During the last forty-five years Sherwin Wine was the major force behind the movement of Humanistic Judaism, which he founded in 1963. Out of his work emerged The Birmingham Temple, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism, the Society for Humanistic Judaism, a federation of over forty congregations in North America, and the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews, a coalition of twelve national and regional organizations.
Sherwin Wine was a philosopher, historian, author and community builder. His seminars on Jewish history have been highly praised by both traditional and non-traditional audiences. As the Dean of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, the intellectual and educational arm of the Humanistic Jewish movement, he was been instrumental in bringing together world-renowned academics to explore important topics in the Jewish world.
Wine wrote four books – Humanistic Judaism (1978); Judaism Beyond God (1986); Celebration (1991) and Staying Sane in a Crazy World (1996). In 2003 A Life of Courage: Sherwin Wine and Humanistic Judaism appeared as a tribute to his life’s work.
Sherwin Wine was also the founder of the Center for New Thinking of which he was the Chief Lecturer. Wine presented the Center lectures to large audiences of people interested in continuing education. Wine’s talks were very popular and reflected his unique ability to make complex ideas easily accessible to a lay audience. The scope of his expertise was broad, embracing history, philosophy, religion, science, psychology, literature and the arts.