Letters, 1905-1965

``I am writing you today to inquire whether you might need someone for missionary work in the Congo.'' From this opening declaration in a letter dated Jan. 9, 1905, through 50 years of missionary correspondence, Schweitzer's voice and themes remain constant. The music of Bach, hospital logistics, the social obligations of his travels in Europe and America, and critiques of theology, books and music are the topics that mainly concern him in this collection of social correspondence. He reserved his formal themes for his books, but readers who know his theology will also hear, like a resonant low note, ``the reverence for all life'' on which Schweitzer insisted, but did not proselytize. Only when opposing forces of the outside world reach crises of spiritual proportions--nuclear armaments, the Holocuast--do they appear in Schweitzer's handwritten map of his life. In this age of televangelists, the insistent goodness and simplicity Schweitzer demonstrates here refresh the spirit. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)