Eric Gutkind
Eric Gutkind entered the world on the 9th of February 1877 in Berlin. His parents were Hermann Gutkind and Elise Weinberg, who lived until 1942. He attended a Humanistic Gymnasium before moving to the University of Berlin for higher education. At the university he studied anthropology under J. J. Bachofen while also working deeply in philosophy, mathematics, the sciences, and art history. This broad academic foundation shaped his later philosophical approach. He began with a vision of history that shared traits with ancient Gnosticism. That early perspective led him toward Jewish philosophy and concepts drawn from the Kabbala.
Gutkind belonged to a pacifist-mystical circle of European intellectuals. Members included Walter Benjamin, Martin Buber, L. E. J. Brouwer, Henri Borel, Frederik van Eeden, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Oppenheimer, Walther Rathenau, Romain Rolland, Upton Sinclair, and Rabindranath Tagore. The group met at different points over time to discuss ideas across disciplines. Their shared focus combined mysticism with political pacifism. These connections provided a network for intellectual exchange beyond traditional academic boundaries. The circle influenced how members viewed their roles in society and culture during turbulent times.
In 1910 Gutkind published Siderische Geburt: Seraphische Wanderung vom Tode der Welt zur Taufe der Tat under the pseudonym Volker. The book served as a focal point for the pacifist-mystical circle. It later became the philosophical manifesto for New Europe Groups organized in London during the 1920s by Dimitrije Mitrinović. Mitrinović was a Yugoslavian teacher who attracted figures like Sir Patrick Geddes, Sir Frederick Soddy, and John Cowper Powys. Gutkind and Mitrinović also published articles together in the literary magazine The New Age. Large selections from that first book circulated only in manuscript form until they appeared in The Body of God decades later.
Gutkind came to the United States in 1933 after years of work in Germany. He began teaching at the New School and the College of the City of New York. By this time he already had an influential following among students and intellectuals. His second book The Absolute Collective appeared in London in 1937. Henry Miller hailed it as true in the highest sense and entirely on the side of life. This acclaim helped establish his reputation before he fully settled into American academic life. The transition marked a shift from European intellectual circles to American educational institutions.
His third book Choose Life: The Biblical Call To Revolt arrived in the United States in 1952. It offered a reinterpretation of traditional Judaism for modern readers. The text drew many students to his lectures who felt dissatisfied with both liberalism and orthodoxy. They sought something more concrete and dynamic than existing religious frameworks provided. Gutkind sent a copy of this book to Albert Einstein shortly after its publication. The letter exchange between them would become one of the most notable moments in their professional relationship. Students found new meaning in his approach to biblical texts and philosophical inquiry.
Albert Einstein responded to Gutkind's book with a letter dated Princeton, the 3rd of January 1954. In that letter Einstein wrote that the word God is the product of human weakness. Their differing views on the concept of God became central to their correspondence. Gutkind died in Chautauqua, New York, on the 26th of August 1965. His collected papers appeared posthumously as The Body of God edited by Lucie B. Gutkind and Henry LeRoy Finch in 1969. This final volume preserved decades of thought for future generations of scholars and philosophers.
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Common questions
When and where was Eric Gutkind born?
Eric Gutkind entered the world on the 9th of February 1877 in Berlin. His parents were Hermann Gutkind and Elise Weinberg, who lived until 1942.
Who were the members of the pacifist-mystical circle that included Eric Gutkind?
Members of the group included Walter Benjamin, Martin Buber, L. E. J. Brouwer, Henri Borel, Frederik van Eeden, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Oppenheimer, Walther Rathenau, Romain Rolland, Upton Sinclair, and Rabindranath Tagore. The group met at different points over time to discuss ideas across disciplines with a shared focus combining mysticism with political pacifism.
What pseudonym did Eric Gutkind use for his 1910 book Siderische Geburt?
Eric Gutkind published Siderische Geburt: Seraphische Wanderung vom Tode der Welt zur Taufe der Tat under the pseudonym Volker in 1910. Large selections from that first book circulated only in manuscript form until they appeared in The Body of God decades later.
When did Albert Einstein write to Eric Gutkind about their differing views on God?
Albert Einstein responded to Eric Gutkind's book with a letter dated Princeton, the 3rd of January 1954. In that letter Einstein wrote that the word God is the product of human weakness.
Where and when did Eric Gutkind die?
Gutkind died in Chautauqua, New York, on the 26th of August 1965. His collected papers appeared posthumously as The Body of God edited by Lucie B. Gutkind and Henry LeRoy Finch in 1969.