Michael Novak

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Michael Novak
US Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (1981–1982)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Karen Laub-Novak
​
​
(m. 1963; died 2009)​
MA
)
Influences
Scholarly work
Discipline
Roman Catholicism
Institutions
Notable worksThe Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982)
InfluencedAlfredo Cristiani[5]
Websitemichaelnovak.net Edit this at Wikidata

Michael John Novak Jr. (September 9, 1933 – February 17, 2017) was an American

Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which included a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace. He wrote books and articles focused on capitalism, religion, and the politics of democratization
.

Novak served as

Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1986.[7] Additionally, Novak served on the board of directors of the now-defunct Coalition for a Democratic Majority, a conservative anti-Communist faction of the Democratic Party, which sought to influence the party's policies in the same direction that the Committee on the Present Danger later did. Novak was George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. In 2004, he claimed to be a lifelong Democrat, while noting that he has supported many Republican candidates.[8]

Early life, education, and family

Novak was born on September 9, 1933, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania,[9] to a Slovak-American family, the son of Irene (Sakmar) and Michael J. Novak.[10][11] He was married to Karen Laub-Novak, a professional artist and illustrator, who died of cancer in August 2009. They have three children (Richard, Tanya, and Jana) and four grandchildren.

Novak earned a

Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1958, and a Master of Arts degree in history and philosophy of religion from Harvard University in 1966. Novak attended Harvard University to study philosophy and religion, intending to obtain a doctorate in philosophy of religion. Novak stated that he thought the philosophy department was too focused on analytic philosophy, neglecting religion.[citation needed
] He left Harvard after receiving his master's degree and began work as a writer.

Early writings

Second Vatican Council

Novak worked as a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter during the second session of the Second Vatican Council in Rome, where he also got the opportunity to fulfill a book contract for a fellow reporter who was not able to complete the project. The result was Novak's second book, The Open Church, a journalistic account of the events of the second session of the council.

His writings at the time were criticized by the more conservative factions in the church, and apostolic delegate Egidio Vagnozzi advised US churchmen to silence him.[12]

Early books

Early in his career, Novak published two novels: The Tiber Was Silver (1961) and Naked I Leave (1970). At the time, he considered the modest $600 advance to be "a fortune."[13]

Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics

Novak proposed that the

white ethnics will reject assimilation and live separately from other races. He argues that African Americans and white ethnics should unite due to their common class struggle while also denouncing "socialist" integration policies that "unfairly" supported women and African Americans to the detriment of taxpaying "white ethnics".[14][15][16][17][18][19]

Stanford years

Novak's friendship with the

protest against the Vietnam War.[20] In A Theology for Radical Politics (1969), Novak makes theological arguments in support of the New Left student movement, which he urged to advance the renewal of the human spirit rather than merely to reform social institutions. His book Politics: Realism and Imagination includes accounts of visiting American Vietnam War deserters in France ("Desertion"), the birth and development of the student movement at Stanford ("Green Shoots of Counter-Culture") and philosophical essays on nihilism and Marxism
.

SUNY Old Westbury

Novak left Stanford for a post as dean of a new "experimental" school at the newly founded State University of New York at Old Westbury, Long Island.

Novak's writings during this period included the philosophical essay The Experience of Nothingness (1970, republished in 1998), in which he cautioned the New Left that utopianism could lead to alienation and rootlessness. Novak's novel Naked I Leave (1970) chronicles his experiences in California and in the Second Vatican Council and his journey from seminarian to reporter.

Later career

After serving at Old Westbury/SUNY from 1969 to 1972, Novak launched the humanities program at the Rockefeller Foundation in 1973–1974. In 1976, he accepted a tenured position at Syracuse University as University Professor and Ledden-Watson Distinguished Professor of Religion. In the fall semesters of 1987 and 1988, Novak held the W. Harold and Martha Welch chair as Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

In the spring of 1978, Novak joined the American Enterprise Institute for Social Policy Research as a Resident Scholar, a position he held for more than a decade. He would later stay with the American Enterprise Institute as the George Frederick Jewett Chair of Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy, and as the Institute's Director of Social and Political Studies.[21]

Novak was a frequent contributor to magazines and journals including First Things and National Review. In 1994, he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together. On December 12, 2007, Novak declared his support for the presidential candidacy of Republican Mitt Romney.[22]

In 2012, he authored an article entitled 'The Moral Imperative of a Free Economy' in

The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs, published by the George W. Bush Presidential Center
.

Novak was a founding board member of the

Board of Trustees of Ave Maria University and was a member of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds Catholic Advisory Board. A portrait of Novak by Igor Babailov hangs in the Canizaro Library on campus.[23]

In 2016 he joined the

Tim and Steph Busch School of Business and Economics of the Catholic University of America as a distinguished visiting professor.[24]

Novak died of complications from

colon cancer February 17, 2017, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 83.[25][26]

Bibliography

External videos
video icon Presentation by Novak on On Two Wings, December 4, 2001, C-SPAN
video icon Booknotes interview with Novak on On Two Wings, March 17, 2002, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Michael Novak and Jana Novak on Washington's God, March 6, 2006, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Novak on No One Sees God, September 9, 2008, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Novak on Writing from Left to Right, August 14, 2013, C-SPAN

See also

References

  1. ^ "Novak Papers". Stonehill College.
  2. ^ "Quick Facts".
  3. ISBN 9780829407440
    .
  4. ^ "Notes et documents". 2000.
  5. ^ "Current Biography Yearbook". 1990.
  6. ^ Honorary Doctorate Degrees at Universidad Francisco Marroquín (in Guatemala City, Guatemala). Archived May 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Scholars & Fellows – Michael Novak". American Enterprise Institute. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010.
  8. ^ National Review, retrieved January 1, 2009 from [1]
  9. ^ "Michael Novak | American theologian, economist, historian, and author".
  10. ^ "Michael Novak Awarded by the Honorary Degree". Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  11. ^ "Welcome to MichaelNovak.net". Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  12. ^ "Less Ecumenism, Please – Time". September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  13. ^ Michael Novak (1999) "Controversial Engagements", First Things (April 1999).
  14. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1998.tb00482.x
    .
  15. ISBN 9780873674157
    .
  16. ISBN 9783161544767
    .
  17. S2CID 149025298
    .
  18. ISBN 9781506332789
    .
  19. ISBN 9780674059528
    .
  20. ^ "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 New York Post
  21. ^ Biography at the American Enterprise Institute, retrieved May 25, 2008 from "AEI - Scholars & Fellows - Michael Novak". Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2016..
  22. ^ Novak, Michael (December 12, 2007). "Why I Decided to Support Mitt Romney". National Review. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  23. ^ Igor Babilov's Oil-on-canvas portrait of Michael Novak, retrieved December 17, 2012 from [2].
  24. ^ Michael Novak joins Catholic University Archived April 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  25. ^ "Michael Novak, theologian who made a spiritual case for capitalism, dies at 83". Washington Post. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  26. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved February 21, 2017.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Michael Novak.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Jerome J. Shestack
United States Representative to the
United Nations Human Rights Council

1981–1982 		Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by Templeton Prize
1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Francis Boyer Award
1999 		Succeeded by
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