I am currently focusing my studies on the topic of the Historical Jesus and am using the book provided by the Great Courses Plus for Dr. Ehrman’s lecture series on the Historical Jesus. In the Essential Reading list after the first lecture, Dr. Ehrman recommends reading Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s work, The Quest of the Historical Jesus. I read the first paragraph of the first chapter and happened upon this quote:
“…nowhere save in the German temperament can there be found in the same perfection the living complex of conditions and factors— of philosophic thought, critical acumen, historical insight, and religious feeling— without which no deep theology is possible.”1
I found these statements to be rather strange and I figured I had better look a little into Dr. Albert Schweitzer himself. Here are a couple useful links for background info about Dr. Schweitzer.
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Footnotes
1. Schweitzer, Albert. Four Volumes on Christianity : The Essence of Faith, Pilgrimage to Humanity, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, and The Light Within Us, Philosophical Library/Open Road, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, ** you do not have permission to see this link ** from liberty on 2022-04-20 20:46:26.
Schweitzer was a brilliant guy but he had a lot of the prejudices of his age. I try to imagine what goobers we’re probably going to look like to our own descendants a hundred years from now.
Speaking of books, over the weekend at a local used bookstore I found a pristine hardback copy (still in the shrink wrap) of Adolf Von Harnack’s MARCION: The Gospel of the Alien God for five bucks American. Perhaps not a book I would have searched for over land and sea but a nice addition to my library since it practically fell into my hands.
Robert said
. . . I don’t imagine a translation has much value as a collectors item.
That depends on the translation. Baudelaire’s translations of the works of Edgar Allan Poe into French can fetch quite tidy sums, although certainly not in the realm of Poe’s own first editions.
Robert said
Are you going to take off the shrink wrapping and read it, or does that reduce its value? Just kidding, books are meant to be read, and I don’t imagine a translation has much value as a collectors item.
Well I’ll let it sit there and glisten for a while but eventually on some rainy Sunday afternoon perhaps I’ll while away the hours with Harnack. I’ve never been a collector in any serious sense. The closest I come is I have several copies of H G Wells’ War of the Worlds, a childhood favorite. I’ve always been fascinated at how different illustrators depict Wells’ Martians and their war machines.
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