See http://michaelnovak.net/ - Michael Novak's Official Website!

Biographical Information

Biography, from MichaelNovak.Net.
Bio from the National Review Online.
Controversial Engagements. First Things 92 (April 1999): 21-29. A account of Novak's life and career.
Special Compilation: Washington's God by Michael and Jana Novak
Washington has long been viewed as the patron saint of secular government, but in Washington's God, Michael Novak and his daughter, Jana, reveal that it was Washington's strong faith in divine Providence that gave meaning and force to his monumental life. Narrowly escaping a British trap during the Battle of Brooklyn, Washington didn't credit his survival to courage or tactical expertise; he blamed himself for marching his men into certain doom and marveled at the Providence that delivered them. Throughout his career, Washington held fast to the conviction that America's liberty was dependent on our faithfulness to God's will and our trust in Providence.

Washington's God shows Washington not only as a man of resource, strength, and virtue, but also as a man with deeply held religious values. This new presentation of Washington-as a man whose religion guided his governance-will bring him into today's debates about the role of faith in government and will challenge everything we thought we knew about the inner life of the father of our country.

Reviews

A True Believer, by Diana Furchtgott-Roth. New York Post March 12, 2006.
Was George Washington a Christian? - "A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma". Review by Al Zambone. Christianity Today: "Books & Culture" April 3, 2006.
The Founding Believer, by Mark Tooley. The American Spectator May 2, 2006.
Washington's God: Review & Commentary by Joseph Bottum (First Things "On The Square" February 14, 2006).

Related Discussion

Washington's Faith and the Birth of America, by Michael Novak, Jana Novak. The American Enterprise May 2006.
The Founding Fathers: Solving modern problems, building wealth and finding God, by David Liss. Washington Post June 11, 2006.
"The Framers and the Faithful: How modern evangelicals are ignoring their own history", by Steven Waldman. Washington Monthly April 2006.
Founder's faith, by Shelley Widhalm. Washington Times March 26, 2006.
The Framers and the Faithful, discussion at Amy Welborn's Open Book March 18, 2006.
Washington's Sun God: Reviewing a Review, by Michael Novak. Response to The New York Sun March 7, 2006).
Tom Ashbrook's (WBUR, Boston) interview of Washington's God author Michael Novak and Gordon Wood, professor of history at Brown University Radio interview. Monday, Feb. 20, 2006. Windows or RealAudio format (or Mp3, via Peter ("The American Moderate").
In Honor of the Father of Our Country - His Excellency, George Washington, Jay Andersen (Pro Ecclesia, Pro Familia, Pro Civitate).
Divining W.: Inside Washington’s God - National Review interviews Michael and Jana Novak. February 20, 2006.
On Providence: The Education of George Washington MichaelNovak.Net (1/17/2006)

Special Compilation: Novak on Pope John Paul II & the election of Pope Benedict XVI

Culture in Crisis: Cardinal Ratzinger has diagnosed relativism's evils, and offers an alternative. National Review Online. April 19, 2005.
Farewell to a Great. National Review Online. April 12, 2005.
John Paul the Great. National Review April 8, 2005. [Cover story in the April 25, 2005 issue].
The Embodied Self, First Things 130 (February 2003): 18-21. On Pope John Paul II's meditations on human sexuality presented during his general audiences.
A Pope and His Critics: What the young people are responding to and the elites don't get, by Michael Novak. National Review Online. July 26, 2002.
The Pope's Critics, by Michael Novak. National Post July 26, 2002.
Capitalism Rightly Understood: The View of Christian Humanism. Faith & Reason, April 1991. On the papal encyclical Centesimus Annus.

Articles in Journals, Magazines & Scholarly Publications

Pain, Power, Passion. The Australian Feb. 25, 2004.
Passion Play. The Weekly Standard. August 25, 2003.
The Faith of the Founding. First Things 132 (April 2003): 27-32.
The Beginning of Economic Wisdom. National Interest. March 11, 2003.
The Embodied Self. First Things 130 (February 2003): 18-21.
Another Islam. First Things 127 (November 2002): 17-18.
Human Dignity, Personal Liberty: Themes from Abraham Kuyper and Leo XIII. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 5, Number 1. Spring 2002.
A Nation That Believes: America without religion is not America. National Review. Dec. 31, 2001.
Reconsidering Vatican II. CRISIS Magazine. October 2001.
The Stem Cell Slide: Be alert to the beginnings of evil. National Review. Sept. 3, 2001.
Faith Works. Co-authored w/ Charles Colson. The Weekly Standard. July 16, 2001.
Who Needs God?. American Enterprise Jan, 2001. Adapted from his chapter in the new collection The Collapse of Communism (Hoover Press).
Defining Social Justice. First Things 108 (December 2000): 11-13.
Al Gore and the 'Wicked Project': Aboard The Resentment Special. National Review. Sept. 25, 2000.
Pius XII as Scapegoat. First Things 105 (August/September 2000): 20-22.
The Godlessness That Failed. First Things 104 (June/July 2000): 35-39.
Capitalism and the Human Spirit. The Public Interest April 15, 2000.
Human Dignity, Human Rights. First Things 97 (November 1999): 39-42.
The International Vocation of American Business. Religion & Liberty. The Acton Institute. July-August, 1999.
God, Man & Money. Catholic Dossier May-June 1999.
The Judeo-Christian Foundation of Human Dignity, Personal Liberty, and the Concept of the Person Markets & Morality Vol. 1, No. 2. Fall 1998.
Economics as Humanism. First Things 76 (October 1997): 18-19.
St. Therese: Doctor of the Church. CRISIS Magazine. December 1997.
Rowing Upstream. CRISIS Magazine. 15 no. 7 (July/August, 1997): 30-35.
The Future of Civil Society. CRISIS Magazine, 14 no. 8. September 1996.
Aquinas & The Heretics. First Things 58 (December 1995): 33-38.
Women, Ordination & Angels. First Things 32 (April 1993): 25-32.
Capitalism Rightly Understood: The View of Christian Humanism. Faith & Reason, April 1991.
    Centesimus Annus: Maintaining the Continuity of Catholic Social Teaching. Response by Stephen M. Krason. Faith & Reason Winter 1991.
A Salute to Jacques Maritain. The Catholic Writer: The Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute. 2 (1989): 65-82.
The Closet Socialists. The Christian Century February 16, 1977, p. 171.

Special Compilation: Novak on the 2004 Presidential Elections

Contributions to the National Review online (NRO):

Mighty Miller: Say It Loud, Brother!. Sept. 8, 2004.
A Matter of Honor: Kerry made his war service an issue. August 24, 2004.
Passions On High: "We need two parties. Many Democrats don't seem to realize this". August 9, 2004.
Why the Dems Will Lose July 30, 2004.
Hatred or Hope?: America should not let loathing chart their political destiny. July 23, 2004.

Newspaper Articles

A Letter to France. National Review Nov. 2, 2004. [Originally appeared in France's Le Monde].
The Return of Good & Evil. Wall Street Journal. Feb. 7, 2002.
A Monumental Mistake. Washington Times, Dec. 13, 2002.
Shaking the World to Its Foundations: Metaphysical Musings About 9/11. Jerusalem Post. September 5, 2002.
The Pope's Critics. National Post. July 26, 2002.
A Nation Full of Faith. Washington Times Oct. 20, 2001.
The Founders and the Torah. The New York Times. Sept. 4, 2000.
How Christianity Created Capitalism. The Wall Street Journal. Dec. 23, 1999.
Faith In Search of Votes. The New York Times. Dec. 19, 1999.
Jesus Christ Superpol. The New York Times. Dec. 19, 1999.
With Liberty & Prayer for All. The New York Times. June 18, 1999.
The Two Wings on Which the Human Spirit Rises: The Pope's Defense of Reason. The New York Times. Oct. 16, 1998.
The Most Religious Century. The New York Times. May 24, 1998.

Special Compilation: Novak on Just War & the U.S.-Iraqi Conflict

343 - Real Numbers in Iraq. National Review Online. February 2, 2004.
Martino? - There he goes again!. National Review Online. Dec. 17, 2003.
Game Plan Iraq. National Review Online. Oct. 20, 2003.
Context: The Big Picture on American Deaths in Iraq. National Review Online. August 28, 2003. Errors of Mass Destruction. National Review Online. June 12, 2003.

"Conversations with an European Friend" - A series initially published in the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore

Civilian Casualties & Turmoil: Lay responsibility regarding Iraq. Contributing editorial for the National Review Online. Feb. 18, 2003.
"Asymmetrical Warfare" & Just War: A moral obligation. Contributing editorial for the National Review Online. Feb. 10, 2003. Lecture on just-war doctrine and Iraq to a public audience in Vatican City on the evening of February 10, 2003

Interviews

Michael Novak on the Hunger for Liberty -- an interview with Zenit.org.
  1. Part 1: On the Need for Morality to Safeguard Freedom
  2. Part 2: The Clash of Civilizations
  3. Part 3: On Europe's Lost Desire for Freedom
A Novel Side of Michael Novak; St. Nicola's Many Faces. Zenit. June 9, 2005.
Bush Bids for Greatness, an interview with the Slovakian Tyzden. January 21, 2005.
The Universal Hunger for Liberty: Why the Clash of Civilizations Is Not Inevitable. Online discussion with Joanne Myers, Director of Merrill House Programs, and Q&A with readers. Sponsored by the Carnegie Council.
On "The Amerian Experiment" with Peter and Helen Evans. August 4, 2003.
Michael Novak's Recipe for a Civilization of Love. Zenit.org. July 17, 2003.
Interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez. March 17, 2000.
Is Business a Calling?. Interview with Ben Wattenberg. PBS Thinktank. May 30, 1999.
The Free Market & Public Morality. Religion & Liberty. The Acton Institute. May-June 1994.
Will It Liberate?. Religion & Liberty. The Acton Institute. January-February 1991.

Public Addresses

Tocqueville at 200. presented at the opening dinner of the Summer University of Aix en Provence at the end of August, in conjunction with a two-day Liberty Fund colloquium on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59), marking the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Islam Tests Democracy delivered as the First Annual Friedrich Hayek Lecture for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. May 19, 2005.
Global Liberty: Toward a foreign policy for democratic nations aversion of a speech presented at the Venice Conference IV on November 19, 2004, as a working paper for Center-Right Parties of the North Atlantic Alliance. Under the leadership of Senator Ferdinando Adornato of Italy, and drawing upon many sources, a public "charter" or "manifesto" is to be issued in 2005.
Globalization with a Human Face. Remarks delivered before a Roundtable on Globalization and International Development at the "Global Governance and the Politics of Development" conference sponsored by the Vatican Foundation Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice on May 1, 2004. National Review Online May 26, 2004.
Wealth & Virtue: The moral case for capitalism. Text of a speech delivered before the Mont Pelerin Society in Sri Lanka on January 11, 2004.
On the Universality of the Catholic University. Excerpts From Address at Ave Maria College. Ann Arbor, MI. May 29, 2003.
The Moral Heart of Capitalism: You can't make money without it. Sept. 10, 2002. Opening remarks for a panel on corporate responsibility at President Bush's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas.
A New Conversation among Civilizations. Presented at a conference sponsored by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. March 20, 2002.
The Ethical Challenges of Global Capitalism: A Response to Ron Sider, Discernment. Vol. 8, No. 2/3 Summer/Fall 2001. [Remarks presented in longer form during the annual David A. Penner Debate, held September 13, 2000, at Wheaton College].
Catholic social teaching and the American experience; Response by Michael Novak. Boston College: Commonweal Foundation Faith & Reason Institute June 2-4, 2000.
Catholics and Civic Engagement in the United States, Panel Discussion of John McGreevy's Paper and of Responses by John Farina and Leslie Tentler. Boston College: Commonweal Foundation Faith & Reason Institute June 2-4, 2000.
God's Country, or Taking the Declaration Seriously. AEI Annual Dinner. (Washington). February 25, 1999.
Our Better Angels. Text of Michael Novak's speech at the celebration of President Reagan's 88th birthday, delivered on February 5, 1999, before the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, in Simi Valley, CA.
Humanizing Capitalism, Dialogue btw/ Rev. Alan Jones and Michael Novak. Grace Cathedral, Nov. 8, 1998. [RealAudio Format].
Business as a Calling. Excerpts from the fourth in AEI's 1995-1996 Bradley Lecture Series December 12 in Washington, D.C.
Inequality & Ideology. Essay is based on a presentation at AEI's Annual Policy Conference on December 5, 1995.

Book Reviews by Michael Novak

What "Dark Ages"?. Review of The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, by Rodney Stark. The New Criterion February 1, 2006.
In Defense of Globalization. Review of the book by agdish Bhagwati (Oxford University Press, 2004).
The Last Liberal. Review of Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver, by Scott Stossel. Weekly Standard May 24, 2004.
Hadley's Comet. Review of Natural Rights and the Right to Choose, by Hadley Arkes. National Review Online. April 30, 2003.
Get It for O'Reilly!. Review of The Courage to Be Catholic, by George Weigel. National Review Online, August 5, 2002.
Is It Bad Culture or Bad Laws That Keep Some Countries Poor?, by Michael Novak. Review of Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, edited by Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington. The Weekly Standard. January 15, 2001.
An Authentic Modernity. Review of The Ethics of Authenticity, by Charles Taylor. (Harvard University Press). First Things 33 (May 1993): 40-42.
A Smith For All Seasons. Review of Adam Smith in His Time and Ours: Designing the Decent Society, by Jerry Z. Muller. (Free Press). First Things 35 (August/September 1993): 52-55.
The Secularist Faith. Review of The Wealth & Poverty of Nations, by David S. Landes (Norton). First Things 85 (August/September 1998): 58-61.
A Good Life. Review of The Life of Thomas More, by Peter Ackroyd. The Weekly Standard. Dec. 28, 1998.

Articles About Michael Novak

The Debate We Have To Have: Michael Novak, Christianity, and Capitalism, by Samuel Gregg. The Adelaide Review June 1999.
"Michael Novak's Portrait of Democratic Capitalism", by Edward W. Younkins. Markets & Morality. Vol. 2, No. 9 Spring 1999.
The Novak Achievement, by Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus. First Things 36 (October 1993): 60-70.
Morality, Capitalism and Democracy, by Roger Kerr. New Zealand Business Roundtable. Dec. 7, 1992.

Book Reviews

The Universal Hunger For Liberty: Why the Clash of Civilizations Is Not Inevitable

Could Allah be Great for Democracy? Randy Boyagoda. Claremont Review of Books March 8, 2005.
Benefits of capitalism, by William H. Petersen. Washington Times Dec. 21, 2004.
A Global Gospel of Freedom, by Alan Wolfe. America Nov. 8, 2004.
Democracy for All, by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. The American Conservative Feb. 25, 2005.

On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding

A Republic on the Rise, With Powerful Minds and Earnest Prayers, by Lee Bockhorn. The Wall Street Journal. February 4, 2002
The Eagle's Flight. Review by Charles R. Kesler. National Review. April 8, 2002.
One nation, including God, by Wilson Carey McWilliams. CommonWeal. Feb. 22, 2002.

Tell Me Why: A Father Answers His Daughter's Questions about God.

Review by John J., Jr. Diiulio. National Review, Oct. 12, 1998.
Gen-X Apologetics, by David Neff, Christianity Today.

The Fires of Invention: Civil Society and the Future of the Corporation

Review - BrothersJudd.com. March 17, 2001.

This Hemisphere of Liberty: A Philosophy of the Americas

A Catholic Whiggism for Latin America, by Richard J. Neuhaus. Washington Post Book World. Jan 6, 1991. [Future of Freedom Foundation]
Review, by Richard M. Ebeling, May 1991. Freedom Daily The Future of Freedom Foundation.
Review by Jeffrey A. Tucker. The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty October 1991. The Foundation for Economic Education.

Freedom with Justice: Catholic Social Thought and Liberal Institutions

Review by John T. Pawlikowski, O.S.M. Theology Today Vol. 42, no. 2. July 1985.
Review by John K. Williams. The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty Foundation for Economic Education. December 1985.

Will It Liberate?: Questions about Liberation Theology

Review by Lee Cormie. St. Michael's College. Theology Today Vol. 45, No. 3, October 1988.

The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism

Benne and Novak on Capitalism, by Daniel A. Dombrowski. Theology Today Vol. 41, No. 1. April 1984.
Books by Michael Novak


Washington's God
March 2006


The Universal Hunger For Liberty: Why the Clash of Civilizations Is Not Inevitable
September 2004.


On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding
April 2003


Three in One: Essays on Democratic Capitalism
April 2001


On Cultivating Liberty: Reflections on Moral Ecology
March 1999


Tell Me Why: A Father Answers His Daughter's Questions about God
September 1998


Business As a Calling: Work and the Examined Life
August 1996


The Fire of Invention: Civil Society and the Future of the Corporation
January 1997


Unmeltable Ethnics: Politics and Culture in American Life
December 1995 (2nd edition; originally published 1972)


The Catholic Ethic & The Spirit of Capitalism
February 1993


The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
June 1991


This Hemisphere of Liberty
November 1990.


The Guns of Lattimer
July 1996

Freedom with Justice: Catholic Social Thought and Liberal Institutions
February 1989
[2000 reprint]


Free Persons and the Common Good
January 1988