February 2020 marks the third anniversary of the death of the American Catholic intellectual and the 1994 winner of the Templeton Prize in Religion, Michael Novak. Perhaps most famous for his 1982 book, “The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism,” Novak’s ideas were immensely influential for several decades in American public life, numerous faith communities and the world of political economy.
Read MoreMichael Novak was a thinker whose sweep was without peer in his time, or ours. As a public intellectual, his contributions ranged over a staggering list of fields – theology, philosophy, journalism, economics, politics, poetry and fiction – just for starters. His public service included work as an ambassador for human rights, as a professor, as a public speaker in great demand; and his service was recognized by a staggering list of honors: 24 honorary degrees, the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, awards from the Central European governments and associations for whom his towering work, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, would serve as a providential blueprint during the years in which they clawed up from decades of communist oppression.
Read MoreThe news that Michael Novak had died Feb. 17 at age 83 was properly an occasion for celebrating his massively influential scholarship and writing. He lived a large life, and his even larger heart meant that a great many people had a place in it.
There were many who were closer to Michael than I was, as we did not have frequent contact, but perhaps I might offer a few thoughts representing the enormous number of people he touched along the paths of a rich and varied life.
Read MoreJohnstown native Michael Novak, an influential Catholic philosopher and diplomat whose written works on religion’s role in capitalism helped mold the modern conservative movement, has died. He was 83.
The son of an insurance salesman and onetime Penelec stenographer, Novak was a seminary student and later a Stanford University professor who served as a vocal Catholic critic of the war in Vietnam.
Read MoreIn the late 1970s I underwent two conversions: the first was reading myself out of the left wing politics in which I had been active. The second, not unrelated, was to return to the practice of the Catholic faith.
I say these transformations were related because I found that the more I saw the basis of a free society was predicated on free human action in the economy, the more I found myself thinking about the nature of the human person, his transcendence, and his dignity, and hence my return to the faith of my youth.
Read MoreIn the late 1970s I underwent two conversions: the first was reading myself out of the left wing politics in which I had been active. The second, not unrelated, was to return to the practice of the Catholic faith.
I say these transformations were related because I found that the more I saw the basis of a free society was predicated on free human action in the economy, the more I found myself thinking about the nature of the human person, his transcendence, and his dignity, and hence my return to the faith of my youth.
Read MoreMichael Novak loved the Catholic Church and the United States passionately. And with his death at 83, both Church and nation have lost one of their most imaginative and accomplished sons: a groundbreaking theorist in philosophy, social ethics, religious studies, ethnic studies, and economics; a brilliant teacher; a winsome journalist and apologist; a great defender of freedom, as both ambassador and polemicist; a man of striking energy and creativity, some of whose books will be read for a very long time to come, and in multiple languages.
Read MoreBy Arthur C. Brooks
Originally published on February 17, 2017 on AEI
The American Enterprise Institute mourns the loss of our colleague, Michael Novak, who passed away this morning at the age of 83. Michael was an AEI scholar for three decades until his retirement in 2010, and remained a close friend of the Institute.
Michael arrived at AEI in 1978. In a remembrance of the AEI president who hired him, William J. Baroody, Sr., Michael once wrote that Baroody was the “first leader of a public policy think tank to grasp the importance of religion in public affairs.” Baroody’s perspective was AEI’s great fortune. It brought Michael into our organization. And once here, he built a hugely distinguished career as our George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy.
The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982), likely Michael’s most important book, advanced a bold and important thesis: America’s system of democratic capitalism represents a fusion of our political, economic, and moral-cultural systems. No facet can exist apart from the others. This thread ran through Michael’s whole career, including his most recent book, a co-authored work entitled Social Justice Isn’t What You Think It Is (2015). That topic was also the subject of one of several Bradley Lectures that Michael delivered at AEI, stretching back to the series’ inception in 1989, when he spoke on Thomas Aquinas.
Learn more: A Tribute to Michael Novak
Michael also convened one of the most consequential policy seminars in AEI’s history. In the mid-1980s, he assembled a diverse group of scholars to form the Working Seminar on the Family and American Welfare Policy. Their conclusions were published in 1987 as A New Consensus on Family and Welfare and were presented to President Reagan. It represented the first major policy statement to suggest a work requirement for welfare, and became the foundation of the successful 1996 welfare reform law.
Michael’s legacy stretches even beyond his great contributions to both philosophy and practical policy. One of his first published volumes was a novel, The Tiber Runs Silver. At the time of his passing, he was finishing another novel, set around the Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania in 1889. And in between, a profusion of spirited social commentary, pamphlets, and longer works poured from his pen. He wrote more than 35 books in his lifetime. Michael truly relished the competition of ideas. Both his curiosity and his brilliance seemed inexhaustible.
This counselor of popes and politicians never ceased to inspire his colleagues here at AEI.
This work earned numerous recognitions. A few highlights include the 26 honorary degrees Michael received from colleges and universities, the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (1994), and the prestigious Lincoln Literary Award (2016). And during the Reagan years, Michael was asked to join AEI’s Jeane Kirkpatrick at the United Nations as a diplomat, serving as the US Representative to the Helsinki Commission.
This counselor of popes and politicians never ceased to inspire his colleagues here at AEI. His gentle and warm personality made him a beloved figure at the Institute.
Michael and his wife, the late Karen Laub-Novak, were valued members of the AEI family. We grieve today with their three children, Richard, Jana, and Tanya. And we extend our condolences to all who knew and loved this brilliant man.
© Michael Novak, All Rights Reserved
