周二，阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦寫的一封被稱為“上帝之信”的書信在佳士得（Christie’s）拍賣行以近300萬美元的價格拍出。

據《紐約時報》（New York Times）報道，這場競購戰持續了4分鐘，最終以2,892,500美元的價格成交，幾乎是拍賣行此前估計的100萬美元至150萬美元的兩倍。中標者尚未確定。

報道稱，在周二的拍賣之前，曼哈頓拍賣行曾在2008年以210萬美元的高價拍出愛因斯坦的一封信。據《紐約時報》報道，那封信用打字機打印的信是于1939年寫給美國總統富蘭克林·D·羅斯福的，信中警告他要制造“威力強大的炸彈”。

德國哲學家埃里克·古特金德寫了一本書《選擇生活：圣經對反抗的召喚》（Choose Life：The holy Call to Revolt），這促使愛因斯坦寫信給他。這封1.5頁長的信寫于1959年，愛因斯坦去世的前一年。

信中寫道：“對我來說，‘上帝’一詞不過是人類弱點的表達和產物，《圣經》是一系列光榮的、但仍然是非常原始的傳說。”

古特金德家族一直持有這封信，直到2008年，這封信以40.4萬美元的價格被拍賣。

佳士得稱這封信是“對他的宗教和哲學觀點最清晰的表達”。

然而，愛因斯坦傳記作家沃爾特·艾薩克森卻不那么肯定。艾薩克森說，愛因斯坦被描述為一位驕傲的猶太人，他的許多文章在更高權力和宗教這個主題上觀點并不一致。艾薩克森補充說，“上帝之信”不應該僅僅代表他的信仰。（財富中文網）

譯者：冉文忠

A letter written by Albert Einstein that has come to be known as the “God letter” sold for nearly $3 million at Christie’s on Tuesday.

A bidding war lasted four minutes, the New York Times reported, and ended with the letter selling for $2,892,500—nearly double what the auction house had estimated the piece would sell for, which was between $1 million to $1.5 million. The winning bidder wasn’t identified.

Prior to Tuesday’s sale, the highest price the Manhattan auction house had seen for one of Einstein’s letters was $2.1 million in 2008, the paper reported. That typed 1939 letter was sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt cautioning him on the creation of “powerful bombs,” according to the New York Times.

Eric Gutkind, a German philosopher, wrote a book “Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt,” which prompted the letter from Einstein. The page-and-a-half long letter, dated 1959, was written a year before Einstein’s death.

“The word God for me is nothing but the expression of and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends,” the letter reads.

The Gutkind family owned the letter until 2008 when it was auctioned for $404,000.

Christie’s called the letter “the most fully articulated expression of his religious and philosophical views.”

However, Walter Isaacson, an Einstein biographer, isn’t so sure. Einstein, described as a proud Jew, had many pieces of writings that were inconsistent on the topic of higher power and religion, Isaacson said, adding that the “God letter” shouldn’t solely represent his beliefs.