Einstein’s religious views on display at auctions

Did Albert Einstein believe in God? e famous physicist was constantly questioned about his religious beliefs during his lifetime.

Two Einstein artifacts up for auction in New York contained clues to the spiritual beliefs of the 20th century’s best-known thinker.

Sotheby’s offered a Bible for sale Friday in which Einstein inscribed in 1932: “ is book is an inexhaustible source of living wisdom and consolation.” But divine providence did not favour the auction house. e Bible failed to sell.

Christie’s, meanwhile, is planning to auction a 1954 letter Tuesday in which Einstein declared, “ e word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable but still primitive legends.”

The leatherette-bound Bible was a gift from Einstein and his wife, Elsa, to Harriet Hamilton, an employee of the couple. e auction house had estimated that it would sell for $200,000 to $300,000 at Friday’s sale of rare books and manuscripts.

Cassandra Hatton, a specialist in books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, said in an interview before the auction that it was hard to reconcile the description of the Bible as a source of “living wisdom” with the harsher view of religion that Einstein expressed elsewhere.

“It’s possible that this gift was given to someone who was quite religious,” Hatton said. She speculated Einstein might have penned the inscription “out of respect for her religion.”

The letter Christie’s is selling was written the year before Einstein’s 1955 death and was addressed to Eric Gutkind, a philosopher who had written a book about Jewish spirituality and the pursuit of science.

Einstein wrote in German that while he “gladly” belonged to the Jewish people, he believed that the Jewish religion “like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions.”

Christie’s books and manuscripts specialist Peter Klarnet said the letter, which carries a presale estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million, is notable for its bluntness.

“Here he is actually quite blunt in what he says,” Klarnet said. “ e word ‘God’ is a product of human weakness.”