Christianity and the Religions of the World

by Albert Schweitzer

  • Year 1923
  • Type Book
  • Genre theology
  • Tradition Lutheran
  • Original language German

For For readers who want a short statement of how Schweitzer saw Christianity among the world's religions; not a scholarly study of those religions.

Should I read this?

For the general reader
3 of 5 worth your time
For the researcher
3 of 5 worth your time
Difficulty
2 of 5 moderate

Short lectures setting Christianity beside the religions of India and China and arguing for the ethical religion of Jesus. An accessible way into his thought.

How it proceeds
  • Philosophic 4 of 5
  • Scriptural 2 of 5
  • Experiential 2 of 5
  • Sociological 3 of 5
  • Historical 3 of 5

Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.

A short book of lectures comparing Christianity with the other great religions, especially those of India and China, from the standpoint of their attitude to the world and to ethics. It appeared first in English, in Johanna Powers's translation with a foreword by Nathaniel Micklem, in 1923 (New York: George H. Doran), and in German from C. H. Beck in Munich in 1924. Schweitzer's question is which religion combines an ethical affirmation of life with a faith in God that does not flee the world, and he argues that the religion of Jesus, ethical and centred on the Kingdom of God, is the deepest answer, while holding that Christianity must be honest about its own failures. The book belongs with his philosophy of civilization and anticipates his later book on Indian thought.

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