaḥ (‗Spirit‘) is transparent to God‘s glory and therefore able to reveal something of the Creator. The Bible proclaims animals as God‘s property, with their own relation with their Creator, not as created to satisfy human wants and wishes. A non-instrumental understanding of animals, as found in biblical texts and as realized by Francis‘ and Schweitzer‘s awe for life, has ethical implications for human-animal relations. Francis‘ and Schweitzer‘s views call us to question our use of animals as our property, therewith sacrificing animal interests for our own. A spirituality in which animals are contemplated as God‘s creatures, with their own worth and their own relation to God, may lead to a different attitude towards animals. To the various elucidated positions in the contemporary animal debate, with its emphasis on rights and reason, Francis and Schweitzer may contribute through their example of an approach calling for empathy, sympathy and compassion as an alternative point of departure. / PhD (Dogmatics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in cooperation with Greenwich School of Theology, 2015

While throughout the ages prominent thinkers have denounced for various reasons mistreatment and killing of animals for food or sacrifice, the dominant western view has been that only rational beings merit moral respect and value. Augustine developed, from Aristotle‘s thought of a hierarchy of souls as well as from the Stoic concept of animals‘ irrationality, the idea that animals share no fellowship with humans and thus are to be excluded from moral consideration. In Aquinas‘ thinking the difference between rationality and irrationality became the difference between immortal and mortal souls. This view furthered the development of an instrumental view of animals. The perception that lower species are created to benefit the higher species has become a dominant part of western Christian thought. The main aim of this study is to investigate whether a respectful attitude towards animals, as lived by Francis of Assisi and Albert Schweitzer, has a mystical basis (following the model of Evelyn Underhill), and subsequently to consider whether and how mystical qualities as lived by Francis and Schweitzer may contribute to an animal spirituality. In this thesis I explore the moral valuation of animals in the Christian biblical and spiritual tradition, and further present the outcome of this exploration as an alternative to an anthropocentric tradition and as a contribution to contemporary protectionist approaches. Franciscan sources and Schweitzer‘s oeuvre have been examined while applying Underhill‘s concept of various characteristics and stages of the mystic way. I conclude that both Francis and Schweitzer in their own unique ways qualify to be categorized as ‗mystics‘. Not through rationality, but through experience and feeling, both have achieved real contact with other beings and attained to the Mystery of life. Through their purified view they have been able to perceive animals in a non-instrumental way and through their mystical experiences of union they have sensed the common ontological basis and kinship between humans and animals—our interdependency, utility, aesthetic value and theophany. On the basis of scrutiny of biblical texts which touch upon the relations of humans and animals with God I observe that an animal-inclusive moral concern, as demonstrated by Francis and Schweitzer, finds biblical support. Each creature, as created and animated by God‘s rûaḥ (‗Spirit‘) is transparent to God‘s glory and therefore able to reveal something of the Creator. The Bible proclaims animals as God‘s property, with their own relation with their Creator, not as created to satisfy human wants and wishes. A non-instrumental understanding of animals, as found in biblical texts and as realized by Francis‘ and Schweitzer‘s awe for life, has ethical implications for human-animal relations. Francis‘ and Schweitzer‘s views call us to question our use of animals as our property, therewith sacrificing animal interests for our own. A spirituality in which animals are contemplated as God‘s creatures, with their own worth and their own relation to God, may lead to a different attitude towards animals. To the various elucidated positions in the contemporary animal debate, with its emphasis on rights and reason, Francis and Schweitzer may contribute through their example of an approach calling for empathy, sympathy and compassion as an alternative point of departure. / PhD (Dogmatics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in cooperation with Greenwich School of Theology, 2015

Aborder l'oeuvre de prédication d'Albert Schweitzer aujourd'hui, c'est se donner la possibilité de comprendre sa personnalité, sa vie, son oeuvre humanitaire et intellectuelle autrement, à la lumière de son profond amour pour Jésus. Vivre l'appel de Jésus, là est l'ambition du pasteur Albert Schweitzer. Il donne à voir par sa prédication ce que l'enseignement de Jésus implique dans la vie de chaque homme. La prédication d'Albert Schweitzer est une équation dont les deux termes, mystique et éthique, portent les tensions de toute existence humaine. Pour lui, loin d'aboutir à un affrontement stérile, mystique et éthique, s'équilibrent et s'enracinent au coeur de l'Évangile. Il donne en partage, en une prédication, en une image, pareille à une fenêtre ouverte sur l'univers, l'amour infini de Jésus. Pour Albert Schweitzer le Royaume de Dieu est là où l'homme prie par sa vie, là où il agit, selon sa définition de l'eschatologie conséquente. Schweitzer a toujours évité de se laisser enfermer dans un système dogmatique, voulant bâtir une prédication où pensée et action naissent l'une de l'autre en un mouvement de vie. / To study the sermons of Albert Schweitzer today provides the opportunity to understand his personality, his life, his intellectual and humanitarian work in the light of his profound love forJesus. Living the call of Jesus, here is the ambition of Pastor Albert Schweitzer. He shows, through his sermons, the meaning of the teachings of Jesus in the life of each man or woman. The sermons of Albert Schweitzer reflect the tensions between two poles, mystical and ethical, which reveal the tensions of all human existence. For him, far from being a sterile tension, the mystical and ethical find equilibrium through their roots in the heart of the New Testament. He shares with us with a sermon, with an image, like a window open to the universe, the infinite love of Jesus. For Schweitzer, the Kingdom of God is where man prays with his life, and where he acts, according to his definition of consequential eschatology. Schweitzer always avoided letting himself be imprisoned in a dogmatic system. He wanted to build a sermon, where thought and action reinforce each other in the movement of life.

The aim of this thesis is to consider the formation and reception of the historical Jesus genre through a detailed analysis of its “strong poet,” Albert Schweitzer. Though the classification of this thesis is most likely to be designated as Leben Jesu Forschung and the rise of early Christianity, it encompasses several adjacent fields of research: viz., social and literary theories, philosophies of history, biblical studies, critical memory theory, and classical history. Leben Jesu Forschung is therefore a kind of case study for the construction and reception of ideas. Part One suggests, after a sustained engagement with Schweitzer and his constructive project, that his pervading influence is most strongly felt in the underlying assumptions of his method of konsequente Eschatologie. Schweitzer’s concept of konsequente Eschatologie is the singular criterion by which all the material is judged and filtered so as to construct a singular profile of the historical Jesus. It is this desire for a “tidy” Jesus which this thesis attempts to problematize. Part Two attempts a constructive counter proposal by appropriating theories of memory to historical Jesus research and concludes by demonstrating the appropriation of this theory within the Gospel of Mark. I understand the Markan author as evoking Jesus memories and setting them within a narrative framework for the purposes of identity construction and communal direction. As such, we are presented with an “untidy” Jesus of Markan memory.

As the central goal of the submitted diploma thesis, I set myself to approach the meaning of values in the work of Albert Schweitzer in the ethical and environmental context and to map this footprint in the non-profit sector of the Czech Republic. With this work, I would like to emphasize the importance of Schweitzer's ethics of respect for life for its constant relevance and monitor this influence across the spectrum of non-profit institutions focused on environmental protection. The added value of the work lies mainly in the presentation and own critical reflection of the main theses of this important figure of the 20th century and evaluation of its impact on the current state of environmental education, where for capacity reasons I limit myself to selected Czech institutions through a sociological method (a questionnaire survey). To support objectivity, I expanded the research with a probe into the media image of Albert Schweitzer in the Czech Republic.