2021/09/29

[책] 우주의 기원 John D. Barrow 최승언 (옮긴이)

알라딘: 우주의 기원
우주의 기원 - 존 배로가 들려주는 우주 탄생의 비밀  | 사이언스 마스터스 18  
존 D. 배로 (지은이),최승언,이은아 (옮긴이)
사이언스북스2009-08-27

양장본223쪽

책소개'

사이언스 마스터스'시리즈 제 18권. <우주의 기원>은 천문학, 수학에 통달한 존 배로가 우주의 시작 당시 모습을 상세히 들려주는 책으로, 우주의 기원과 역사에 대한 과학 교양서의 고전으로서 손색이 없다.

이 책은 우주의 시작으로 돌아가 시간과 공간, 물질이 어떻게 생겨났는지, 시간이 지나면서 우주가 어떻게 변해 왔는지 보여주면서 우리가 살고 있는 세계, 우주에 대한 궁금증을 하나씩 풀어나간다. 존 배로의 놀라운 통찰력으로 대폭발(빅뱅), 급팽창(인플레이션), 웜홈과 특이점을 소개하고, 우주가 간직한 비밀을 들추어 본다.

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목차
우주에 대한 끝없는 호기심
우주의 시작과 현재

1. 우주의 비밀
2. 우주 카탈로그
3. 특이점과 그 밖의 문제들
4. 급팽창과 입자 물리학
5. 급팽창과 코비 탐사
6. 시간, 그 짧은 역사
7. 미궁속으로
8. 새로운 차원

참고문헌

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찾아보기

책속에서
P. 105 우주론은 1970년대 중반에 들어 새로운 방향으로 접어들었다. 1973년에 입자 물리학자들은 극단적인 조건에서 물질이 어떻게 움직이는지를 설명하는 성공적인 이론을 내놓았다. 그 전까지는 에너지와 온도가 증가하면 물질의 상호 작용은 더욱 강력해지고 복잡해질 것이라고 생각
존 배로의 여느 책처럼, 명확하게 잘 썼다. - 초이스 
단순하지 않으면서도, 즐겁고 접근하기 쉽다. - 커먼윌 
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저자 및 역자소개
존 D. 배로 (John D. Barrow) (지은이) 

케임브리지 대학교의 수리과학 교수이자 밀레니엄 수학 프로젝트의 책임자이다. 1952년 영국 런던에서 태어난 존 배로는 더럼 대학 수학과를 거쳐 옥스퍼드 대학에서 천체물리학 박사학위를 받았다. 케임브리지 클레어 홀Clare Hall 칼리지 연구원, 영국 왕립학회 회원으로도 활동하고 있다. 영국 왕립 글래스고 철학회 켈빈 메달(1999), 영국 왕립 협회 마이클 패러데이 상(2008)을 수상했다.
물리학, 천문학, 수학의 발전 과정을 역사적·철학적·문학적으로 광범위하게 탐구해온 저자는 다양한 저서를 집필했다. 

주요 저서로는 『우주의 기원The Origin of Universe』『무영진공The Book of Nothing』『우주, 진화하는 미술관Cosmic Imagery』 『자연의 상수들The Constants of Nature』『무한으로 가는 안내서The Infinity Book』『우주에 관하여The Book of Universes』등이 있다. 상을 받은 연극 <무한Infinities>의 대본을 쓰기도 했다.
자유롭고 거침없는 그의 행보만큼이나 유쾌한 이 책을 통해 저자는 수학을 따분한 것이 아닌 재미있는 트릭과 반전으로 가득 찬 유쾌한 놀이로 재탄생시켰다. 접기

최근작 : <일상적이지만 절대적인 예술 속 수학 지식 100>,<일상적이지만 절대적인 스포츠 속 수학 지식 100>,<일상적이지만 절대적인 생활 속 수학 지식 100> … 총 26종 (모두보기)
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최승언 (옮긴이) 

서울대학교 천문학과를 졸업한 후 미국 미네소타대학교 대학원에서 천체물리학으로 박사학위를 받았다. 
서울대학교 지구과학교육과 교수, 한국지구과학회장을 역임하였으며, 
지금은 서울대학교 명예교수, (사)동서지행포럼 이사장이다. 
저서로는 『천문학의 이해』, 『천체물리학의 이해』, 『최승언 교수의 천체지구과학 강의』 등이 있다.

최근작 : <달력 갖고 놀아보자! 얼~쑤!>,<숭정역서에 기술된 태양의 운동>,<최승언 교수의 천체지구과학 강의 2> … 총 17종 (모두보기)

이은아 (옮긴이) 

서울 대학교 지구과학교육과를 졸업하고 같은 대학교 대학원에서 교육학 석사와 박사 학위를 받았다. 오하이오 주립 대학교에서 박사 후 연구원을 지냈으며, 2009년 현재 서울대학교BK21 미래사회 과학교육 연구사업단 연구원이다.
최근작 :

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출판사 제공 책소개


출판사 제공 책소개
우주는 언제, 어떻게, 왜 시작되었을까?
세계적인 우주론 연구자 존 배로의 이보다 더 좋을 수 없는
명쾌한 대폭발 우주론 강의


우주는 언제, 어떻게, 왜 시작되었을까? 우주의 크기는 얼마나 될까? 또 우주의 모양은 어떻게 생겼을까? 우주는 무엇으로 만들어졌을까? 호기심 많은 어린이라면 누구나 한 번쯤 이런 질문을 해 보았을 것이다. 이 질문들은 현대 우주론을 연구하는 학자들 또한 수세기에 걸쳐 씨름해 온 문제들이기도 하다. 우주론은 대중 작가나 기자들에게도 매우 매력적인 대상이 되어 왔다. 우주론에는 미개척 분야가 너무 많아 오히려 언급하기가 쉽기 때문이다. -본문에서

이번에 (주)사이언스북스에서 '사이언스 마스터스' 시리즈 18권이 출간되었다. 리처드 도킨스, 마틴 리스, 스티븐 핑커 같은 세계적인 과학 지성들이 참여한 권위 있고, 놀라운 과학 교양서 시리즈인 '사이언스 마스터스' 시리즈는 과학 독자들의 열렬한 지지를 받으며 17권까지 출간되어 한국 과학 독서 문화를 한 단계 올려놓았다는 평가를 받아 왔다. 이제 18권이 출간됨으로써 마지막 19권(스티븐 핑커의 '단어와 규칙'(근간)) 완결을 목전에 두고 있다.
'사이언스 마스터스' 시리즈의 18권을 장식한 '우주의 기원(The Origin of the Universe)'은 천문학자이자 수학자로 세계적인 명성을 떨치고 있는 영국 그레셤 대학 교수인 존 배로(John D. Barrow)의 대폭발 우주론 강의이다. 이 책은 현대 우주론 연구자들이 우주의 시작과 진화를 어떻게 그려 내고 있는지 상세하게 들려주는 책으로, 현대 대폭발 우주론의 근본 원리와 핵심 방법론을 명쾌하게 설명하고 있다.
존 배로는 더럼 대학교에서 수학과 물리학 학사를 받고, 옥스퍼드 대학교에서 천체 물리학 박사 학위를 받았다. 서식스 대학교에서 천문학과 교수를, 1999년 케임브리지 대학교에서 응용 수학.이론 물리학부 연구 교수를 지낸 후, 그레셤 대학에서는 2003∼2007년 천문학과 교수를 지냈고 2008∼2011년 기하학과 교수로 임명되었다. 서로 다른 두 전공의 그레셤의 석좌 교수로는 유일한 사람으로, 그만큼 천문학, 기하학 각 분야에서 뛰어남을 인정받는 학자이다.
존 배로는 자신의 두 가지 전공을 잘 접목시켜 명쾌하고 간결하게 글을 써 내는 것으로도 유명하다. 1983년 '창조의 왼손(The Left Hand of Creation)'을 시작으로 20권 가까이 되는 책을 썼으며, 우주론과 천체 물리학에 관한 400편이 넘는 논문을 발표했다. 로커 천문학상(Locker Prize for Astronomy), 1999년 왕립 글래스고 철학회 켈빈 메달(1999 Kelvin Medal of the Royal Glasgow Philosophical Society), 2006년 템플턴상(Templeton Prize) 등을 수상한 현대 우주론 학계의 거장이다.
존 배로는 우주론의 역사와 미해결 과제를 이 책 '우주의 기원'에 집약해 놓고 있다. 대폭발 우주론 등장 이후 이론 물리학자와 천체 물리학자와 천문학자를 비롯한 수많은 연구자들이 봉착해야 했던 문제들이 무엇이며, 과학자들이 어떤 지혜를 짜내 그 문제를 해결해 왔는지를 생생하게 보여 주고 있다.

우주 미스터리를 심도 있게 풀어 가는 지적 즐거움

현대 대폭발 우주론에 따르면 우주는 약 137억 년 전 ‘대폭발’과 함께 탄생했으며, 현재 아주 빠른 속도로 팽창하고 있다. 허블의 우주 팽창 발견과 조지 가모브의 우주 기원론 이후 ‘대폭발 우주론’은 관측 기술의 발전과 이론적 도구의 발달과 함께 팽창과 진화를 거듭해 왔다. 팽창하는 우주처럼. 그러나 그 우주론의 발전사가 결코 순탄했던 것만은 아니다.
우주에 대해 더 많은 지식을 축적하고 새로운 관측으로 최신 자료를 얻을 때마다 우주의 기원과 역사에 대해 더 많이 알게 되었지만, 그에 따른 몇 가지 우주 미스터리가 계속 생겨났다. 예를 들면 우주가 시작되었다는 ‘특이점’에서는 우리가 알고 있는 모든 물리 법칙이 파탄 나 버리고 만다. 이 특이점에서 우주가 시작되었다는 것이 과연 과학적으로 의미 있을까? 또 가모브의 대폭발 기원론만으로는 별이 있고, 은하가 있고, 인류 같은 생명이 있는 우주를 설명할 수는 없다. 우주가 어떤 진화 과정을 거쳤는지 정확하게 알아야만, 지금처럼 우주를 이해하려고 노력하는 인류 같은 지적 생명체가 살고 있는 우주를 설명할 수 있다. 그런데 부분적인 정보 외에는 얻을 수 없는 우리는 우주의 진화 과정을 정확하게 그려 낼 수 있을까? ‘도대체 어떻게 이런 우주가 만들어지는 게 가능하단 말인가?’
존 배로는 이 책에서 대폭발 우주 기원론을 처음 정립한 가모브 이후, 우주론 연구자들이 봉착한 ‘특이점 문제’, ‘원시 핵반응 문제’, ‘엔트로피의 증가에 따른 우주의 열적 죽음 문제’, ‘자기 단극자 문제’, ‘시간의 본질에 대한 문제’, ‘4차원 이상의 다차원 문제’ 같은 문제들을 우주론 연구자들이 어떤 식으로 풀어 왔는지를 보여 준다. 이를 통해 우주론이 어떤 원리와 방법론에 따라 발전해 왔는지를 생생하게 보여 준다.
현대의 우주론 학자들은 “사소한 것들이 항상 가장 중요하다.”를 좌우명 삼아 미궁에 빠진 사건을 해결하는 셜록 홈스처럼(각 장의 첫머리에는 탐정 소설로 이름 높은 '셜록 홈스'의 글귀들이 인용되어 있다.) 아주 부족한 관측 증거를 바탕으로(우주론 연구의 최대 난점은 우주 탄생 과정을 실험으로 반복 재현하는 것이 불가능하다는 것이다.) 우주 공간의 감춰진 구조와 수수께끼 같기만 한 시간의 본질, 그리고 꼬리에 꼬리를 물고 속출하는 우주론의 미스터리들을 풀어 간다.
존 배로는 “단순하지는 않지만, 재미있고, 알기 쉽게”(미국 도서관 협회 서평) 스티븐 호킹, 로저 펜로즈, 안드레이 린데 같은 천재 과학자들이 활약하는 현대 우주론의 세계로 우리를 안내한다. 현대 우주론의 역사와 논리 구조를 명료하게 설명하고 있는 이 책을 일고 있다 보면 자연스럽게 현대 우주론의 핵심을 체득하게 된다.

우주론에 대한 큰 밑그림을 그려 주는 책, 우주론의 고전
이 책은 1995년 두산동아에서 번역?출간한 적이 있다. 그러나 15년에 가까운 세월에도 불구하고 이 책은 그 가치를 잃지 않는다. 그것은 우선 이 책이 우주론의 ‘고전’이기 때문이다. 대형 망원경을 비롯해 최첨단 장비를 통한 새로운 관측으로 방대한 자료가 쏟아지고 있는 지금, 우리의 우주관도 조금씩 변해 가고 있다. 그러나 지식은 단순한 정보의 집합 이상이어야 한다는 것이다. 정보들이 모여 체계적인 구조를 이룰 때 비로소 ‘지식’이라 부를 수 있고, 지식이 단순히 아는 단계를 넘어서 체계적인 활용이 가능할 때 그것을 ‘이해한다.’고 할 수 있다. ?우주의 기원?은 한때 낭설이라고 조롱받던 대폭발 우주론이 파편적인 관측 사실과 이론 들을 하나씩하나씩 엮어 가면서 수천 년의 역사를 가진 온갖 종교의 신화적 창조론을 대체할 수 있는 과학적 지식 체계로 성립되어 가는지를 잘 보여 준다. 단순한 우주론 개설서 이상의 가치를 가지며 우주론의 맹점들과 역사와 미래 과제를 정확하게 보여 준다.
고전으로서의 향기를 갖춘 이 책은 수많은 사람들을 매혹시키는 가장 기본적인 질문, “우주는 언제, 어떻게, 왜 시작되었을까?” “우리가 살고 있는 우주는 어떤 모양일까?” “시간과 공간이란 무엇일까?”에 대한 대답을 얻을 수 있는 길을 제시해 주는 우주론의 입문서로서 손색이 없을 것이다.

우리는 단지 초기 상태의 작은 영역이 진화한 결과만을 보고 있다. 언젠가 우리 주변의 제한된 우주 영역의 기원에 대해 설명할 수 있는 날이 올지도 모른다. 그러나 우리는 우주 전체의 기원에 대해서는 결코 알 수 없을 것이다. 가장 큰 비밀은 아마도 비밀을 감추고 있는 것 그 자체일지도 모른다. -본문에서
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˝최초의 3분˝에서 크게 달라지지 않은 10년 이상된 우주론 
madwife 2018-01-28 공감 (1) 댓글 (0)

     
[서평] 최초 인류부터 계속되어온 호기심 [우주의 기원]

얼핏 '우주'라는 단어는 우리 일상에서 멀리 벗어나 있다. 우주는 인류의 의지나 역사와는 상관없이 객관적으로 존재하지만 우리는 '우주'에 대해 알면 알수록, 배우면 배울수록 더 우주에서 벗어나게 된다. 어쩌면 우주가 인간으로서는 너무도 광대하고 막막하기 때문일 것이다. 우주는 시간적으로도(약150억년), 공간적으로도(빛이 150억년 동안 지나온 거리) 개인들이 도저히 상상하기 힘들다.
 
그럼에도 불구하고 '우주'는 인간에게 영원한 탐구 주제라 할 수 있다. '우주'는 결국 지구의 어머니이고 지구는 인류의 어머니이기 때문이다. 우주가 태어난 후에 태양계와 지구가 나타날 수 있었고 지구가 온전하게 자리잡으면서 지구에 생명체가 탄생하고 원시 생명체에서 진화를 거듭하여 인류라는 종이 나타날 수 있었기 때문이다. '억겁의 시간'을 통해 현재가 있게 된 것이고 앞으로 또 억겁의 시간 동안 우주는 살아 숨쉬게 된다. 
한 인간이 태어나 자라면서 자신이 태어난 곳을 늘 기억하고 되찾듯이 인류 역시 인류가 탄생한 과거의 역사와 그 시초에 대해 관심을 가질 수 밖에 없다. 지구에 숱하게 존재하는 종교 역시 '인류의 기원', '우주의 기원'을 고뇌했던 인간들이 창조한 것에 불과하다.
 
우주는 알면 알수록 인간을 더욱 겸허하게 만드는 속성이 있다. 인간의 생각과 의식으로는 도저히 상상할 수 없는 공간과 시간 속에 존재하기 때문이다. 우주의 시간 규모는 인간의 한 평생, 국가의 한 평생, 인류의 역사는 한반도 5천년 역사 속에서 '눈 깜짝하는 시간'에 비유할 수 있고 우주의 공간 규모는 저 거대한 바다 속의 한 마리 플랑크톤의 몸집에 비유할 수 있다. 그러한 인류가 지금 '만물의 영장'이라고 우쭐대면서 동식물을 학살하고 유전자를 조작하고 기후변화를 일으켜 지구의 생태계를 위협하고 있다. 자신들끼리 조화롭게 살지도 못하면서...
 

출판사 사이언스북스가 2005년부터 시리즈로 펴낸 '사이언스 마스터스'시리즈의 열여덟번 째 책이다. '사이언스 마스터스' 시리즈는 21세기까지 밝혀지거나 연구된 최신 수학과 자연과학에 대한 연구결과를 19개의 시리즈로 집대성한 것이다. 나는 작년부터 시리즈 중 첫 번째인 [섹스의 진화]에서부터 시작하여 열 일곱번 째인 [진화의 미스터리]까지 읽었고 다음 번 마지막 도서인 [단어와 규칙]까지 마저 읽으면 시리즈 전체를 읽게 된다.
 
이 책은 은 천문학과 수학을 전공한 영국 케임브리지대학 교수 존 배로가 우주의 시작 당시 모습을 상세히 들려주는 책으로, 우주의 기원과 역사에 대한 과학 교양서의 고전이다. 초기 인류가 후대에게 기록을 남긴 이래 늘 그 기록 속에 남아있던 우주에 대한 호기심. 즉 우주의 시작으로 돌아가 시간과 공간, 물질이 어떻게 생겨났는지, 시간이 지나면서 우주가 어떻게 변해 왔는지 보여주면서 우리가 살고 있는 세계, 우주에 대한 궁금증을 하나씩 풀어나간다. 저자의 뛰어난 통찰력으로 대폭발(빅뱅), 급팽창(인플레이션), 웜홀과 특이점을 소개하고, 우주가 간직한 비밀을 들추어 본다. 
 
 * 존 배로는 누구인가? -----------------
1952년 영국 런던에서 태어난 존 배로는 더럼 대학 수학과를 거쳐 옥스퍼드 대학에서 천체물리학 박사학위를 받았다. 1999년까지 서식스 대학 천문학 교수로 재직했으며, 현재 케임브리지 대학 수리과학 교수로 재직 중이다. 밀레니엄 수학 프로젝트의 책임자로 활동했다. 우주론과 천체물리학에 관한 400여 편의 논문을 썼으며, 영국 왕립 글래스고 철학회 켈빈 메달(1999), 영국 왕립 협회 마이클 패러데이 상(2008)을 수상했다. 물리학, 천문학, 수학의 발전 과정을 역사적·철학적·문학적으로 광범위하게 탐구해온 저자는 17권의 대중 교양도서를 펴냈다. 주요 저서로는[우주의 기원The Origin of Universe], [무영진공The Book of Nothing], [자기 자신을 발견한 우주The Universe that Discovered Itself], [자연의 상수들The Constants of Nature], [교묘한 우주의 팽창The Artful Universe Expanded], [새로운 만물의 이론들New Theories of Everything], [우주의 광경 : 과학사의 핵심 이미지들Cosmic Imagery : Key Images in the History of Science]등이 있다. -
-----------------
 
  
책은 8개의 장으로 구성되어 있다.  
1. 우주의 비밀 : 인간이 지금까지 우주에 대해 알아낸 것 중 가장 중요한 것은 우주가 지금 이 순간에도 전방향으로 급속하게 팽창하고 있다는 것이다. 하지만 과학자들은 팽창 중인 우주가 종국에 팽창을 멈추고 수축할 것인지 아니면 영원히 팽창할 것인지 결론을 내리지 못하고 있다. 현재 과학에서 가장 연구에 연구를 거듭하고 있는 우주의 비밀은 '우주의 팽창'과 관련한 것이다. 21세기 인간의 과학 수준으로는 우주의 기원을 엿볼 수 없고 따라서 우주의 팽창을 통해 기원을 거슬러 올라가야 하기 때문이다.
2. 우주 카탈로그 : 우주론에 대한 과학자들의 연구사를 검토해보면 '정상 우주론'과 '팽창 우주론'이 대립하는 것이었다. 현재 과학자들 대다수는 객관적으로, 관측으로 밝혀진 사실을 토대로 '팽창 우주론'만이 현재의 우주를 설명할 수 있다고 생각한다. 여기에서는 빅뱅이론과 열역학 제2법칙(엔트로피 법칙)을 통해 검토한다.
3. 특이점과 그 밖의 문제들 : 우주 팽창을 역으로 생각해서 거슬러 올라가면 모든 물질이 한 곳에 모여있는 '시작점'에 이르게 된다. 이러한 상태를 '태초의 특이점'이라 한다. 특이점에서는 시간과 공간이 멈추게 된다. 그리고 그 '전'이라는 것은 존재하지 않는다. 특이점을 둘러싼 논의는 기초 입자(중성미자, 뮤온, 전자중성미자등), 양성자와 중성자의 균형, 온도 등에 대한 새로운 연구를 촉발시킨다.
4. 급팽창과 입자 물리학 : 1970년대 이후 통일장 이론에 대한 논의가 활성화되었고 '급팽창(인플레이션) 우주론'이 등장했다. 급팽창 이론을 통해 은하와 은하단의 존재가 설명 가능해졌다. 대신 급팽창 이론은 단극자 문제, 암흑물질, 중력과 척력 등을 제기한다. 그리고 이들 문제는 새로운 기초 입자의 출연을 예고한다. 지금 전세계 물리학자들과 우주학자들은 새로운 기초 입자 검출을 기다리고 있다. 인간은 아직 전체 우주가 아닌 '빛이 지나간 시간에 해당하는 우주', 즉 '가시 우주'의 연구에 집중하고 있다.
5. 급팽창과 코비 탐사 : 코비 위성은 우주배경복사를 검출하여 급팽창 이론을 보강했다. 플랑크 시간은 양자역할과 더불어 우주의 시간과 공간에 대한 새로운 질문을 제기했다.
6. 시간, 그 짧은 역사 : 아인슈타인은 시간과 공간이 분리되지 않는 '시공간'을 정의했다. 양자역학은 그 시공간의 경로가 특정한 것이 아니라 가능한 경로들 속에서 확률적으로 존재하게 되고 '평균값'에 따라 미래가 결정된다는 것을 말한다. 양자우주론은 특이점에 가까워질수록 시간의 개념이 희미해지고 결국은 존재하지 않는다는 것을 이야기해준다.
7. 미궁속으로 : 양자 우주론은 웜홀(wormhole)로 연결된 망과 부모/아기 우주를 예측하고 우주에 대한 확률적, 통계론적 존재를 가정한다. 양자 우주론이 분명해지려면 '통일장 이론(만물이론)'이 나와야 하고 이 과정에서 '자연 상수'와 '우주 상수'의 베일이 벗겨져야 한다. 그렇지 않다면 '생명체'의 비밀도 벗겨낼 수 없다.
8. 새로운 차원 : 1980년대부터 만물이론은 '초끈이론'을 통해 진전을 이루었다. 하지만 초끈이론은 9차원 이상의 우주를 요구함으로써 과학자들을 혼란에 빠트렸다.
 
 고대부터 인간은 우주의 모양과 기원, 역사에 큰 관심을 갖고 있었다. 특히 우주가 처음 생겨났을 때, 무엇이 어떻게 생겨났는지는 오랫동안 풀리지 않은 수수께끼였다. 이 책은 우주의 처음으로 돌아가 시간과 공간, 물질이 어떻게 생겨났는지, 시간이 지나면서 우주가 어떻게 변해 왔는지 보여 주면서 우리가 살고 있는 세계,우주에 대한 궁금증을 하나씩 풀어 나간다.  
하지만 저자는 결론을 내리지 못한다. 결론은 커녕 결론으로 갈 수 있는 방향도 제시하기를 주저한다. 21세기 초 현대 우주과학(우주론)은 방향을 잃은 것처럼 보인다. "우리는 우주 전체의 기원에 대해서는 결코 알 수 없을 것이다. 가장 큰 비밀은 아마도 비밀을 감추고 있는 것 그 자체일지도 모른다."(p.214)

아마 인간이 다른 생명체와 다른 가장 핵심적인 차이는 '스스로의 기원을 탐구하는 존재'이기 때문일지도 모른다. 스스로를 돌아보고 성찰하고 기원을 탐구하는 인류의 태도. 그것이야말로 인간이 인간다운 모습일 것이다.
마찬가지로 우리 역시 자신이 태어난 이유와 자신의 탄생 기원, 사회적 존재이유와 사회의 구성원리, 집단으로서의 생존하는 방식과 존재이유를 끊임없이 탐구하고 성찰해야 할 것이다.
그러한 노력과 열정이 인간을 인간답게 하는 것이고 다른 생명, 비생명체에 관심을 기울일 것이고 인간을 겸손하게 만들 것이다.
 
 
[ 2011년 8월 01일 ]
- 접기
붉은구름 2011-08-02 공감(0) 댓글(0)
===
John D. Barrow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



John David Barrow
Born
John David Barrow
29 November 1952

London, England
Died 26 September 2020 (aged 67)
Alma mater Van Mildert College, Durham (BSc)
Magdalen College, Oxford (DPhil)
Awards Italgas Prize (2003)
Templeton Prize (2006)
Michael Faraday Prize (2008)
Kelvin Prize (2009)
Zeeman Medal, London Mathematical Society and IMA (2011)
Dirac Medal (2015)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2016),
Giuseppe Occhialini Medal and Prize (2019)
Scientific career
Fields Physics
Astronomy
Mathematics
Popular science
Institutions University of Cambridge
Gresham College
University of California, Berkeley
University of Oxford
University of Sussex
Thesis Non-Uniform Cosmological Models (1977)
Doctoral advisor Dennis William Sciama[1]
Doctoral students Peter Coles
David Wands[1]


John David Barrow FRS (29 November 1952 – 26 September 2020) was an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. He served as Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College from 2008 to 2011.[2] Barrow was also a writer of popular science and an amateur playwright.[3]


Contents
1Education
2Career and research
3Death
4Publications
5References
6External links
Education[edit]

Barrow attended Barham Primary School in Wembley until 1964 and Ealing Grammar School for Boys from 1964 to 1971 and obtained his first degree in mathematics and physics from Van Mildert College at the University of Durham in 1974.[4] In 1977, he completed his doctorate in astrophysics at Magdalen College, Oxford, supervised by Dennis William Sciama.[1]
Career and research[edit]

Barrow was a Junior Research Lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1977 to 1981. He completed two postdoctoral years as a Miller Research Fellow in astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, as a Commonwealth Lindemann Fellow (1977–8) and Miller Fellow (1980–1).

In 1981 he joined the University of Sussex and rose to become Professor and Director of the Astronomy Centre. In 1999, he became Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and a fellow in Clare Hall at Cambridge University. From 2003 to 2007 he was Gresham Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London, and he has been appointed as Gresham Professor of Geometry from 2008 to 2011; only one person has previously held two different Gresham chairs.[5] In 2008, the Royal Society awarded him the Faraday Prize. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) in 2003 and elected Fellow of the Academia Europaea in 2009. He has received Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Hertfordshire, Sussex, Durham, S. Wales and Szczecin, and was an Honorary Professor at the University of Nanjing. He was an Honorary Fellow of Van Mildert College, Durham University and of Gresham College, London. He was a Centenary Gifford Lecturer at the University of Glasgow in 1989.

From 1999, he directed the Millennium Mathematics Project (MMP) at the University of Cambridge. This is an outreach and education programme to improve the appreciation, teaching and learning of mathematics and its applications. In 2006 it was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Educational Achievement by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

In addition to having published more than 500 journal articles, Barrow co-wrote (with Frank J. Tipler) The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, a work on the history of the ideas, specifically intelligent design and teleology, as well as a treatise on astrophysics. He also published 22 books for general readers, beginning with his 1983 The Left Hand of Creation. His books summarise the state of the affairs of physical questions, often in the form of compendia of a large number of facts assembled from the works of great physicists, such as Paul Dirac and Arthur Eddington.

Barrow's approach to philosophical issues posed by physical cosmology made his books accessible to general readers. 
For example, Barrow introduced a memorable paradox, which he called "the Groucho Marx Effect" (see Russell-like paradoxes). Here, he quotes Groucho Marx: "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member". Applying this to problems in cosmology, Barrow stated: "A universe simple enough to be understood is too simple to produce a mind capable of understanding it."[6]

Barrow lectured at 10 Downing Street, Windsor Castle, and the Vatican, as well as to the general public. In 2002, his play Infinities premiered in Milan, played in Valencia, and won the Premi Ubu 2002 Italian Theatre Prize.

He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".[7] He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".[8]

He was awarded the Dirac Prize and Gold Medal of the Institute of Physics in 2015 and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2016.[9]
Death[edit]

Barrow died on 26 September 2020 from colon cancer, at the age of 67.[10]


Publications[edit]

In English:


In other languages:
Perché il mondo è matematico? (in Italian)

As editor:
Water and Life: The Unique Properties of H2O. (ed., with Ruth M. Lynden-Bell, Simon Conway Morris, John L. Finney, Charles Harper, Jr.) CRC Press, 2010. ISBN 1-4398-0356-0
Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning. (eds., with S. Conway Morris, S.J. Freeland, and C.L. Harper), Cambridge UP, 2007. ISBN 978-1-10740655-1
Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity, 90th Birthday Volume for John Archibald Wheeler, (ed., with P.C.W. Davies, & C. Harper), Cambridge UP, 2004. ISBN 0-521-83113-X
The Physical Universe: The Interface Between Cosmology, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, (ed., with A Henriques, M Lago, Malcolm Longair), Springer-Verlag, 1991. ISBN 978-3540542933


References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b c John D. Barrow at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  2. ^ "DAMTP Professor John Barrow". www.damtp.cam.ac.uk.
  3. ^ Marcus de Sautoy (5 November 2003). "To infinity and beyond". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "Durham graduate wins $1M prize". University of Durham Department of Physics. 20 March 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
  5. ^ Gresham College: New Gresham Chair of Geometry Archived21 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ Barrow, John D. (1990). The World Within the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 342–343. ISBN 0-19-286108-5.
  7. ^ Lehr, Donald (15 March 2006). "John Barrow wins 2006 Templeton Prize". templetonprize.org. John Templeton Foundation. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  8. ^ Overbye, Dennis (16 March 2006). "Math Professor Wins a Coveted Religion Award". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 November2007.
  9. ^ "RAS honours leading astronomers and geophysicist". RAS. 8 January 2016. Archived from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Morto John Barrow, cosmologo e divulgatore: aveva 67 anni". ilmessaggero.it (in Italian). 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  11. ^ French edition: L'Homme et le Cosmos (in French)
  12. ^ earlier edition(1991) Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation
===

Books by John D. Barrow

John D. Barrow
John D. Barrow
Average rating 3.77 · 7,162 ratings · 617 reviews · shelved 26,844 times


Showing 30 distinct works.
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The Book of Nothing: Vacuum...

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 3.97 avg rating — 1,133 ratings — published 2000 — 22 editions
The Infinite Book: A Short ...

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 3.90 avg rating — 973 ratings — published 2005 — 22 editions
The Origin Of The Universe

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 3.76 avg rating — 463 ratings — published 1994 — 35 editions
The Constants of Nature: Th...

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 3.75 avg rating — 463 ratings — published 2002 — 19 editions
100 Essential Things You Di...

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 3.45 avg rating — 450 ratings — published 2008 — 21 editions
Impossibility: The Limits o...

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 3.95 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 1998 — 18 editions
New Theories of Everything

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 4.06 avg rating — 300 ratings — published 2007 — 11 editions
PI in the Sky: Counting, Th...

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 3.96 avg rating — 254 ratings — published 1992 — 14 editions
The Book of Universes: Expl...

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 3.89 avg rating — 253 ratings — published 2011 — 19 editions
The Anthropic Cosmological ...

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 3.91 avg rating — 201 ratings — published 1984 — 3 editions
The Artful Universe Expanded

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 3.87 avg rating — 143 ratings — published 1995 — 11 editions
Theories of Everything: The...

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 3.70 avg rating — 114 ratings — published 1991 — 13 editions
Mathletics: A Scientist Exp...

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 2.91 avg rating — 120 ratings — published 2012 — 7 editions
Cosmic Imagery: Key Images ...

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 4.11 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions
The World Within the World
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 3.76 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 1988 — 7 editions
The Left Hand of Creation: ...

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 4.10 avg rating — 29 ratings — published 1983 — 10 editions
Between Inner Space and Out...

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 3.53 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1999 — 4 editions
Science and Ultimate Realit...

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 4.36 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2004 — 4 editions
Fitness of the Cosmos for L...

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 4.78 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2007 — 5 editions
Life, the Universe, and the...

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 3.17 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2013
The Mathematical Universe
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 4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2013
The Christian Origin of Mod...
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2013


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* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more books, click here.

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The Christian Origin of Modern Science
by John D. Barrow
really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 3 ratings · 1 review
Christian beliefs of the Middle Ages contributed essentially to the rise of science in Europe.

Kindle Edition, 12 pages

Published September 18th 2013 by The World & I Online


Feb 05, 2016Ian rated it really liked it
Concise Introductory Essay

For those who are new to the argument, this essay makes an excellent introduction to the argument for the Christian Origins of Science. This essay would be improved if it included a brief bibliography to point readers to more detailed arguments.

One could go on to read, "God's Handiwork" in Rodney Stark's For the Glory of God, for instance.

One of the key elements I like about this short essay is the acknowledgement of the balance of Christian theology between a necessity and freedom. If the world is simple predetermined, then there is no impetus for experimentation. If the world is chaotic, then there is no impetus to seek "laws" and "rules".

I could see myself using this essay in either a Church setting or as reading in an undergraduate course. (less)
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The Mathematical Universe
by
John D. Barrow

4.40 · Rating details · 5 ratings · 0 reviews
In the world of science, mathematics indeed seems to be the language that allows us to talk most effectively and logically about the nature of things. But mathematics differs from other languages like English or Spanish. Indeed, it possesses a built-in logic, and is thus more akin to a computer language.
Kindle Edition, 12 pages
Published September 18th 2013 by The World & I Online
ASIN
B00FARJ5M2

===

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Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning
(Cambridge Astrobiology #2)
by
John D. Barrow (Editor)
4.78 · Rating details · 9 ratings · 1 review
This highly interdisciplinary 2007 book highlights many of the ways in which chemistry plays a crucial role in making life an evolutionary possibility in the universe. Cosmologists and particle physicists have often explored how the observed laws and constants of nature lie within a narrow range that allows complexity and life to evolve and adapt. Here, these anthropic considerations are diversified in a host of new ways to identify the most sensitive features of biochemistry and astrobiology. Celebrating the classic 1913 work of Lawrence J. Henderson, The Fitness of the Environment for Life, this book looks at the delicate balance between chemistry and the ambient conditions in the universe that permit complex chemical networks and structures to exist. It will appeal to a broad range of scientists, academics, and others interested in the origin and existence of life in our universe. (less)

Hardcover, 526 pages
Published December 1st 2007 by Cambridge University

Oct 06, 2016Richard S rated it it was amazing
Shelves: science
Fine tuning has long been a favorite topic of mine and this book is the best summary of the issues as presented by various scientists mostly at Cambridge. This is not "intelligent design" - this is truly scientific in the traditional sense - it is more related to the anthropic principle. (less)
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Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity

by
John D. Barrow (Editor)
4.36 · Rating details · 11 ratings · 0 reviews
This preview of the future of physics comprises contributions from recognized authorities inspired by the pioneering work of John Wheeler. Quantum theory represents a unifying theme within the book, as it relates to the topics of the nature of physical reality, cosmic inflation, the arrow of time, models of the universe, superstrings, quantum gravity and cosmology. Attempts to formulate a final unification theory of physics are also considered, along with the existence of hidden dimensions of space, hidden cosmic matter, and the strange world of quantum technology. John Archibald Wheeler is one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century. His extraordinary career has spanned momentous advances in physics, from the birth of the nuclear age to the conception of the quantum computer. Famous for coining the term black hole, Professor Wheeler helped lay the foundations for the rebirth of gravitation as a mainstream branch of science, triggering the explosive growth in astrophysics and cosmology that followed. His early contributions to physics include the S matrix, the theory of nuclear rotation (with Edward Teller), the theory of nuclear fission (with Niels Bohr), action-at-a-distance electrodynamics (with Richard Feynman), positrons as backward-in-time electrons, the universal Fermi interaction (with Jayme Tiomno), muonic atoms, and the collective model of the nucleus. His inimitable style of thinking, quirky wit, and love of the bizarre have inspired generations of physicists. (less)

Hardcover, 742 pages
Published April 22nd 2004 by Cambridge University Press
Original Title
Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity


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2021/09/28

도산 안창호로부터생명철학과 씨알철학의 연원을 읽어내다!

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Jaesoon Park
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도산 안창호로부터생명철학과 씨알철학의 연원을 읽어내다!
박재순 지음 / 『도산철학과 씨알철학』/ 동연 / 2021
                                         김대식 박사(씨알사상연구원 연구실장)
저자가 밝히고 있듯이 이 책의 철학과 사상은 함석헌의 사유로부터 시작되었습니다. 그간 저자의 연구 테제와관심사는 한마디로 ‘생명철학’이었습니다. 그런 그가 왜 도산(島山) 안창호(安昌浩)를 철학자로 규정하고 생명철학과 씨알철학, 그리고 민주주의에이르기까지 폭넓은 연구를 하게 되었을까요? 저자의 확신처럼 함석헌, 유영모, 이승훈, 조만식, 그리고 안창호는 서로 밀접한 연관이 있습니다. 근대적 자아인식의 주체인 ‘나’에 대한자각은 유영모와 함석헌의 중요한 발견이었습니다. 그런데 이러한 ‘나’ 주체성은 도산 안창호에서 비롯되었다는 것이 저자의 주장입니다. 삶과 철학, 생명과 정신은 ‘나’ 주체성, ‘나’-철학에서 나옵니다. 특히 자아 혁신과 애기애타(愛己愛他)는 주체성과전체성을 아우르는 도산의 독특한 사상적 개념입니다.
저자는 도산을 동서양의 시대정신을 잘 융합한 근·현대사적인 인물로규정하고 있습니다. 그 밑바탕에는 그리스도교 정신과 실천, 그에 기반한무실역행(務實力行)의 정신을 간과하지 않은 과학적 사고와 합리적 생각이 있습니다. 저자는 이를 근거로 도산이 민중을 위한 민주주의적 정신을실현시킨 세계적인 사상가라는 점을부각시킵니다.도산은 고난당하는 민중의 역사를바라보면서 자신이 있는 삶의 자리에서 역사의 진리를 제대로 인식했습니다. 추론해보건대 비록 도산이 무학자였지만, 그가 조직한 흥사단을 통해서 유영모, 함석헌이 나왔다는 것, 임시정부수립이나 헌법전문정신형성에기여했다는 것도 ‘나’-철학이 있었기 때문입니다. 
그런 의미에서 그는 구체적인 ‘나’-철학의 확립, 자아를 힘있게 하여 새 시대의 정신적 기초를 놓은 철학자라 할 수 있습니다. 나아가그는 관념철학을 넘어 실제적인 생활철학, 곧 애기애타(자아혁신과 협동)정신을 낳았습니다. 그에게 중요한 것은 ‘인격’과 ‘사랑’입니다. 나를 사랑하고 이웃을 사랑하는 것, 이를 확장하여 자연과 우주를 사랑하는 것은공공철학, 공립(共立)철학과도 맞닿아 있습니다. 이것은 오늘날 제 삶을자기가 주인이 되어서 살아야 하는것이고, 성현에 기댄 삶이 아니라 자기가 자기의 삶을 주체적으로 살아나가는 ‘나’-철학이자 자기답게 살아가는 민주시대의 젊은이 철학이라고 확신하는 데서도 잘 드러납니다.
저자는 이성의 철학에서 생명의 철학으로의 전회를 역설합니다. 이는 다음과 같은 문장에서 잘 드러납니다.“생명과 정신의 철학은 스스로 하는주체와 전체의 일치를 추구하고 실현하는 생명과 정신의 입체적이고 통합적인 진리를 탐구하는 구도자적 철학이 되고, 역동적이고 과정적인 변화와고양을 이루는 실천적인 철학으로 되어야 한다”(34쪽) 생명은 통합입니다.물질과 정신, 육체와 영의 통합입니다. 따라서 생명사건은 개방성, 수용성, 공존, 상생, 평화, 일치, 통합의 사건입니다. 이를 통해서 얼과 신(神)을 향한 질적 초월로의 이행은 물질론적・관념론적 변증법을 넘어섭니다. 이것은 저자의 도산철학에 대한 생철학적 해석학의 지평으로까지 이어집니다. 자신이 생의 주체이면서 생을 전체로서 파악하는 것, 그것이 씨알입니다. 씨알은 생명체요 역사를 압축한존재들입니다.
이쯤해서 도산과 생명철학, 생철학은 어떤 관계가 있는지 궁금해집니다. 저자는 도산이 생과 역사 이해, 그리고 개혁적 창조를 통하여 생명과 정신의 실현을 위한 삶을 살았다고 적고 있습니다. 도산 자신의 생철학적삶은 몸, 맘, 얼, 감성, 이성, 영성을 폭넓게 담아내는 사상과 실천가로서의면모를 보여주었습니다. 이것은 ‘나’-철학을 주체적으로 실현하는 것은 물론 스스로 하는 철학, 스스로 되는 철학을 민중에게 계도하는 몸짓이었습니다. 좀 더 깊이 들어가 보면 도산철학의 배경에는 그리스도교 정신, 민주정신, 과학사상이 있었음을 알게 됩니다. 이를 통해서 나를 나되게 하는이, 곧 하나님을 인식하게 되고, 자신의 인격과 민족성 개혁, 창조하는 주체로서 몸, 맘, 얼의 존재론적 층위의 통합철학을 형성합니다. 다시 말해서 생명, 역사, 주체, 전체는 도산의 ‘수양철학’이요 함석헌과의 공통분모인 생명철학의 요체입니다. 도산의 생명철학은 독립과 통일, 이상촌(마을공화국) 건설, 인격형성과도 밀접한 연관성을 띠는데, 특히 마을공화국은 인격적 주체와 민족국가 사이의 다리역할을 한다고 볼 수 있습니다.
도산의 철학적 실천의 근간은 애기애타입니다. 나를 중심으로 타자와연결・통합되는 사랑의 철학입니다.다산은 민중의 현실 속에서 생의 진리를 모색하고 하나님을 체험했다는점에서 함석헌에게도 영향을 주었을법합니다. 여기서 주체와 전체가 일치합니다. 도산의 철학은 지금 여기, 곧민중이 당면한 고난의 현실 속에서전개됩니다. 그렇기 때문에 민중주체와 상생, 협동, 공화의 원리를 내세운민중의 생명공동체를 말하지 않을 수없었을 것입니다.씨 한 사람 한 사람을 새롭게 하고 나라를 세우는 데 있어 ‘나’-철학,‘나’-주체성은 씨 사상의 기본입니다. ‘나’는 역사와 생명의 창조 주체이자 과정적 존재입니다. 이러한 ‘나’-철학을 지닌 민중의 생명공동체 속에서 서로 다름과 서로 주체의 존재론적 인정은 민중이 나라의 주인이 되기 위한 필연입니다. 
여기서 도산의독특성이 나타납니다. 앞에서 언급한 무실역행입니다. 무실은 실제, 현실,진실에 충실하는 것이요, 역행은 알맹이에 충실하여 힘껏 행동하는 것입니다. 이것은 율곡 이이로부터 시작해서 다산 정약용에 이르는 실학사상에서 연원한 것이 분명합니다. 마지막으로 도산철학이 유영모와함석헌과 어떠한 유비점이 존재하는가입니다. 저자는 이것을 생각, 과학,‘나’ 주체 확립, 민주철학에서 찾습니다. 민중을 생명주체이자 실체로 본함석헌, 그리고 ‘나’선언(I am that Iam), ‘나’ 주체와 해방에 천착한 유영모는 자기 개조, 자아 혁신을 위한 몸,맘, 얼을 통합하는 사유를 가르쳤습니다. 도산에게 있어 나를 바로 세우는 것은 나라를 바로 세우는 것입니다. 어떤 면에서는 안창호, 유영모, 함석헌은 생명주체인 나와 전체인 나를하나로 파악했다고 평가해도 무난할것입니다. ‘나’-철학과 ‘나’ 각성의 극대화입니다.
도산에게도 생각하는 씨알은 중요합니다. 나라가 살기 위해서는 생각위의 생각을 해야 합니다. 유영모는생각의 끝에서 ‘나’를 발견한 인물입니다. 거듭 강조하거니와 주체인 나와전체인 나는 분리되지 않습니다. 그것을 생명인 ‘나’와 그 ‘나’를 ‘인격체’로 파악한 도산 안창호를 생명철학자로 수렴한 저자의 혜안은 한마디로‘생각 사랑’에 있다고 해도 과언은 아닐 것입니다. 방대한 분량의 책에서 한국의 근・현대 철학자 혹은 종교철학자라 할 수 있는 유영모와 함석헌의 철학적 연원을 도산 안창호로부터 끄집어낸 것은 저자의 오랜 연구 성과의 결과라 해도 손색이 없을 것입니다. 저자의 일관된 목소리가 있습니다. 도산은 보편적 세계철학의 지평을 열었다는 평가가 그것입니다. 저자에 의하면 한국의 독특한 철학은 설령 서양철학의 궤적에서 발견되는 ‘나’-철학에서 출발하지만 거기에 그치지 않고 전체인 나, 곧 인격과 통합한다고 주장합니다. 그것이야말로 유영모와 함석헌을 연구한 저자가 도산에게서한국철학의 시원을 찾은 깊은 사유훈련에서 나온 정점이라고 봅니다.생각 위의 생각을 하도록 하는 참된 철학자가 없는 시대, 생각하지 않는 무사유 세계가 되어버린 이 시점에서 저자가 우려낸 도산철학이 조용한 울림으로 다가옵니다. (‘종교와 평화’ 2021년 8월)
2 comments
민성식
선생님, 저 기억하시나요? 예전에 한국신학연구소와 기독교사회문제연구소에 계실때 몇번 뵌 적이 있는 기독교신문 민성식기자입니다. 제가 지금은 종교와평화의 편집을 맡고 있습니다. 그런데 얼마전 동연의 김영호 선배님이 선생님 책을 내신다고 해서 서평을 실어야 하는데 필자를 누구로 해야할지 막막하더군요... 그래서 김영호 선배님께 섭외를 부탁드렸더니 김대식 박사님의 원고를 받아주셨어요... 저로서는 모든 분들께 감사하다는 말 밖에는 드릴 수가 없네요...
 · Reply · 2 h
Jaesoon Park
민성식 반갑습니다. 오래 전에 뵈었군요. 책 소개를 실어주셔서 고맙습니다.

Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian: Rumscheidt, Barbara, Rumscheidt, Martin H., Soelle, Dorothee: 9780800630799: Amazon.com: Books

Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian: Rumscheidt, Barbara, Rumscheidt, Martin H., Soelle, Dorothee: 9780800630799: Amazon.com: Books

Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian Paperback – May 28, 1999
by Barbara Rumscheidt (Author), & 2 more
4.6 out of 5 stars    11 ratings
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184 pages
Fortress Press


Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
"Written with clarity, eloquence, and passion, Dorothee Soelle's memoirs resound with a clarion call to remember the costs of injustice. Just as we must never forget the horrors of history, so too we must never forget the lives of those who live for justice. Soelle's is such a life, and this account is a gift to the imagination, to the intellect, and to the will. Against the Wind is a joy to read and has much to offer students, scholars, activists, and all who seek to live out an 'indestructible love for life." ---Sharon D. Welch Author of a Feminist Ethic of Risk

About the Author
Martin Rumscheidtis an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and retired professor of historical theology at the University of Windsor, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Charles University, Prague. He is the translator of Act and Being (1996)in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English edition, and cotranslator with the late Barbara Rumscheidt of Soelle"s Against the Wind (1999) and The Silent Cry.



Dorothee Soelle was Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, for thirteen years. Among her many influential writings are Great Couples of the Bible (2005; 0-8006-3831-X), Theology for Skeptics (1994; 0-8006-2788-1), and The Silent Cry (2001; 0- 8006-3266-4). She died in 2003.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
dorothee soelle a Lutheran who is also a sectarian a poet who is also an essayist a systematic thinker who also live and writes with passion a believer in life who can life creatively within the reality of death acquainted with eschatological exuberance she insists that we pray for the world, but only as we strive to live within it made from dust and created in god's image she gives us ground for hope she believes, along with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in both resistance and submission but only in their proper proportions she fits no conventional categories and can employ a fairy tale to make a point she is a pacifist who can demand stern commitments because they are already part of her own life she is an activist who is also a mystic she refuses to separate prayer and politics and stresses the redemptive possibilities in every human situation as a scholar, she is deeply immersed in the prophets and as a feminist she is committed to equal rights for all god's children everywhere
Join her. It will be worthwhile; she presents her faith on her own authority, which she has already donated to the glory of God ---A Tribute by Robert McAfee Brown

A few years ago, my friend and editor Johannes Thiele suggested that I write an autobiography. "Are you crazy? I am no unharnessed politician, and I have better things to do!" was my first reaction. But he did not let go. And so a productive tussle arose about what was important and worth telling, what was already prefigured or hinted at in various places of my books and talks, and what could be taken over, brought together, and left out. The result of that tussle or pleasant cooperation is before you. Thank you, dear Johannes. Every headwind also has its upward draft.

Much is missing that a classic autobiography would contain. I have told nothing about my father, nothing about the encounters with Hannah Arendt, Ernst Bloch, President Gustav and Ms. Hilda Heinemann, Premier Johannes Rau. Nor is there anything about my abhorrence of crocheting and knitting or enough about my favorite activities, swimming and singing. I have preferred to speak about certain central aspects of life in poetry, seeing that life brings along enough prose as it is.

I am very glad that this book now also appears in English. It is surely no coincidence that a German woman-theology, who has become rather well-known, found no teaching position in her fatherland but could work in the more liberal world of the American academy. The encounter with that world has enriched and formed me to an extraordinary degree: Being "right in the belly of the beast," as we used to say, that world deepened my fears, but much more than that, it strengthened my hope in people who do not submit to the dictates of the economy, the military, and the advertising industry. Indeed, there was and still is what we always called the "other America." ---from the Preface

This is the highest honor I can offer: The life of Dorothee Soelle speaks for itself. It needs no justification; it refisters no longing to prove itself, to base on appeal on status, education, gender, color, theological niceties.

Indeed the life of Dorothee has been blessed with all the above and more; admiration and friendship come to mind. So does that ironic, unexpected last "blessing" promised the disciples. First, plenty of good things: "homes, brothers and sisters, mothers, children and property." Then the twister: "and persecution besides."

In a sense dear to Bonhoeffer, this woman's theology is worldly. One thing: as the Incarnation is worldly. From Latin America to the U.S. to Europe she has tested the gospel (and been tested!), laying the Word against the realities of this horrific century---torture, disappearance, oligarchic immunity, enforced misery, weapons, warfare, the buttoned-up arrogance of the great powers.

And in personal life as well, testing, testing---in marriage and motherhood, in being pilloried and denied academic place. In aligning herself, to put the matter briefly, with the plight of Jesus in his century or ours; one and the same.

Her writing, here and elsewhere, has the edge and clarity of a telegram to the world. One does not waste words; the time is short. Speak up then, shout aloud, on behalf of the inarticulate and victimized.

And remember, an intellectual also has a heart.

Therefore this heartfelt book. Which is as much about friendship as anything else---or more so.

Let me rejoice, too, in a long friendship with Dorothee. I learn from her. Theology must not be mired or stalemated in the mind. It must enable, induce an imperative.

Stand squarely in the world. And once there, withstand ---Daniel Berrigan, S.J. from the Foreword

Top reviews from the United States
J. Cutting
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend. This arrived from a third party in excellent ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2017
Verified Purchase
Having read 'The Silent Cry, Mysticism and Resistance', I wanted to learn more about this profound thoughtful theologian activist. In her memoir 'Against the Wind' written in short chapters she shares the evolution of her spiritual and activist development and the factors that influenced her from post war Germany to the early 21st century. Highly recommend.
This arrived from a third party in excellent condition and in a timely fashion.
2 people found this helpful
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douglas a. dailey
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
excellent copy
===========
Christina Hennig
3.0 out of 5 stars ... different from others of her publications - not so easy to read
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2015
Verified Purchase
this book was different from others of her publications - not so easy to read either
One person found this helpful
=================
Steven H Propp
TOP 100 REVIEWER
5.0 out of 5 stars THE GERMAN THEOLOGIAN RECALLS AND EXPLAINS HER LIFE AND WORK
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle [Soelle] (1929-2003) was a German liberation theologian who taught systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1975 to 1987. She wrote many books, such as  On Earth as in Heaven: A Liberation Spirituality of Sharing , Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology , The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity , Celebrating Resistance: The Way of the Cross in Latin America , Political Theology , etc.

She wrote in the Preface of this 1995 book, “Much is missing that a classic autobiography would contain. I have told nothing about my father… I have preferred to speak about certain central aspects of life in poetry, seeing that life brings along enough prose as it is… It is surely no coincidence that a German woman-theologian, who has become rather well-known, found no teaching position in her fatherland but could work in the more liberal world of the American academy. The encounter with that world has enriched and formed me to an extraordinary degree… it strengthened my hope in people who do not submit to the dictates of the economy, the military, and the advertising industry.” (Pg. xi)

She recalls of her youth, “I tried to make a distinction between Germany, the dream, and the Nazis, whom, almost without exception, I found repugnant or trivial… My parents had many Jewish friends, and by the time I was eight or nine, I had known what a concentration camp was. As children of parents opposed to the Nazis, we literally grew up with two languages. At home, there was plain language that named the shootings, torture, and deportations. But for school, where frankness was mortally dangerous, our speech was guarded… I knew much, but certainly not everything. I definitely knew nothing of Auschwitz…” (Pg. 4)

In her teen years, “My relationship to Christianity was a critical-liberal one; it had been damaged by the Nazis… I respected the Church inasmuch as it had dared to speak out now and then against what was happening… I could not call it ‘resistance’ because that was too big a word for the church’s actions… Christians were cowards, unable to look nihilism in the eye. I harbored a vulgarized Nietzschean disdain for Christianity… Our religion classes [in school] were so unbearable that my best friends in the grade above mine walked out en masse. I could not bring myself to join in their boycott, because I still wanted to know more---particularly about Jesus, the tortured one who did not become a nihilist… I really could not accept that one had to believe in the virgin birth in order to understand the Sermon on the Mount. Soon a new religion teacher made her appearance … [She] steered us into a radically different understanding of Christianity… I finally began to look for another philosophy of life. I studied theology in order to get at the truth that had been kept from me long enough. Slowly, a radical Christianity began to nest in me… I tried to make ‘the leap,’ as Søren Kierkegaard called it, into the passion for the unconditional, into the reign of God. I began to become a Christian.” (Pg. 12-13)

As she learned of the Holocaust, “I was preoccupied with the questions of my generation: How could this happen?... All during the fifties, I wanted to know exactly when, where, how, and by whom Jews had been murdered. Then, in the mid-sixties, I tried to develop a ‘post-Auschwitz’ theology---I did not want to write one sentence in which the awareness of that greatest catastrophe of my people was not made explicit… Collective shame is the minimum required for a people with a history like that of the Germans… And I am ashamed again, anew: by the poison gas that German industrialists sold to Israel’s enemies or by the billions German Marks that we could spare for the Gulf War but not for providing potable water to countries plagued with cholera. I need this shame about my people; I do not want to forget anything, because forgetting nurtures the illusion that it is possible to be a truly human being without the lessons of the dead.” (Pg. 16-17)

She explains, “It was Rudolf Bultmann who spoke to where I was in my final high school years… I knew Bultmann to be a Christian hospitable to the Enlightenment. I need not leave my mind at the church door… How could these go together: thinking and believing, criticism and religiosity, reason and Christianity? Bultmann answered such questions with his program of demythologizing… It was not Bultmann’s intention to do away with or dissolve myth but to interpret it… The cat is out of the mythological bag; the stories of Jesus’ empty tomb and of his perhaps filmable resurrection are legends, media in which the first disciple expressed their faith… As a teacher, again and again, [Bultmann] helped people to have the courage for piety and did so no less as a proponent of existence freed from the mythological.” (Pg. 28-29)

She notes, “I had often been asked about my personal reasons for engagement on behalf of Vietnam… One cannot care for a few children while supporting a policy that incinerates so many children, that lets them starve or rot in camps. Another reason I became involved with Vietnam was both personal and Christian. I thought that I had known what it meant when I said, ‘I am a Christian.’ In those words I expressed a relationship to a human being who lived 2,000 years ago and who spoke the truth… I believed his story has implications to this very day… I could find no difference worth mentioning between the newly tested shells and poisons and the ancient technique of killing by crucifixion… The American antiwar movement played a very significant part for me. I was shaped extensively by Christians… This has given me a deep fascination with the United States, so much so that when I moved there, I felt intimations of homecoming. I Western Europe… I almost had to apologize for being a Christian. But in the United States, it was taken for granted; a radical Christian tradition lives there. Political radicalism blossomed forth from Christianity and traveled with it.” (Pg. 45-46)

She points out, “The seminary where I taught has the reputation of being a place of rebelliousness… people were indeed radicalized at Union Theological Seminary. Conversion is… an occasion when the grace of god grasps a person usually associated with a specific moment in the person’s life. From this theological tradition, however, arose questions relating to how one’s political awareness came about. Many people have experienced a similar event, a theological-political conversion.” (Pg. 60) Later, she adds, “I became a feminist through the agency of my American women friends. After reading my books in English translation, they campaigned that I be called to Union Theological Seminary.” (Pg. 65) She admits, “Why did I not become a professor in Germany? The reasons certainly had to do with sexism, politics, and church theology… I cannot say that I feel particularly bitter about this. For me… a professorship at a very liberal theological school in the United States was actually ideal.” (Pg. 67)

She acknowledges the difficulty of being a working mother: “Of course, it was a balancing act… My husband and I now divide the work of the home among ourselves… I have four children. Were I a young woman today I would still decide to have children. However strongly I critique patriarchy, my feminism is not separatist in relation to men… after recovery from the damages inflicted by patriarchy, the tasks of humanity remain to be addressed in common with men.” (Pg. 69-70)

She observes, ‘My theology never conformed to the church. I wanted to write ‘edifying discourses’ like Kierkegaard’s. Presumably, my readership so a large extent consists of people who have been alienated from the church and who for good reasons no longer attend its services. Often they switch their support to Amnesty International, but still sense that there is something missing in their nonreligious endeavors. They look for and need something different. These are the people whose language I speak.” (Pg. 90)

She states, “I think that today I would no longer define my theological position as ‘political theology.’ … Even when the concept of ‘political theology’ began to be filled with new meaning years ago, it still lacked clarity… Today I am overwhelmed and grateful that the ‘theology of liberation’ … has opened up theological dimensions that are so different from those I knew. I refer to the rereading of the Bible from the perspective of developing countries.” (Pg. 98) Later, she laments, “I often fear that Christianity and socialism are hardly anything but dinosaurs in postmodernity… There is no common good whereby human beings feel responsible for what happens in their village, or their part of the city, or to the neighbors and the children… And I ask if it does not take a piece of religious language in order to safeguard a compassionate interrelationship among people, to keep commonality and a life that is good for all.” (Pg. 144)

She concludes, “Theology that is truly alive … does not drop straight from heaven as ‘God’s Word.’ Rather, it constitutes itself in the solidarity of those affected. I continue to understand faith as a mixture of trust and fear, hope and doubt… My life is that of a theological worker who tries to tell something of God’s pain and God’s joy… It was my participation in the worldwide Christian movement toward a Conciliar Process in which justice, peace, and integrity of creation finally, clearly represent the heart of faith. Theologically, I think I am less alone today than years ago.” (Pg. 166)

This is a charming and very informative book, that will be “must reading” for fans of Soelle’s work, and of great interest to those concerned with contemporary/progressive theology.
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3 people found this helpful
==================
Steven H Propp
TOP 100 REVIEWER
5.0 out of 5 stars THE GERMAN THEOLOGIAN RECALLS AND EXPLAINS HER LIFE AND WORK
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle [Soelle] (1929-2003) was a German liberation theologian who taught systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1975 to 1987. She wrote many books, such as  On Earth as in Heaven: A Liberation Spirituality of Sharing , Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology , The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity , Celebrating Resistance: The Way of the Cross in Latin America , Political Theology , etc.

She wrote in the Preface of this 1995 book, “Much is missing that a classic autobiography would contain. I have told nothing about my father… I have preferred to speak about certain central aspects of life in poetry, seeing that life brings along enough prose as it is… It is surely no coincidence that a German woman-theologian, who has become rather well-known, found no teaching position in her fatherland but could work in the more liberal world of the American academy. The encounter with that world has enriched and formed me to an extraordinary degree… it strengthened my hope in people who do not submit to the dictates of the economy, the military, and the advertising industry.” (Pg. xi)

She recalls of her youth, “I tried to make a distinction between Germany, the dream, and the Nazis, whom, almost without exception, I found repugnant or trivial… My parents had many Jewish friends, and by the time I was eight or nine, I had known what a concentration camp was. As children of parents opposed to the Nazis, we literally grew up with two languages. At home, there was plain language that named the shootings, torture, and deportations. But for school, where frankness was mortally dangerous, our speech was guarded… I knew much, but certainly not everything. I definitely knew nothing of Auschwitz…” (Pg. 4)

In her teen years, “My relationship to Christianity was a critical-liberal one; it had been damaged by the Nazis… I respected the Church inasmuch as it had dared to speak out now and then against what was happening… I could not call it ‘resistance’ because that was too big a word for the church’s actions… Christians were cowards, unable to look nihilism in the eye. I harbored a vulgarized Nietzschean disdain for Christianity… Our religion classes [in school] were so unbearable that my best friends in the grade above mine walked out en masse. I could not bring myself to join in their boycott, because I still wanted to know more---particularly about Jesus, the tortured one who did not become a nihilist… I really could not accept that one had to believe in the virgin birth in order to understand the Sermon on the Mount. Soon a new religion teacher made her appearance … [She] steered us into a radically different understanding of Christianity… I finally began to look for another philosophy of life. I studied theology in order to get at the truth that had been kept from me long enough. Slowly, a radical Christianity began to nest in me… I tried to make ‘the leap,’ as Søren Kierkegaard called it, into the passion for the unconditional, into the reign of God. I began to become a Christian.” (Pg. 12-13)

As she learned of the Holocaust, “I was preoccupied with the questions of my generation: How could this happen?... All during the fifties, I wanted to know exactly when, where, how, and by whom Jews had been murdered. Then, in the mid-sixties, I tried to develop a ‘post-Auschwitz’ theology---I did not want to write one sentence in which the awareness of that greatest catastrophe of my people was not made explicit… Collective shame is the minimum required for a people with a history like that of the Germans… And I am ashamed again, anew: by the poison gas that German industrialists sold to Israel’s enemies or by the billions German Marks that we could spare for the Gulf War but not for providing potable water to countries plagued with cholera. I need this shame about my people; I do not want to forget anything, because forgetting nurtures the illusion that it is possible to be a truly human being without the lessons of the dead.” (Pg. 16-17)

She explains, “It was Rudolf Bultmann who spoke to where I was in my final high school years… I knew Bultmann to be a Christian hospitable to the Enlightenment. I need not leave my mind at the church door… How could these go together: thinking and believing, criticism and religiosity, reason and Christianity? Bultmann answered such questions with his program of demythologizing… It was not Bultmann’s intention to do away with or dissolve myth but to interpret it… The cat is out of the mythological bag; the stories of Jesus’ empty tomb and of his perhaps filmable resurrection are legends, media in which the first disciple expressed their faith… As a teacher, again and again, [Bultmann] helped people to have the courage for piety and did so no less as a proponent of existence freed from the mythological.” (Pg. 28-29)

She notes, “I had often been asked about my personal reasons for engagement on behalf of Vietnam… One cannot care for a few children while supporting a policy that incinerates so many children, that lets them starve or rot in camps. Another reason I became involved with Vietnam was both personal and Christian. I thought that I had known what it meant when I said, ‘I am a Christian.’ In those words I expressed a relationship to a human being who lived 2,000 years ago and who spoke the truth… I believed his story has implications to this very day… I could find no difference worth mentioning between the newly tested shells and poisons and the ancient technique of killing by crucifixion… The American antiwar movement played a very significant part for me. I was shaped extensively by Christians… This has given me a deep fascination with the United States, so much so that when I moved there, I felt intimations of homecoming. I Western Europe… I almost had to apologize for being a Christian. But in the United States, it was taken for granted; a radical Christian tradition lives there. Political radicalism blossomed forth from Christianity and traveled with it.” (Pg. 45-46)

She points out, “The seminary where I taught has the reputation of being a place of rebelliousness… people were indeed radicalized at Union Theological Seminary. Conversion is… an occasion when the grace of god grasps a person usually associated with a specific moment in the person’s life. From this theological tradition, however, arose questions relating to how one’s political awareness came about. Many people have experienced a similar event, a theological-political conversion.” (Pg. 60) Later, she adds, “I became a feminist through the agency of my American women friends. After reading my books in English translation, they campaigned that I be called to Union Theological Seminary.” (Pg. 65) She admits, “Why did I not become a professor in Germany? The reasons certainly had to do with sexism, politics, and church theology… I cannot say that I feel particularly bitter about this. For me… a professorship at a very liberal theological school in the United States was actually ideal.” (Pg. 67)

She acknowledges the difficulty of being a working mother: “Of course, it was a balancing act… My husband and I now divide the work of the home among ourselves… I have four children. Were I a young woman today I would still decide to have children. However strongly I critique patriarchy, my feminism is not separatist in relation to men… after recovery from the damages inflicted by patriarchy, the tasks of humanity remain to be addressed in common with men.” (Pg. 69-70)

She observes, ‘My theology never conformed to the church. I wanted to write ‘edifying discourses’ like Kierkegaard’s. Presumably, my readership so a large extent consists of people who have been alienated from the church and who for good reasons no longer attend its services. Often they switch their support to Amnesty International, but still sense that there is something missing in their nonreligious endeavors. They look for and need something different. These are the people whose language I speak.” (Pg. 90)

She states, “I think that today I would no longer define my theological position as ‘political theology.’ … Even when the concept of ‘political theology’ began to be filled with new meaning years ago, it still lacked clarity… Today I am overwhelmed and grateful that the ‘theology of liberation’ … has opened up theological dimensions that are so different from those I knew. I refer to the rereading of the Bible from the perspective of developing countries.” (Pg. 98) Later, she laments, “I often fear that Christianity and socialism are hardly anything but dinosaurs in postmodernity… There is no common good whereby human beings feel responsible for what happens in their village, or their part of the city, or to the neighbors and the children… And I ask if it does not take a piece of religious language in order to safeguard a compassionate interrelationship among people, to keep commonality and a life that is good for all.” (Pg. 144)

She concludes, “Theology that is truly alive … does not drop straight from heaven as ‘God’s Word.’ Rather, it constitutes itself in the solidarity of those affected. I continue to understand faith as a mixture of trust and fear, hope and doubt… My life is that of a theological worker who tries to tell something of God’s pain and God’s joy… It was my participation in the worldwide Christian movement toward a Conciliar Process in which justice, peace, and integrity of creation finally, clearly represent the heart of faith. Theologically, I think I am less alone today than years ago.” (Pg. 166)

This is a charming and very informative book, that will be “must reading” for fans of Soelle’s work, and of great interest to those concerned with contemporary/progressive theology.
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Sela Finau
5.0 out of 5 stars a wind view
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2009
This is one of my favorite books. If you have not gotten the chance to read any of Dorothee Soelle's writings, let this be your intro; she is an amazing writer. Dorothee Soelle was a very open-minded theologian, radical with her thoughts and deeply considerate with her heart. Her heart-filled and beautiful stories are very moving to say the least. It is rich, real, well written, and worth the few pennies you'll invest.
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Dorothee Soelle - Biography by Renate Wind | Goodreads

Dorothee Soelle - Mystic and Rebel: The Biography by Renate Wind | Goodreads:


Dorothee Soelle - Mystic and Rebel: The Biography
by Renate Wind, Martin Rumscheidt (Translator)
 4.20  ·   Rating details ·  15 ratings  ·  4 reviews


Renate Wind has composed a well-researched and searching biography of Dorothee Soelle (19292003), who became a true religious provocateur and one of the most prolific and widely read theologians of the postwar period.

Born in Germany and educated at the University of Cologne, Soelle turned from literary studies to theology, concentrating on rethinking Christian convictions in light of World War II and the Holocaust. A poet and activist as well as theologian, after her arrival at Union Theological Seminary in 1974, where she assumed the post previously held by Paul Tillich, Soelle became a leading voice for the liberation of women and against militarism, especially the Vietnam War. Her person, work, travels, and the times themselves combined to make her a pioneer and leader in the most exciting developments of the period: political theology, feminist theology, and liberation theology.

Among her influential works were Christ the Representative (1967), Suffering (1975), To Work and to Love (1984), Theology for Skeptics (1994), and The Silent Cry (2001).

Winds short and insightful biography is informed by extensive interviews with Soelles friends and family, especially her husband, Fulbert Steffensky, by use of the familys archives, and by Winds extensive knowledge of contemporary theology, political history, and the contemporary church. (less)

 Average rating4.20  ·  Rating details ·  15 ratings  ·  4 reviews
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riley
Nov 18, 2020riley rated it it was amazing
Shelves: r-e
What a beautiful biography. Wind writes about the visionary Soelle in a tender way that makes it clear she carried affection for the late "mystic and rebel", yet openly and honestly, painting her as a real person full of flaws and contradictions throughout her passionate life. (less)
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Luke Hillier
Dec 05, 2020Luke Hillier rated it liked it
Shelves: academic-religion, christianity, memoir-bio

I read this quite quickly while working on a paper that explores some of Soelle's theological ideas and ideals. It was a perfectly adequate biography that included chapters on Dorothee's life from childhood until her death, obviously with most focus around her adult years as a theologian and professor. I found that it relied quite heavily on Soelle's own memoir and work, which gave the book more a "review" or "compilation" quality than I prefer. I think more analysis from the author drawing connections or expounding on different details would have added meaningful richness to the text. 

Notably, I felt like this quality was most prominent when discussing Soelle's time in NYC, during which Wind seemed to feel more permission to speak critically of her subject. While it was disappointing and disillusioning to discover that, despite her radical politics and avowed concern for the poor, marginalized, and oppressed at a theological level, Dorothee struggled as many academics do to engage meaningfully in relationship with people of those categories. 

I appreciated Wind's willingness to burst that bubble a bit, especially with the rest of the book being so complementary. That said, Soelle is certainly depicted as a faithful, fascinating, and deeply compelling figure here and this was helpful in establishing a sort of timeline to her life and the development of her thought. (less)
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Axel
Apr 09, 2018Axel rated it really liked it
Renate Wind writes a short, but compelling and even-handed portrait of Dorothee Soelle. I was introduced to Soelle's writings in a course on evil in the Christian tradition, and was intrigued by her early critical work on the concept of Christo-fascism, a cultural and theological cooption of Christianity by imperialist/nationalist/fascist movements. This text gives a deeper appreciation of her development of the concept. Seeing Soelle's growth from a callow child in Nazi Germany to a legendary theological rabble-rouser in late 20th century America gives us a deeper appreciation of her critical and prophetic works. Of particular interest, the book spent a share of its time presenting her place in the wider circle of mid-late 20th century German theologians. While she was clearly treated with disdain by the German church and academy as a whole, it was very interesting to see how a number of theologians we treat with reverence today (Moltmann, Bultmann, etc.) held her with a much higher esteem.

Plus, it introduced me to the word "Piet-cong" - a rather amusing if dark German wordplay for the historically and conceptually surprising, but increasingly common pietistic/hardline-leftist theologians in academic settings. (less)
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Barbara P
Apr 16, 2013Barbara P rated it it was amazing
Years ago while in Seminary I read a couple of books by Dorothee Soelle, a Liberation Theologian. Her work and life and writings inspired me. The recent biography showed up in our PP library. I read the book last week while away from home. The author wrote a short and to the point biography of her life and I was again enthralled with her life and struggles. Her life as a theologian and mystic began in earnest after the war. She lived in Germany and witnessed the murders of the Jews and its aftermath. In her searching and with a brillant mind she wanted to understand God in lieu of the evil AND good in the world. She became such a committed and outspoken Christian she was never allowed to teach at a German University. She did, however, become a member of the Union Seminary for some 10 years. She taught there six months of a year and spent the other six months in Germany with her husband and children. Soelle was a poet, activist as well as theologian and became a leading voice for the liberation of women and against militarism, especially the Vietnam War. She was a pioneer in so many areas: feminist theology, political theology and liberation theology. I am so grateful for her life and teaching. She died in 2003. (less)
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Editorial Reviews

"This book is a bole wide-ranging work. Dorothee emerges as a mystical Midas-like Figure who turned to gold the lives she touched by her insight and resolve." --Daniel Berrigan, University Poet-in-Residence, Fordham Univeristy

"Dorothee Soelle was one of the most evocative (and provocative!) voices in the Christian theological discourse of our era. Influenced by some of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, and shocked into action by the post-war revelations about her nation and society, Soelle realized more than most that the ‘theology of the cross’ is a political theology. Renate Wind's biography, in this excellent translation, is a much-needed and lucid guide to the works of this inspired and fearless Christian witness." --Douglas John Hall, McGill University

"Through engaging the horrors of war, Christian anti-Semitism, and the depths of other suffering caused by human injustice, Dorothee Soelle developed a deep theo-poetics as she lived. Wind tells of her very particular struggles and joysof belonging and identity, Christian faith and reason, politics and prayer, the personal and the public. A most welcome biography of this fascinating and pre-eminent political theologian and eco-peace activist." --Marilyn J. Legge, Emmanuel College, Toronto

"orothee Soelle was one of the most evocative (and provocative!) voices in the Christian theological discourse of our era. Influenced by some of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, and shocked into action by the post-war revelations about her nation and society, Soelle realized more than most that the ‘theology of the cross’ is a political theology. Renate Wind's biography, in this excellent translation, is a much-needed and lucid guide to the works of this inspired and fearless Christian witness." --Douglas John Hall, McGill University

"Through engaging the horrors of war, Christian anti-Semitism, and the depths of other suffering caused by human injustice, Dorothee Soelle developed a deep theo-poetics as she lived. Wind tells of her very particular struggles and joysof belonging and identity, Christian faith and reason, politics and prayer, the personal and the public. A most welcome biography of this fascinating and pre-eminent political theologian and eco-peace activist." --Marilyn J. Legge, Emmanuel College, Toronto

"orothee Soelle was one of the most evocative (and provocative!) voices in the Christian theological discourse of our era. Influenced by some of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, and shocked into action by the post-war revelations about her nation and society, Soelle realized more than most that the ‘theology of the cross’ is a political theology. Renate Wind's biography, in this excellent translation, is a much-needed and lucid guide to the works of this inspired and fearless Christian witness." --Douglas John Hall, McGill University

"Through engaging the horrors of war, Christian anti-Semitism, and the depths of other suffering caused by human injustice, Dorothee Soelle developed a deep theo-poetics as she lived. Wind tells of her very particular struggles and joys—of belonging and identity, Christian faith and reason, politics and prayer, the personal and the public. A most welcome biography of this fascinating and pre-eminent political theologian and eco-peace activist." --Marilyn J. Legge, Emmanuel College, Toronto


About the Author
Martin Rumscheidtis an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and retired professor of historical theology at the University of Windsor, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Charles University, Prague. He is the translator of Act and Being (1996)in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English edition, and cotranslator with the late Barbara Rumscheidt of Soelle"s Against the Wind (1999) and The Silent Cry.



Nancy Lukensis Professor Emerita of German and Women's Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her translations include among others three volumes in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English edition: Sanctorum Communio (1998, with Reinhard Krauss), Fiction from Tegel Prison (2000), and Bonhoeffer"s prison poetry and late correspondence in Letters and Papers from Prison (2010), as well as Daughters of Eve: Women Writers of the German Democratic Republic (1993). She and her husband, Martin Rumscheidt, are co-translators of Soelle"s The Mystery of Death (2007).



Renate Wind lives in Heidelberg and is Professor of Biblical Theology and Church History at the Evangelische Hochschule Nurnberg. She has been engaged for many years in the peace movement and is author of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel (1991).

Product details
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fortress Press (April 15, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
Customer Reviews: 4.4 out of 5 stars    2 ratings

Top reviews from the United States
Clint Schnekloth
5.0 out of 5 stars 
A theologian who should be more widely known and read
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2013

This is a lovely and convicting biography. It's lovely in that it focuses the reader on crucial aspects of Soelle's career, always walking that delicate balance between telling the story of a life and evaluating the theological contributions of the theologian under examination.

Renate Wind is a concise and fair biographer. She knows her material well. In the end, readers of this biography will have an excellent sense of the challenges Soelle was confronted with as perhaps the most prominent female theologian of the last generation. More importantly, readers will know Soelle's contributions to that theology, which are as much in her actions as an advocate for social justice as they were in her theology itself.

The two are so intimately tied together as to be inseparable. Of particular interest to theologians and Christians of all types will be Wind's thesis, summarized in the sub-title, that Soelle brought mystical theology and rebel (liberation?) theology into conversation with each other. Or one could say how they energize each other.

Soelle also writes some of the first theology after Auschwitz, theology after the death of God, eco-theology, and theology inviting the world into the rising ecumenical and inter-faith conversations of the 20th century.

That she was also a political activist centered out of the political evensong movement in journey makes her life story even that more compelling.

You won't be disappointed with this biography, and it will convince you that reading the biographies of prominent theologians is well worth the time.
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4 people found this helpful
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Matthijs Kronemeijer
3.0 out of 5 stars 
OK introduction to Sölle, disappointing as a bio but good pictures
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2016

I was disappointed as I read this biography alongside Solle's own memoirs "Against the Wind" (Gegenwind). The biography does very little more than retelling the memoirs. Almost every telling anecdote pre-1995 that's in the biography is also in Against the Wind. There is not enough independent engagement.
What I did like though is the selection of pictures. And there is some extra info about her (especially on her divorce and second marriage) that is quite valuable. It is a carefully edited book that probably does well as a gentle introduction to Sölle. I first gave two stars but now I made it three. But I still think a biography of a person who has written so engagingly about herself should have more to add.
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