Will Herberg

Will Herberg (June 30, 1901 – March 27, 1977) was an American Jewish writer, intellectual and scholar. He was known as a social philosopher and sociologist of religion, as well as a Jewish theologian. He was a leading conservative thinker during 1950s and an important contributor to the National Review magazine.

Herberg was brought up in a secular Jewish family in Manhattan. He was expelled from City College in 1920 and never was awarded any academic degree. However, he falsely claimed to have degrees from Columbia University, including a PhD in 1932. However, he later received three honorary doctorates, the first in 1956.

During his undergraduate years, Herberg became a member of the Communist Party USA. Following the split of party leader Jay Lovestone and his cothinkers in 1929, Herberg remained loyal to them, a decision earning his expulsion from the party on September 10, 1929. Thereafter Herberg joined the so-called Lovestoneites, remaining with that organization until its termination at the end of 1940, serving as editor of the group's weekly newspaper, Workers Age.

He later turned away from Marxism and became a religious conservative, founding the quarterly Judaism with Robert Gordis and Milton R. Konvitz. During the 1960s, he was the religion editor of the conservative journal National Review, and he also taught at Drew University.

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