On Nuclear War and Peace

by Albert Schweitzer, Homer A. Jack

Book by Schweitzer, Albert, Jack, Homer A.

216 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1972

About the author

Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, was an Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Kaisersberg in Alsace-Lorraine, a Germanophone region which the German Empire returned to France after World War I. Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of historical Jesus current at his time and the traditional Christian view, depicting a Jesus who expected the imminent end of the world. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "reverence for life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, west central Africa.

Reviews

[Diocletian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peace or Atomic War is a collection of radio broadcasts written by Albert Schweitzer, the famed medical missionary, theologian, and philosopher. In them, he shows the stupidity and danger of the continuing nuclear arms race and nuclear experimentation going on during the early Cold War. The broadcasts go into the effects that such continued experimentation could have, and the danger it poses to human life everywhere. Schweitzer also goes further to recommend disarmament, but argues that do so would require a drastic human development: Humans must develop a new "spirit" of trust and brotherhood, which will be achieved by people realizing that it is the only way to future progress and prosperity. However, in his words, "It can only come if the awareness of its necessity suffices to give us strength to believe in its coming." Inspiring and truthful words, though sadly, humanity has yet to embrace them.

[روروش · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

[Nathan Skinner]

"The human spirit is not dead: it lives on in secret."


"So let us struggle..."