Muhlenberg College
Doctor of Literature
May 27, 1979

Michael Novak:
In the flux and change of modern life you have been one of our helmsmen. When many have lost direction or foundered in the complexities, you have steered us through to new shores…. You have been one of contemporary man’s most influential teachers, instructing him how to understand the complexities and ambiguities of his world. In your own words, “Life seeks unity,” and yours has been a holistic vision of modern life, a perspective that seeks to replace the fragmentation and the splintering of our society with a unified vision…. “Man is a question-asking animal,” you have said, and you have encouraged him to … encounter the complexity of his life with honesty and courage.

Yours has been the holy role of the Socratic gadfly, with a capacity for noble anger at our injustices and our retreats from excellence, at the erosion of our cultural bases and the displacement of our roots. With passionate intelligence you have required us to reexamine our human institutions, our political processes, our corporations, and our use of commodities and wealth. You have asked us to return to the great verities and to redefine them: the sensitivity of the individual consciousness, the family, and the personal relationships that provide the salt and savor of humanity.

For the range and diversity of your thought, for the sensitivity of your feeling, and for the large humanity of your writing, Muhlenberg College wishes to honor you this day.