Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Institute for Religious and Social Studies

The Institute for Religious and Social Studies, founded at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1938 as the Institute for Interdenominational Studies (later the Institute for Religious Studies) was primarily an interfaith coninuing education program for members of the clergy. At its Tuesday lecture series at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, sessions in Chicago (begun 1944) and Boston (begun 1945), theological student programs, and other gatherings, participants discussed contemporary problems in light of religious values. They also heard talks by artists, businessmen, statesmen, and others. In 1956 the Institute started an Institute on Ethics, and, also during the 1950s, a never realized World Academy of Ethics was planned. The founder and first director of the Institute was Jewish.

Theological Seminary head Louis Finkelstein. Jessica Feingold, the second director, was also a principal administrator from the beginning.

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