Inspired by youthful vigor and free-thinking ideas, Runes's first book entitled The True Jesus or the Fifth Gospel (1927), published in a Viennese publishing house with the financial support of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, created such a stir, says Professor of German literature Ulrich E. Bach, that its publisher, Rudolf Cerny, was sentenced to sixty days in prison.[2]: 279–280 Thus Runes - fearing a charge of blasphemy - was forced to emigrate to New York as early as 1928.[2]: 278, 280
In the U.S. he became editor of The Modern Thinker (Founded as The Thinker in 1929, acquired and renamed by Runes in 1932, closed in 1936.), The Modern Psychologist (1932-1938), and Current Digest (1933-1940).[3] From 1931 to 1934 he was Director of the Institute for Advanced Education in New York City. One of its earliest creations as a publisher was the scholarly Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, which is still being published.[4][5]: 72 In 1941 he founded the Philosophical Library,[6] a spiritual organization and publishing house. He wrote and edited numerous books on the subjects of philosophy, politics, education, Judaism and his own poetry.[7] His poem “Gottes Wiederkehr” was adapted for a four-part mixed choir as Op. 50a “Dreimal tausend Jahre” (“Three times a thousand Years”) by Arnold Schoenberg.[8] In New York, Runes socialized with many public figures and especially those driven into exile by Hitler. Alfred Adler, Albert Einstein and Emil Ludwig were among his illustrious acquaintances.[7]