Simone Weil, the French Jewish writer, drawn to the Church, was born in 1909 and died in 1943. Her influence has been enormous and she is frequently quoted and referred to. There is something particularly attractive about Simone Weil in this age when people are consumed with doubt and uncertainty. Weil lived out her belief. She worked as a mechanic in the Renault factory in Paris. She had an ardent compassion for the unfortunate, a great desire for the truth and an eagerness to search out the will of God. From an early age she was attracted to Bolshevism, became an anarchist and helped Trotsky. She joined the working class to implement her ideals. She joined the International Red Brigade to fight Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Through all this Weil developed a theology and philosophy which speaks most directly to people today. Deeply imbued with agnosticism and anti clericalism, she nevertheless experienced a profound religious conversion at the Benedictine Monastery of Solemnes in France. Christ' took hold of her'. And yet she never converted to the Christian faith to which she was so deeply attracted. This clear lucid exposition of her life and work show how Weil is truly proph
Author Biography
Dr Mario von der Ruhr is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philisophy at the University of Wales (Swansea). He is the Associate Editor of the journal Philosophical Investigations, and co-author with D.Z. Phillips of On religions and Philosophy (CUP).
