Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was aware of the mystery of God which underlies all of creation and which engendered in him a sense of wonder, humility and the desire to probe ever deeper into the mysteries of nature. He even confirmed a connection between religion and science when he stated, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." However, he did not believe in a personal God. Rabbi Herbert S. Golstein once cabled Einstein and asked, "Do you believe in God?" Einstein replied, "I believe in Spinosa's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings". On another occasion he stated, "I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak to him, I would be a liar." (P122) To put it simply, you cannot pray to an impersonal God. (Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion, Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 49, 122-123)

 

A number of prominent men wrote to him concerning his belief and among them was Paul Tillich (1886-1965), a well known Protestant theologian who explained to him clearly the need for a personal God.

"The depth of being cannot be symbolized by objects taken from a realm which is lower than the personal, from the realm of things or subpersonal living beings. The suprapersonal is not an 'It,' or more exactly, it is a 'He' as much as it is an 'It,' and it is above both of them. But if the 'He' element is left out, the 'It' element transforms the alleged suprapersonal into a subpersonal, as usually happens in monism and pantheism. And as such a neutral subpersonal cannot grasp the center of our personality; it can satisfy our aesthetic feelings or intellectual needs, but cannot convert our will, it cannot overcome our loneliness, anxiety and despair .... This is the reason that the symbol of the personal God is indispensable for living religion. It is a symbol, not an object, and it never should be interpreted as an object." Einstein and Religion, pp. 111-112)

 

5. The Immanent Face of God