Answering the Call

February 11, 2013
Renaissance man Albert Schweitzer’s long and storied life (1876–1965) as a missionary, doctor, philosopher, and organist is distilled into a concise parable, centered around his multiple sojourns in West Africa, where he established a hospital. A Christian author and speaker, Gire (At Peace in the Storm) delivers Schweitzer’s life as a homily, presenting his subject’s “philosophy of reverence for life” in potent, accessible imagery: treating patients, personally laboring in hospital construction, nurturing injured animals. Clear prose and spiritual inspiration generally supersede details and absolute fact. Conversations are “surmised and assumed,” and “a couple of characters” are admitted to be inventions (though it isn’t clear which ones). Through such literary liberties, Schweitzer is given an expository voice, using casual conversations to provide backstory to his rich life. Though his depiction of the doctor is a generally objective narrative, Gire’s faith occasionally emerges in religious phrasing, which may alienate non-Christians. The birth of Schweitzer’s daughter becomes the “promise of God,” and a financial boon at his mission hospital makes it a “great day for the kingdom of God.” This approach condenses the 90-year life of a noble humanitarian into a brief motivational sermon, an uncomplicated summation of Schweitzer’s life suitable for an interested Christian fellowship. Agent: Greg Johnson, WordServe Literary

April 1, 2013

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Albert Schweitzer's emigration to Gabon (formerly part of French Equatorial Africa), to found a hospital, Gire ("Moments with the Savior" series) digs into Schweitzer's motivation to give up conventional medical practice and live a life of service in the Gabon rain forest well before medical missions were usual. Gire illuminates the fascinating life of this 1952 Nobel Prize recipient, albeit with the addition of a couple of fictional characters and imagined dialog. Beginning with his subject's birth in Gunsbach, Alsace, the son of a pastor, Gire artfully describes Schweitzer's studies in theology, philosophy, and music, and his eventual calling to aid the people of Lambarene. Schweitzer's work among the sufferers of malaria, sleeping sickness, and leprosy is especially poignant considering the extreme difficulties of working with impoverished people in the rain forest of equatorial Africa in the early 1900s. Schweitzer gave more than 50 years of service, enduring two world wars and eventually dying in the place he had grown to love. VERDICT The addition of fictional characters and dialog makes this more of a story than a serious research piece on Schweitzer, but general readers who enjoy a popular approach to Christian spiritual narrative will enjoy this.--Holly Hebert, Brentwood P.L., TN

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