Einstein and Religion: Physics and Theology Book

A very thorough & interesting book.

Einstein was, in some respects, similar to the Deists (although not completely identical). Sure, he didn't believe in a personal deity; just, he was, explicitly, not an atheist. It is wrong to consider him to be a theist simply because he used the word "God" frequently; also, it is wrong to think he was just metaphorically juggling with this word. His biographer Isaacson states he was like the 18th C US founding fathers. Personally, I don't think it is an apt analogy. Einstein, as far as we can tell, was closer to Spinoza and -this is my observation- early, naturalist Taoism of Lao-Tzu.

In short, according to him - there is an immanent Intelligence which "leads" (for wont of a better word) anything in this world. This Intelligence's "ways" can be, to some degree, deciphered with our human intelligence (philosophy, science etc.). Just -and here his world-view differs from most theistic paradigms- this immanent Intelligence is not simultaneously transcendent- therefore, it is not God in our usual sense (no transcendence- no God). According to Einstein: there are no supra-physical worlds; no personal God who somehow is concerned with human life & destiny; no immortality of the "soul". Just, that immanent Intelligence does exist - and here it is where Einstein parts ways with atheists. His central world-view was, as I've said, something like naturalist pantheism of Spinoza or Lao-Tzu (not panentheism, nor classical theism).

Just- there is a possibility that Spinoza was misunderstood by many (most?) people. I don't have an issue here because I don't care for Spinoza's world-view, which seems to me too scholastic & antiquated. But, let's see: the dominant position is that Spinoza was a pantheist, and that for him there was just this, empirical world, which was equal to "God". Therefore, no supra-physical anything, no transcendence, no nothing beyond. But, some newer investigations question that. They seem to aver that Spinoza was a panentheist, similar to Plotinus & Hegel, because Spinoza clearly differentiates between natura naturans (nature which creates) & natura naturata (the created nature). This is like a part of 4-fold panentheistic philosophy of John Scotus Erigena, which is, basically, neo-Platonism with all its baggage of non-empirical worlds, souls, divine beings, eternal destiny etc. In Spinoza's case, it may be anything. I don't know, maybe he just got caught in scholastic & Cartesian terminologies; on the other hand, he could have been a speculative mystic-rationalist in disguise.

As for 18th C deists, they too were a diverse bunch. For most of them, God was the cause of all & did not interfere in this, empirical world. Much like Aristotle's God. For many of them, this led to almost non-theistic conclusions- there was no afterlife & all religious drama was no more than imagination. Just, for some of them - this was not necessarily so. Other types of deists thought that, although God did not interfere in this, physical world, there are non-physical worlds galore, as well as heaven, hell, immortality, divine punishment etc.

Einstein was explicit that such speculations are beyond his field of interest.