A century after the birth of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel — one of the most influential Jewish scholars, theologians, and civil rights activists of the 20th century — religious leaders, academics, and friends of the man many considered a prophetic figure will gather in New York to celebrate the rabbi’s life and lasting impact. Clergy from across Judaism’s ideological spectrum, as well as prominent social justice advocates, are among those slated to address on Sunday a day-long public conference hosted by the Center for Jewish History.

The descendant of Hasidic scholars, Rabbi Heschel, who died in 1972, immigrated to America after escaping Nazi-occupied Europe. In his adopted homeland, the bearded seminary professor became a powerful voice against racial discrimination — marching alongside his friend Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., in the 1960s — and spoke publicly on behalf of oppressed Soviet Jewry and against American involvement in the Vietnam War.

Rabbi Heschel is also widely credited with helping to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. In the early 1960s, he made a then-controversial decision to lobby the pope in advance of the Second Vatican Council. The council ultimately resulted in church reforms, including a document that condemned anti-Semitism and cleared Jews of the charge of deicide.

“He saw no conflict between a deep, traditionally lived commitment to Judaism and the needs of the social community in which we live,” the founder of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, an independent Jewish school on the Upper West Side, Peter Geffen, said of Rabbi Heschel.

Mr. Geffen worked with Rabbi Heschel’s daughter, Susannah Heschel, to organize Sunday’s conference — and both of them will be among its featured speakers. Other presenters include the senior minister emeritus at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, the Reverend James Forbes; the president of the American Jewish World Service, Ruth Messinger, and Rabbi Saul Berman, who teaches at the Orthodox rabbinic school Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in Manhattan. The conference is co-sponored by the flagship seminaries of the Reform and Conservative movements, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Jewish Theological Seminary, respectively. Educators at the helm of these institutions will also speak about Rabbi Heschel, who had worked at both schools. Rabbi Heshel’s life and works have been the topic of several conferences held this year across the globe — from Warsaw, Poland, to Waco, Texas — because more than 35 years after his death the rabbi remains an iconic figure, the author of a two-volume biography of Rabbi Heschel, Edward Kaplan, said. “Heschel represents a unique combination of spirituality, which is a closeness to the living God, and a very active social involvement,” Mr. Kaplan, a Brandeis University professor, said. “For many people, he was the modern embodiment of the Hebrew prophet — and that’s from the point of view of Christians as well as Jews.”

The Reverend Richard Fernandez, a United Church of Christ minister who worked with Rabbi Heschel in the anti-war movement, echoed those sentiments. He said the rabbi resembled Moses, and called him “a walking inspiration who never got caught up in the world as it is, but was always living in a world as it might be.”

Unlike some of the other recent centennial gatherings on Rabbi Heschel, the New York event is less an academic convocation and more “a legacy conference,” according to Mr. Geffen. “We wanted to focus on people who could speak about their personal encounters with Heschel, to broaden our understanding of him as a human being,” and to explore how best to honor his life and works, he said.

Sunday’s event includes breakout sessions, during which participants can study excerpts from texts written by Rabbi Heschel, including “The Sabbath: Its Meaning for the Modern Man” and “God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism.” Following those sessions, and a dinner reception, the lead singer of Pharaoh’s Daughter will give a concert featuring Ms. Heschel’s Yiddish poetry set to music.

A professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College, Ms. Heschel said it was important for her to plan “a tribute and a celebration” in New York City, where her father taught for nearly 30 years at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Morningside Heights.

Ms. Heschel said that while her father had great respect for the Reform and Conservative movements, he was an Orthodox Jew who was immensely proud of his Hasidic heritage, Ms. Heschel said. “My father would say to me, ‘Remember the pious people that you come from,'” she said. “He used to say that he grew up surrounded by people of religious nobility. To him, aristocracy didn’t mean wealth, it meant people who spent their lives developing themselves spiritually.”

Registration for “A Legacy for the Future: Celebrating the Life and Teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel” is at noon, with the opening session beginning an hour later at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-294-8301. General admission is $40. Members of co-sponsoring organizations pay $30, and students pay $20. Admission to the evening program only is $15, and $10 for members and students. To purchase tickets, call 917-606-8200, or visit ticketweb.com.