On the Editions of Schweitzer’s Quest of the Historical Jesus

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus. This is the first of a few follow-up posts on the book. I wanted to write a note about the different editions of Schweitzer’s book because there are a few important things to take into consideration. In 1906, Schweitzer first published what became the most significant contribution to Jesus scholarship of the twentieth century. It was originally translated into English in 1910 by W. Montgomery, a few years before Schweitzer made extensive revisions in 1913. For one reason or another, the English edition was never updated during the twentieth century and continued to rely on Schweitzer’s original version. In 2001, Fortress finally published the “First Complete Edition” which brought the translation up to date. Below, I highlight a few of the in-print versions of Schweitzer and give a little bit of information on each of them.

Albert Schweitzer, Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung (9th ed.; UTB S 1302; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992). Paperback. 651 pages. ISBN 978-3-8252-1302-2. € 19.90. [Mohr Siebeck; Amazon.de]

This volume, included in the UTB series, is the most recent German edition and is still fairly easy to acquire since it remains in print. Some may opt for an older hardback if they are particular about having a long-lasting copy of the the book. Since Schweitzer never substantially changed Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung after 1913, any German edition printed on or since that date should be fine. NB: The original 1906 edition of Von Reimarus zu Wrede: Eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung has been put online at Google books.

The 1910 translation of Schweitzer’s book is available by at least two current publishers.

Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus (trans. by W. Montgomery; New York: Dover, 2005). Paperback. 416 pages. ISBN: 978-0486440279. $18.95. [Amazon.com]

Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of Its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede (trans. by W. Montgomery; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1998). Paperback. 432 pages. ISBN: 978-0801859342. $25.00. [Amazon.com]

Both of these are reprints of the English edition of Schweitzer’s work before its revision. For that reason, it is not advisable to purchase these as one’s only edition of Schweitzer. So much has been changed between 1906 and 1913 that readers of Schweitzer are better off with an updated version. That said, there are some interesting and useful aspects about the older English editions, such as the famous “wheel of the world” passage that is omitted in the updated version. These editions include the preface by F. C. Burkitt. Also, because the English translation by Montgomery is now in the public domain, you can find the text online thanks to Peter Kirby.

Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: First Complete Edition (ed. by John Bowden; trans. by W. Montgomery, J. R. Coates, S. Cupitt, and J. Bowden; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001). Paperback. 612 pages. ISBN: 978-0800632885. $38.00. [Amazon.com]

The Complete Edition, published by Fortress, is hands down the front runner of English editions of Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus. Not only does it include an updated translation that better represents the style of Schweitzer, but it also contains an appreciation of Albert Schweitzer by Marcus J. Borg, a twenty-page foreword by Dennis Nineham, and translations of Schweitzer’s prefaces from the first (1906), second (1913) and sixth (1950) editions. Of course, the most important aspect of this edition is that it’s based on the ninth German edition. However, I think it was a bad decision on the part of the editor to change the footnotes from earlier English editions into endnotes for this edition. Because it is a scholarly monograph, I see no reason to hide the notes at the end of the volume.