The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2173 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
10.8Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
), seeking rules to govern the methods of exegesis, which is thus kept under control, the school mediating between innovative and conservative;
(iv) 
Hanbalite
(A
mad
ibn
anbal
), conservative and defensive of early patterns of observation. In the Muslim world
,
(i) is strong in W. Africa and the Arab west,
(ii) in the former
Ottoman Empire
and the Indian subcontinent,
(iii) in the far East,
(iv) in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Each school regards the others as legitimate, but a Muslim is expected to live within the pattern of one of them: eclecticism (
talfiq
) is discouraged. There is also a number of
Sh
‘a
schools, though by its nature, Sh
‘a Islam is less strongly organized in a centralized sense.
Schopenhauer, Arthur
(1788–1860).
German essayist and philosopher who developed a closely knit system in which was emphasized the primacy of the will over both reason and sensation. Schopenhauer was greatly influenced by Indian thought, which he held paralleled Kant in every key respect. He attributed this parallelism to the indirect influence of ancient Eastern thought on modern Western thought through the mediation of Christianity, whose founder—he deduced—must have been familiar with Hindu and Buddhist ideas. His major work was
Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung
(1819; tr. 1883,
The World as Will and Idea
).
Schütz, H.
(composer of Christian works):
see
MUSIC
.
Schweitzer, Albert
(1875–1965).
Christian theologian and mission doctor. A superb musician and organist, he made a name in academic circles when he published
Das Messianitats- und Leidensgeheimnis
(1901;
The Mystery of the Kingdom of God
, 1925). In this he argued that ‘Jesus’ is embedded in the interests and presuppositions of the
gospel
writers, and to an extent, therefore, remains to us as ‘One unknown’. What at least can be said is that Jesus shared the apocalyptic expectations of his contemporaries, and that he saw himself as the one who was to inaugurate the Final Kingdom, not least through his sacrificial suffering. This ‘messianic secret’ was not divulged to any until the so-called ‘Confession at Caesarea Philippi’. His extreme call for moral perfection was unrealistic if understood as a programme for life and history, but not if it was intended as an ‘interim ethic’, to be maintained in the short interval before the inauguration of the kingdom.
Schweitzer developed this perspective further in
Von Reimarus zu Wrede
… (1906;
The Quest for the Historical Jesus
, 1910), and in
Geschichte der Paulinischen Forschung
… (1911;
Paul and his Interpreters
, 1912). These works set an inescapable agenda for subsequent work on the New Testament; yet his most enduring work was
Die Mystik des Apostels Paulus
(1930; The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle). Meanwhile a profound experience of the unity of all life, evoking reverence for life, led him to establish a mission hospital at Lambaréné in Gabon, where he based himself for the rest of his life. Although criticized for his stern paternalism, his commitment and his work for reconciliation were recognized with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Other books

Hunter by Adrianne Lemke
The Telling by Eden Winters
Howling Moon by C. T. Adams, Cathy Clamp
Dictation by Cynthia Ozick
Winter's Child by Cameron Dokey
The Train to Paris by Sebastian Hampson
The Lost Angel by Adam C. Mitchell
Wayward Son by Pollack, Tom