Christie’s auction house in New York stated on Tuesday afternoon that the letter, including the buyer’s premium, fetched $2.9m under the hammer. That was almost twice the expected amount.
EINSTEIN’S CLEAREST STATEMENT OVER RELIGION
The “God Letter”, written in German by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Einstein in 1954 to philosopher Eric Gutkind, is regarded as a key manuscript in the debate over science and religion and is Einstein’s clearest statement of his views on the universal search for the meaning of life.
“The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.” Einstein wrote. “No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this.”
The sentence has been hailed as evidence that the physicist, one of the 20th century’s most esteemed thinkers, was an atheist. But Einstein at times said he was not an atheist, and resented being labelled as one.
“JEWISH RELIGION IS AN INCARNATION OF SUPERSTITIONS”
In the letter Einstein, a Jew also articulates his disenchantment with Judaism. “For me, the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people,” he wrote.
Einstein’s ‘God letter’ sold for $2.9m
A handwritten missive by Albert Einstein known as the “God letter” fetched almost $3m at auction on Tuesday.
Christie’s auction house in New York stated on Tuesday afternoon that the letter, including the buyer’s premium, fetched $2.9m under the hammer. That was almost twice the expected amount.
The “God Letter”, written in German by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Einstein in 1954 to philosopher Eric Gutkind, is regarded as a key manuscript in the debate over science and religion and is Einstein’s clearest statement of his views on the universal search for the meaning of life.
“The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends,” Einstein wrote. “No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this.”
The sentence has been hailed as evidence that the physicist, one of the 20th century’s most esteemed thinkers, was an atheist. But Einstein at times said he was not an atheist, and resented being labelled as one.
In the letter Einstein, a Jew, also articulates his disenchantment with Judaism. “For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people,” he wrote.