Ever since The Open Church hit shelves in 1964, Michael Novak was a voice of insight on American and Catholic culture. Author of more than 45 books on culture, economics, philosophy, and theology, Novak actively influenced and guided right thinking until his death in 2017.
From his ground-breaking books on economics and theology (The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, Will it Liberate?, Business as a Calling, and On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Commonsense at the American Founding) to his book that Sports Illustrated named one of the top 100 books on sports of all time (The Joy of Sports), Novak’s books offer timeless insights into the world.
Novak’s ideas and arguments continue to shape the debates today, making anything written by him a ‘must read’ for people of all beliefs and political persuasions. His books are listed below, and his alma mater, Stonehill College, is currently working on digitizing his complete archives (more information here: https://www.stonehill.edu/offices-services/archives/novak-papers/).
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In Social Justice Isn’t What You Think It Is, Michael Novak and Paul Adams seek to clarify the true meaning of social justice and to rescue it from its ideological captors.
By: Michael Novak, Paul Adams and Elizabeth Shaw
Since 1965 the number of priests in the United States has fallen by some 30,000. But over that same time period, more than 30,000 laypeople have come into the employ of parishes and other Church institutions.
By: Michael Novak and William E. Simon Jr.
Surveying the contemporary religious landscape, the division between atheist and believer seems stark. However, having long struggled to understand the purpose of life and the meaning of suffering, Michael Novak finds the reality of spiritual life far different from the rhetorical war presented by bestselling atheists and the defenders of the faith who oppose them.
By: Michael 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.
By: Michael Novak and Jana Novak
Starting with 9/11 and continuing with the struggle for peace in Iraq, the West has been forced to interact more fully with the civilization of Islam.
By: Michael Novak
In telling the story of the forgotten—if not deliberately ignored—role of faith in America’s beginnings, Michael Novak probes the innermost religious conviction of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and other of our Founders.
By: Michael Novak
Three in One introduces the reader to Novak's portrait of democratic capitalism.
By: Michael Novak; edited by Edward Younkins
A Free Society Reader rises to the challenge of freedom in the twenty-first century, offering thoughts and insights with significant implications for citizens of today's brand new world.
By: Michael Novak, William Brailsford, and Cornelis Heesters
Novak's crucial essays on "moral ecology": the ethos that must be cultivated and preserved if liberal democratic societies are to survive.
By: Michael Novak; Edited by Brian C. Andersen
Many Americans today consider the corporation to be the number one public enemy. Downsizing, corporate greed, an exclusive focus on the needs of shareholders at the expense of workers-the list of complaints from the left and right is long and growing.
By: Michael Novak
Work should be more than just a job – it should be a calling. This book explains an important part of our lives in a new way, and readers will instantly recognize themselves in its pages.
By: Michael Novak
The Church had for generations been reluctant to come to terms with capitalism, but, as Michael Novak argues in this important book, a hundred-year-long debate within the Church has yielded a richer and more humane vision of capitalism than that described in Max Weber's classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
By: Michael Novak
This book explores fundamental questions of wealth and poverty, of freedom and responsibility, and traces our ideas about them to their sources in Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
By: Michael Novak
This book offers the consensus of a philosophically diverse group of scholars and former government administrators on how to reduce welfare dependency.
By: Michael Novak
Writing as a philosopher, not as a social scientist, the author takes a radically different approach to the study of criminality, asking not 'what are the causes of crime?' but 'what are the causes of virtue?' Novak concentrates on what builds character and why there is a serious lack of character in our culture and society today.
By: Michael Novak
Michael Novak's work is challenging. We often disagree sharply in out interpretations and assessments of liberation theology, but he raises important issues which call for clarification and response.
By: Michael Novak
Increasingly, the religious leaders of the world are addressing problems of political economy, expressing concern about the poor. But will their efforts actually help the poor? Or harm them? Much depends upon what kind of institutions are constructed, that is, upon realism and practicality.
By: Michael Novak
A response to the Catholic Bishops' Pastoral on the U.S. economy, this book presents a lay point of view on Catholic social thought and the economy.
By: Michael Novak and Michael Joyce
“Moral Clarity” is an analysis of the arguments for and against nuclear armament.
By: Michael Novak
On September 10, 1897, in the hamlet of Lattimer mines, Pennsylvania, an armed posse took aim and fired into a crowd of oncoming mine workers, who were marching in their corner of the coal-mining region to call their fellow miners out on strike.
By: Michael Novak
In Choosing Presidents, Novak uses the election of an American president as a means to dissect the symbols of our national life and politics, exposing many as distorted perceptions of American realities.
By: Michael Novak
Its aim "is to raise consciousness about a crucial part of the American experience: to involve each reader in self-inquiry. Who, after all, are you? What history brought you to where you are? Why are you different from others?"
By: Michael Novak
Perhaps one of the most consistently innovative popular liberal Catholic writers, Novak collaborated with his wife, artist-sculptor Karen Laub-Novak, in this series of explosive pensées concerning "the reliable elements of life."
By: Michael Novak
Illustrations by: Karen Laub-Novak
The essence of Ascent of the Mountain, Flight of the Dove remains intact: its vision of religious studies as sustained reflection on our lifelong voyage to discover who we are.
By: Michael Novak
Four requirements that must be met by an individual in order for the experience of nothingness to emerge: a commitment to honesty, a commitment to courage, recognition of how widespread the experience of nothingness is, and a virtue of will.
By: Michael Novak