Albert Schweitzer, <t>The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle</>,
translated by William Montgomery. New York: Macmillan 1956 
[original ET 1931].

Reviewed by Andrew McDonald Exum <exum@sas.upenn.edu> for 
R.Kraft's RelSt 436 class at UPenn (Spring 1999)
 

Tackling Albert Schweitzer's "The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle" 
wasn't easy. Aside from the Greek that was thrown into the text, 
the highly technical translation alone made for a daunting task 
and a difficult read. I'm not sure, however, that the technical 
and complex language was the fault of the translator. Schweitzer 
didn't set out, after all, to write a beginner's primer on Paul. 
No, Schweitzer's work reflects a long, careful study of Paul as 
well as the criticism amassed on the apostle in the years 
previous. As a whole, Schweitzer's text played along nicely with 
many of the issues we've confronted and discussed in class this 
semester. Despite having been written in 1911-29, many of 
Schweitzer's themes were familiar to me, and I enjoyed hearing 
Schweitzer weigh in on some of the topics we've only begun to 
explore. 

Schweitzer seems to consider Paul the faith's first true 
theologian. As Schweitzer writes, "Paul was the patron saint of 
thought in Christianity." Indeed, there's a lot to be said for 
Paul as having been the intellectual father of the Church. On the 
other hand, though, Schweitzer also consider's Paul's role as the 
literal "founder" of the Church. Some have said that Paul either 
corrupted the message of Christ or preached an entirely different 
message. I didn't get the feeling that Schweitzer counts himself 
as one of those critics. Schweitzer, rather, seems to conclude 
that Paul established the basis upon which Christ is worshiped, 
organizing the community that would come to be known as the 
Church and clarifying ideological disputes that arose early in 
the Church's history. 

Schweitzer deals extensively with Paul's relation to the Judaism 
of his time. Judging from the book's title, Schweitzer obviously 
considers Paul's promotion of "Christ-mysticism" over "God-
mysticism" one of his lasting legacies. The concept of one coming 
to God through Christ is one that Schweitzer seizes upon. "His 
[Paul's] great achievement was to grasp," Schweitzer writes, "as 
the thing essential to being a Christian, the experience of union 
with Christ." Along those lines, Schweitzer also confronts the 
fact that Paul's belief in Christ as the messiah means the 
fulfillment of the scriptures and changes the very nature of 
Judaism but does not contradict its teachings. "That Paul is 
prevented by his eschatological world-view from equating Christ-
mysticism with God-mysticism has a deep significance," Schweitzer 
writes. This ties in with the fact that Paul did not view his 
beliefs as radically different from the Judaism of his time, but 
rather as keeping with the prophecies given to the people of 
Israel regarding the messiah. 

  Another topic on which Schweitzer spends a great deal of time 
is the eschatological perspective of Paul. "From his first letter 
to his last," Schweitzer writes, "Paul's thought is always 
uniformly dominated by the expectation of the immediate return of 
Jesus, of the Judgment, of the Messianic glory" (52). With that 
understood, Schweitzer begins his explanation and critique of 
Paul's doctrine of eschatological redemption. I found 
Schweitzer's explanation of Pauline eschatological redemption to 
be satisfactory. From there, Schweitzer attempts to explain how 
Pauline mysticism reconciles itself with Paul's faith. Why did 
Paul, Schweitzer asks, abolish the necessity of keeping the old 
law when he knew it would bring "Christians" into conflict with 
the rest of the Jewish Church? How did this personal connection 
and commune with God affect the way Christ's followers led their 
lives and practiced their Judaism? The answer lies, perhaps, in 
the eschatological nature of Pauline thought and teaching. The 
coming of Christ was near, Paul taught, and Schweitzer makes it a 
point to stress this in his writings. 

I'm not sure what kind of stir "The Mysticism of Paul the 
Apostle" would cause if it were released today. Certainly, it 
would not be ground-breaking, but on the other hand we really 
can't tell what kind of impact it would have considering the ways 
in which Pauline studies have already been influenced by 
Schweitzer's ideas thus far. It's hard to imagine Pauline studies 
in this century without Schweitzer. On the other hand, much of 
what Schweitzer says relates back to the work of Pauline scholars 
before him. F. C. Baur, whose work was discussed in class, is one 
of the men whose work Schweitzer covers. The book "Paul and His 
Interpreters" (1911/12) that we read from in class was to have 
been the introductory chapter of this book and deals primarily 
with the scholars Schweitzer acknowledges and spars with in 
"Mysticism." Overall, I enjoyed this book. I felt that Schweitzer 
covered the key issues in reasonable detail and did justice to 
all that I perceive as the main topics in Pauline studies. 

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