Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion.

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The Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion and Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life was founded in 1940 at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, by seventy-nine leading American intellectuals including Seminary president Louis Finkelstein, Harold D. Lasswell, Mortimer J. Adler, Paul Tillich, Robert M. MacIver, Van Wyck Brooks, Franz Boas, Enrico Fermi, I.I. Rabi, and Pitirim Sorokin. Dr. Finkelstein was the president of the Conference and editor of many of its published volumes.

Originating in a meeting of academics and seminary presidents called by Dr. Finkelstein in November, 1939, the Conference constituted a response to the rise of totalitarianism in Europe. Its founding members and their successors sought to create a framework for the preservation of democracy and intellectual freedom through the collaboration of scholars from a wide variety of disciplines in the sciences and humanities. Conference members, many of whom blamed the development of "value-free" scholarship for the rise of European fascism, additionally hoped to synthesize traditional values and academic scholarship.

The Conference grew into an established institution, meeting regularly from 1940 until its demise in 1968, at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Columbia University, Harvard University, The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the University of Chicago, and Loyola University. During the 1950s, the topics treated during meetings shifted from issues of the preservation of democracy and world peace to questions of race relations, labor relations, governmental administration, and educational policy. Membership expanded to include government officials, industrialists, and officers of private foundations. Members from Catholic, Jewish, and non-Western religious backgrounds also held prominent roles, reflecting a growing interest in intergroup relations on the part of Dr. Finkelstein and other Conference organizers. New participants included John LaFarge, Bayard Rustin, Swami Akhilananda, Hannah Arendt, Mordecai M. Kaplan, and Perry Miller.

From the description of Records. 1939-1977. 1940-1968. (Jewish Theological Seminary of America). WorldCat record id: 122633610

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creatorOf Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion. Records. 1939-1977. 1940-1968. Ocean County College Library, OCC Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Adler, Mortimer Jerome, 1902-2001. person
associatedWith Akhilananda, Swami. person
associatedWith Albright, William Foxwell, 1891-1971. person
associatedWith Angell, Robert Cooley, 1899- person
associatedWith Baron, Salo W. 1895-1989. person
associatedWith Bateson, Gregory, 1904-1980. person
associatedWith Bell, Daniel. person
associatedWith Benedict, Ruth, 1887-1948. person
associatedWith Benét, Stephen Vincent, 1898-1943. person
associatedWith Boas, Franz, 1858-1942. person
associatedWith Bokser, Ben Zion, 1907-1984. person
associatedWith Brightman, Edgar Sheffield, 1884-1953. person
associatedWith Brooks, Van Wyck, 1886-1963. person
associatedWith Bryson, Lyman, 1888-1959. person
associatedWith Carman, Harry J. person
associatedWith Cleveland, Harlan. person
associatedWith Constable, W. G. 1887-1976. person
associatedWith Cousins, Norman, 1912- person
associatedWith Dai, Bingham, 1899- person
associatedWith Das, Taraknath. person
associatedWith Davis, Thurston. person
associatedWith De Huszar, George B. person
associatedWith Deutsch, Karl W. 1912-1992. person
associatedWith Fairchild, Hoxie N. person
associatedWith Faust, Clarence H. person
associatedWith Feingold, Jessica. person
associatedWith Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954. person
associatedWith Ferre, Nels Frederick Solomon, 1908- person
associatedWith Finkelstein, Louis, 1895-1991. person
associatedWith Finletter, Thomas K. 1893-1980. person
associatedWith Ginzberg, Eli, 1911-2002. person
associatedWith Graubard, Mark, 1904- person
associatedWith Greenberg, Daniel S., 1931- person
associatedWith Haskins, Caryl Parker, 1908- person
associatedWith Hertzberg, Arthur. person
associatedWith Hoagland, Hudson. person
associatedWith Hook, Sydney. person
associatedWith Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963. person
associatedWith Institute for Religious and Social Studies. corporateBody
associatedWith Johnson, Charles S. person
associatedWith Johnson, F. Ernest. person
associatedWith Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881- person
associatedWith Kluckholm, Clyde. person
associatedWith Krutch, Joseph Wood, 1893-1970. person
associatedWith La Farge, John, 1880-1963. person
associatedWith Lasswell, Harold Dwight, 1902- person
associatedWith Lilienthal, David Eli, 1899-1981. person
associatedWith Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1886-1954. person
associatedWith MacIver, Robert M. 1882-1970. person
associatedWith Marshall, James, 1892- person
associatedWith McCarthy, Eugene J., 1916-2005. person
associatedWith McKeon, Richard 1900-1985. person
associatedWith Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978. person
associatedWith Miller, Perry. person
associatedWith Morganthau, Hans Joachim, 1904- person
associatedWith Nef, John Ulric, 1899- person
associatedWith Nikhilananda, Swami. person
associatedWith Overstreet, H. A. 1875-1970. person
associatedWith Parsons, Talcott, 1902-1979. person
associatedWith Pope, Liston. person
associatedWith Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970. person
associatedWith Rustin, Bayard. person
associatedWith Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972. person
associatedWith Shinn, Roger Lincoln. person
associatedWith Sorokin, Pitirim Aleksandrovich, 1889-1968. person
associatedWith Starr, Mark, 1894- person
associatedWith Strang, Ruth May, 1855-1971. person
associatedWith Tead, Ordway, 1891-1973. person
associatedWith Thompson, Laura. person
associatedWith Tillich, Paul, 1886-1965. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Art and religion
Atomic bomb
Congresses and conventions
Democracy
Education and state
Industrial relations
Intellectual cooperation
Intergroup relations
Peace
Political science
Race relations
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

Active 1939

Active 1977

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