Michael Novak

For the Austrian footballer, see Michael Novak (footballer).

Michael Novak
Novak in 2004 at the Washington Foreign Press Center
Born
Michael John Novak Jr.

(1933-09-09)September 9, 1933
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedFebruary 17, 2017(2017-02-17) (aged 83)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
TitleUS Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (1981–1982)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Karen Laub-Novak
​
​
(m. 1963; died 2009)​
[1][2]
AwardsTempleton Prize (1994)
Scholarly background
Education
Influences
Scholarly work
DisciplinePhilosophy
School or tradition
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 Catholic 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 book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982). In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate at Universidad Francisco Marroquín[6] due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the 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 United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981 and 1982 and led the US delegation to the 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]

  1. ^ "Novak Papers". Stonehill College.
  2. ^ "Quick Facts".
  3. ^ Allen, Rodger Van (1993). Being Catholic: Commonweal from the Seventies to the Nineties. Loyola University Press. 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]