Michael Novak | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Novak in 2004 at the Washington Foreign Press Center | |
| Born | Michael John Novak Jr. (1933-09-09)September 9, 1933 Johnstown,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 17, 2017(2017-02-17) (aged 83) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Title | US Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (1981–1982) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | [1][2] |
| Awards | Templeton Prize (1994) |
| Scholarly background | |
| Education | |
| Influences | |
| Scholarly work | |
| Discipline | Philosophy |
| School or tradition | |
| Institutions | |
| Notable works | The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982) |
| Influenced | Alfredo Cristiani[7] |
| Website | michaelnovak |
Michael John Novak Jr. (September 9, 1933 – February 17, 2017) was an AmericanCatholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his bookThe Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982). In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate atUniversidad Francisco Marroquín[8] due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded theTempleton Prize for Progress in Religion, which included a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace. He wrote books and articles focused oncapitalism, religion, and thepolitics of democratization.
Novak served asUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981 and 1982 and led the US delegation to theConference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1986.[9] Additionally, Novak served on the board of directors of the now-defunctCoalition for a Democratic Majority, a conservative anti-Communist faction of theDemocratic Party, which sought to influence the party's policies in the same direction that theCommittee on the Present Danger later did. Novak was George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at theAmerican Enterprise Institute. In 2004, he claimed to be a lifelong Democrat, while noting that he has supported manyRepublican candidates.[10] Novak's opinion onGeorge W. Bush was mixed; while he favored one of Bush's speeches, calling it charismatic, he also didn't see him as aconservative.[11][12]
Novak was born on September 9, 1933, inJohnstown,Pennsylvania,[13] to a Slovak-American family, the son of Irene (Sakmar) and Michael J. Novak.[14][15] 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 aBachelor of Arts degreesumma cum laude in philosophy and English fromStonehill College in 1956, aBachelor of Sacred Theology degree from thePontifical Gregorian University inRome in 1958, and aMaster of Arts degree in history and philosophy of religion fromHarvard 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 onanalytic philosophy, neglecting religion.[citation needed] He left Harvard after receiving his master's degree and began work as a writer.
Novak worked as a correspondent for theNational Catholic Reporter during the second session of theSecond 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 delegateEgidio Vagnozzi advised US churchmen to silence him.[16]
Early in his career, Novak published two novels:The Tiber Was Silver (1961) andNaked I Leave (1970). At the time, he considered the modest $600 advance to be "a fortune."[17]
Novak proposed that thewhite ethnic was a distinct race of whites fromWASPs who had attempted to erase their cultural heritage and assimilate them. He supported the notion ofseparate but equal while rejectingmulticulturalism andmelting pot theory. He argues thatwhite 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".[18][19][20][21][22][23]
Novak's friendship with thePresbyteriantheologianRobert McAfee Brown during theSecond Vatican Council led to a teaching post atStanford University, where he became the firstRoman Catholic to teach in thehumanities program. Novak taught atStanford University from 1965 to 1968, during the key years of student revolt throughout California. During this period, he wroteA Time to Build (1967), discussing problems of belief and unbelief,ecumenism,sexuality, andwar. In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments inprotest against the Vietnam War.[24] InA 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 bookPolitics: 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 onnihilism andMarxism.
Novak left Stanford for a post as dean of a new "experimental" school at the newly foundedState University of New York at Old Westbury,Long Island.
Novak's writings during this period included the philosophical essayThe Experience of Nothingness (1970, republished in 1998), in which he cautioned the New Left that utopianism could lead to alienation and rootlessness. Novak's novelNaked I Leave (1970) chronicles his experiences in California and in the Second Vatican Council and his journey from seminarian to reporter.
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 theAmerican 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.[25]
Novak was a frequent contributor to magazines and journals includingFirst Things andNational Review. In 1994, he was a signer of the documentEvangelicals and Catholics Together. On December 12, 2007, Novak declared his support for the presidential candidacy ofRepublicanMitt Romney.[26]
In 2012, he authored an article entitled 'The Moral Imperative of a Free Economy' inThe 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs, published by theGeorge W. Bush Presidential Center.
Novak was a founding board member of theInstitute on Religion and Democracy. He was also a founding member of theBoard of Trustees ofAve Maria University and was a member of theAve Maria Mutual Funds Catholic Advisory Board. A portrait of Novak byIgor Babailov hangs in the Canizaro Library on campus.[27]
In 2016 he joined theTim and Steph Busch School of Business and Economics of theCatholic University of America as a distinguished visiting professor.[28]
Novak died of complications fromcolon cancer February 17, 2017, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 83.[29][30]
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | 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 |
