Dr. Samuel Gregg

Samuel Gregg

Dr. Samuel Gregg is director of research at the Acton Institute. He has written and spoken extensively on questions of political economy, economic history, ethics in finance, and natural law theory. He has an MA in political philosophy from the University of Melbourne, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in moral philosophy and political economy from the University of Oxford, where he worked under the supervision of Professor John Finnis. - Staff Profile (The Acton Institute).

• A Lost Opportunity: The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church—A Review Essay Markets & Morality Volume 9, Number 2 | Fall 2006. [PDF].
  
• One Nation Under God? The Tablet June 25, 2005.
  
• Old Europe’s New Despotism Acton Commentary. May 11, 2005.
  
• The Challenge of Ordered Liberty: Constitutionalism and a Free Society Thomas More Institute Seminar. November 24, 2004.
  
• Markets, Morality, and Civil Society. Intercollectiate Review Fall 2003/Spring 2004. [.pdf format]
  
• Globalization and the Insights of Catholic Social Teaching Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 4, Number 1. Spring 2001.
  
• The Limits of Politics January 31, 2001.
  
• Dignitatis Humanae and the Catholic Human Rights 'Revolution' St. Thomas More Society, March 23, 2000.
  
• Dr Samuel Gregg on Secularism Interview w. Stephen Crittenden
  
• Rendering Unto Caesar: New Challenges for Church & State The Centre for Independent Studies. Tuesday 18 May, 2004. The Acton Lecture on Religion & Freedom.
  
• Democracy and the Free Economy: The Anthropological Imperative [Address - time / date unknown].

Natural Law, Natural Rights and American Constitutionalism

Natural Law, Natural Rights and American Constitutionalism - brought to you by the Witherspoon Institute, "to create an online archive containing the seminal documents of these traditions with educational resources" -- made possible through the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and with direction from scholars associated with the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)

Jacques Maritain

Jacques Maritain (1882–1973), French philosopher and political thinker, was one of the principal exponents of Thomism in the twentieth century and an influential interpreter of the thought of St Thomas Aquinas.

Relevant Readings

About Maritain:

• The evolution of Maritain's later political thought Joseph G. Trabbic. Thomistica.net. 07/04/13.
• The Return of Thomistic Political Philosophy (Part I) (03/19/12) | Part II (03/22/12). Thomistica.net. Interview with Raymond Dennehy occasioned by the re-issued by Ignatius Press editions of Christianity and Democracy and The Rights of Man and the Natural Law.
• Some Critical Comments on Maritain's Political Philosophy Joseph A Trabbic. Thomistica.net. 08/16/12.
• Criticism of my Maritain Post Joseph A. Trabbic. Thomistica.net. 09/07/12.
• The Tragedy of Democracy without Authority: A Reflection on Maritain and Thucydides Jose Maria J. Yulo, Ed.D. Presented to The American Maritain Association at the 2010 Annual Meeting, held at Walsh University, North Canton, Ohio.
• Acting Reasonable: Democracy, Authority, and Natural Rights in the Thought of Jacques Maritain | Brian Jones, M.A. | Ignatius Insight | January 17, 2011
• The Social Thought of Jacques Maritain, by D. Q. McLnerny. The Catholic Social Science Review Volume XI 2007.
• Maritain’s America, by Thomas Howard. First Things January 2007.
  
• Maritain's True Humanism, by Richard Francis Crane. First Things 150 (February 2005): 17-23.
  
• The Faith of the Founding, by Michael Novak. First Things 132 (April 2003): 27-32. (defends Jacques Maritain's assertion that modern democracy of the American type cannot be understood apart from the inspiration of the gospel of Jesus Christ).
  
• Nature and Grace: The Theological Foundations of Jacques Maritain's Public Philosophy, by Eduardo J. Echeverria. Associate Professor of Philosophy. Conception Seminary College. Markets & Morality Vol. 4, no. 2 Fall 2001.
  
• John Rawls and Jacques Maritain on the Law of Peoples, by John P. Dougherty. Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter Vol. 23, No. 3. Fall 2000. pp. 18-22. [.pdf format].
  
• Jacques Maritain: Integral Humanism, by Michael S. Joyce. First Things 101 (March 2000): 49-50.
  
• Maritain at the Cliff’s Edge: From Antimoderne to Le Paysan, by Jude Dougherty. Crisis 11/01/94.
• The Christian Personalism of Jacques Maritain Faith and Reason Summer 1991.
  
• A Salute to Jacques Maritain, by Michael Novak. The Catholic Writer: The Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute 2 (1989): 65-82.
  
• Rights, Virtue, and the Common Good, by Brian Benedstad. Crisis 12/01/83. Paper presented at a seminar on Jacques Maritain, sponsored by the American Maritain Association, at Princeton University, October 28-29, 1983.
• Jacques Maritain and Reinhold Niebuhr: Theorists of Democratic Pluralism John W. Cooper. Crisis 07/01/83.

By Maritain:

• Our Tradition: The Associative Principle in Political Economy, by Jacques Maritain. Excerpt from The Rights of Man and Natural Law (1949).
• Jacques Maritain Center , University of Notre Dame. Directed by Ralph McInerny. A treasure-trove of readings and resources, including a number of selected "Readings for philosophers and Catholics".
  
• Reflections on America 1956. [Entire book available online].
  
• Christianity and Democracy Dec. 1949. From a typewritten manuscript by Jacques Maritain, who gave this address at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in New York on the 29th of December 1949 and again at Gettysburg College under the auspices of the Adams County Round Table of the National Conference of Christians and Jews on the 19th of February 1950.
  

Dr. Gregory M. A. Gronbacher

Gregory M. A. Gronbacher

Dr. Gregory M. A. Gronbacher is the director of the Center for Economic Personalism, the academic research division of the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, MI. He holds a Ph. D. in philosophy from the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy in Dublin, Ireland, where he also was a lecturer. Dr. Gronbacher researches and lectures on the synthesis of free market economic science and Christian personalism as well as political and social philosophy and Catholic social thought.

Relevant Articles / Interviews

Relevant Articles

• The Humane Economy thegoodsteward.com. January 26, 2001.
  
• Economic Liberty And Social Ethics: The Morality Of The Third Way thegoodsteward.com. January 18, 2001.
  
• Choice, Even In A Free Society, Has Its Limits. thegoodsteward.com. February 2, 2001.
  
• The True Meaning of Catholic Action The Wanderer Forum, 2000. Based upon a presentation made to the 1998 Chicago Wanderer Forum, which examined the infiltration of the Industrial Areas Foundation into U.S. Catholic institutions.
  

The 'Finn-Gronbacher Debate' 1998-2001

• The Need for Economic Personalism, by Gregory M. A. Gronbacher. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 1, Number 1. March 1998.
  
• The Economic Personalism of John Paul II: Neither Right Nor Left, by Daniel Rush Finn. Professor of Economics and Theology. Saint John’s University. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 2, Number 1. Spring 1999.
  
• The Humane Economy: Neither Right nor Left: A Response to Daniel Rush Finn, Gregory M.A. Gronbacher. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 2, Number 2. Fall 1999.
  
• On the Choice of Method in Economics:Options for Humanists: A Response to Gregory Gronbacher, by Daniel Rush Finn. Professor of Economics and Theology Saint John's University. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 3, Number 2. Fall 2000.
  
• The Finn–Gronbacher Debate, by Gabriel J. Zanotti. Associate Professor of Philosophy. Universidad Austral. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 4, Number 2. Fall 2001.
  

Eugene McCarraher

Eugene McCarraher

Dr. Eugene McCarraher [Academic Homepage] is Assistant Professor of Humanities and History at Villanova University and a 2006 fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies. He received his Ph.D. in American History from Rutgers University, where he studied with Jackson Lears. He is the author of Christian Critics: Religion and the Impasse in Modern American Social Thought. He has taught at Rutgers, the University of Delaware, and Princeton. In addition to articles for scholarly journals, he writes essays and reviews for Commonweal, Books and Culture, and In These Times. His current project is a cultural history of corporate business entitled The Enchantments of Mammon: Corporate Capitalism and the American Moral Imagination, which will be published in 2006.

Published Works (Relevant to the Discussion):

Articles about Eugene McCarraher

• Eugene McCarraher and Radical Catholicism The Sweep 02/24/14.

Interviews

• Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: An Interview with Eugene McCarraher, Part One of Three | Part II | Part III

Articles by Eugene McCarraher

• Love Is Stronger Than Debt: Against Chrapitalism. Books and Culture May 2013.
• McCarraher on Radical Orthodoxy Inhabitio Dei 02/01/10.
• Christian Intellectuals: Imbedded or Otherwise, by Eugene McCarraher. The New Pantagruel Volume One, Issue One. Winter 2004.
  
• Mammon's Deadly Grin: The New Gospel of Wealth and the Old Gospel of Life. Presented at the Culture of Life Conference. Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture. Nov. 30, 2001. [.pdf format]
  
• Theology at the Barricades, by Eugene McCarraher. Commonweal July 13, 2001 / Volume CXXVIII, Number 13.
  
• 'The Long Loneliness' at 50: Dorothy Day's Enduring Biography Commonweal May 3, 2002 / Volume CXXIX, Number 9.
  
• Smile When You Say 'Laity': The Hidden Triumph of the Consumer Ethos, by Eugene McCarraher. Commonweal September 12, 1997 / Volume CXXIV, Number 15. [SEE ALSO: Smile when You Say, 'Starbucks': Responses to Eugene McCarraher, by Patrick Allitt, Michael Baxter, Una M. Cadigan, et al. Commonweal November 21, 1997 / Volume CXXIV, Number 20.]
  
• A Merry Marxy Christmas In These Times Dec. 23, 2003.
  

About McCarraher

• "Marxists for Christ" The Revealer Dec. 30, 2003.
  

David Schindler

David Schindler

David Schindler is Gagnon professor of fundamental theology at the John Paul II Institute for the Study of Marriage and the Family in Washington, D.C., and editor of the North American edition of Communio, the international theological review. See also: David Schindler (Biographical entry in First Principles' journal by Jeremy Beer).

David Schindler v. Neoconservatism: A Symposium

• Guest Editor: Robert Hunt: Introduction

• Contributors:

• Mark Lowery: The Dialogue Between Catholic "Neoconservatives" and Catholic "Cultural Radicals ": Toward a New Horizon
• Adrian Walker: Whose New Horizon?
• Kenneth L. Grasso: Democracy - Yes; Liberalism - No

• Philosopher of Love: David Schindler has a remedy for the religious right, by Jeremy Beer. The American Conservative 02/20/13.
• "What a Lay Person Is" - Interview with John Allen Jr. National Catholic Reporter May 19, 2006.
  
• Interview w/ John Allen Jr. National Catholic Reporter Nov. 22, 2003.
  
• Threads Interview with David Schindler, editor of Communio.
  
• The root and face of Relativism Traces interview. [Communion & Liberation] May 2005.
  
• Religious Freedom, Truth & American Liberalism: Another Look at John Courtney Murray. Communio Winter 1994.
  

PLEASE NOTE: As with my other websites, my references are by and large limited to what's available on the web -- regretfully, Communio hasn't yet followed the norm of other Catholic periodicals in making their contents available online to the general public (free or by subscription).

As representative of the "Augustinian Thomists" I appreciate Dr. Schindler's contributions to the debate, but as he is generally published in Communio he falls among those authors who aren't as accessible online. Fortunately, David of the Catholic blog la nouvelle théologie provides a list of "must-read" Communio articles from Dr. Schindler and company (including an exchange btw. Schindler and Weigel).

Schindler, David L. "Editorial: On Being Catholic in America." 14, no. 3 (1987): 213-14.
---. "Is America Bourgeois?" 14, no. 3 (1987): 262-90.
---. "Once Again: George Weigel, Catholicism and American Culture." 15, no. 1 (1988): 92-121.
---. "The Church's 'Worldly' Mission: Neoconservatism and American Culture." 18, no. 3 (1991): 365-97.
---. "Response to Mark Lowery." 18, no. 3 (1991): 450-72.
---. "Religious Freedom, Truth, and American Liberalism: Another Look at John Courtney Murray." 21, no. 4 (1994): 696-741.
---. "Christological Aesthetics and Evangelium Vitae: Toward a Definition of Liberalism." 22, no. 2 (1995): 193-224.
---. "Christology and the Imago Dei: Interpreting Gaudium et Spes." 23, no. 1 (1996): 156-84.
---. "Modernity, Postmodernity, and the Problem of Atheism." 24, no. 3 (1997): 563-79.
---. "Reorienting the Church on the Eve of the Millennium: John Paul II's 'New Evangelization.'" 24, no. 4 (1997): 728-79.
---. "Luigi Giussani on the 'Religious Sense' and the Cultural Situation of Our Time." 25, no. 1 (1998): 141-150.
---. "'The Religious Sense' and American Culture." 25, no. 4 (1998): 679-699.
---. "Beauty, Transcendence, and the Face of the Other: Religion and Culture in America." 26, no. 4 (1999): 915 NC.
---. "Homelessness and the Modern Condition: The Family, Community, and the Global Economy." 27, no. 3 (2000): 411-30.
---. "Toward a Culture of Life: The Eucharist, the 'Restoration' of Creation, and the 'Worldy' Task of the Laity." 29, no. 4 (2002): 679-690.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weigel, George. "Is America Bourgeois?: A Response to David Schindler." 15, no. 1 (1988): 77-91.
---. "Response to Mark Lowery." 18, no. 3 (1991): 439-449.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lowery, Mark. "The Schindler/Weigel Debate: An Appraisal." 18, no. 3 (1991): 425-38.
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Wendell Berry, Lorenzo Albacete, Eric Perl, V. Bradley Lewis, and John Berkman. "A Conversation with Wendell Berry." 27, no. 1 (2000): 59-82.

Tracey Rowland

Tracey Rowland

Dr. Tracy Rowland is the Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family based in Melbourne, and a Permanent Fellow of the Institute of Political Philosophy and Continental Theology. She holds degrees in Law, Politics and Philosophy from the Universities of Queensland and Melbourne and a Doctorate from the Divinity School of the University of Cambridge. She is a member of the editorial board of the international Catholic journal, Communio, and a member of the Commission for Australian Catholic women. Her current research interests include Theological Anthropology, The Philosophy of Language and it relevance to the New Evangelisation, The Thomist Tradition, Theological Critiques of the Political Philosophy of Liberalism, Genealogies of Modernity and Post-Modernity, Communio Ecclisiology and interpretations of Vatican II.

• Associate Professor Tracey Rowland Faculty Page. John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family.

Relevant Articles / Interviews

• Gospel and culture after Vatican II: John Paul II and Benedict XVI ABC Religion and Ethics. 10/13/12.
• Benedict XVI, Thomism, and Liberal Culture: Tracey Rowland on the Church's Response to Modernity [Interview with Zenit.org.]. July 24/25, 2005. Part I; Part II.
• John Paul II and Human Dignity Public Lecture for Feast of Sts Peter & Paul, June 2005. [.pdf format]
  
• Interview Oct. 29, 2004.
  
• Should we abandon Christendom?. An edited version of an address delivered at the 10th Annual Conference of the Ecclesia Dei Society held in Brisbane, 8-10 September.
  
• The Pastoral Relevance of Beauty. Oriens Summer 2002.

Thomas Storck

Thomas Storck

Mr. Storck has taught history at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, and philosophy at Mt. Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania and Catonsville Community College in Catonsville, Maryland. He holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and an M.A. from St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, with additional studies in history at Bluffton College and in economics at the USDA Graduate School in Washington, D.C. Mr. Storck served as a contributing editor for Caelum et Terra from 1991 until the magazine closed in 1996 and the New Oxford Review from 1996 to 2006. Since 1998 he has been a member of the editorial board of The Chesterton Review. He is the author of three books, The Catholic Milieu (Christendom Press, 1987), Foundations of a Catholic Political Order (Four Faces Press, 1998) and Christendom and the West (Four Faces Press, 2000).

Political foundations of the social order

• The Guilds of the Middle Ages: An Example of Practical Subsidiarity. Anamnesis Journal December 2013.
• The Spirit of Capitalism The Distributist Review, July 24, 2012.
• The Limits of the Moral Law New Oxford Review, June 2012.
• "Aquinas on Buying and Selling The Distributist Review, May 14, 2013.
• Government, Society, and the Human Good Anamnesis Journal December 2012.
• Social Justice According to Pius XI Homiletic and Pastoral Review, December 26, 2012.
• America and the Evangelization of Culture Ethika Politika, June 13, 2012.
• Catholic Social Teaching: Homage to Christ the King Catholic Men's Quarterly, Fall 2011.
• Government: Good or Bad? Big or Little? Chronicles, vol. 29, no. 1 (January 2005).
• Democracy and God Chronicles, vol. 28, no. 11 (November 2004).
• John Locke, Liberal Totalitarianism, and the Trivialization of Religion Faith & Reason, vol. 26, no. 3 (Autumn 2001).
• Liberalism's Three Assaults Homiletic & Pastoral Review, vol. 200, no. 4 (January 2000).
• Foundations of a Catholic Political Order. Originally published by Four Faces Press, 1998. Now available ThomasStorck.org.
• Catholics and Religious Liberty: What Can We Believe? Homiletic & Pastoral Review, vol. 7, no. 4 (January 1997).
• The Social Order as Community Caelum et Terra, vol. 6, no. 3 (Fall 1996).
• A Case for Censorship New Oxford Review, vol. 63, no. 4 (May 1996).
• Truth Embodied: A Sketch of Catholic Community Caelum et Terra, vol. 3, no. 1 (Winter 1993).
• The Problem of Religious Liberty: A New Proposal Faith & Reason, vol. 15, no. 1 (Spring 1989).
• Social Justice Review and the Tradition of Catholic Social Thought Social Justice Review, vol. 77 , no. 1/2 (January/February 1986).

America and Americanism

• The Catholic Failure to Change America Ethika Politika, April 29, 2014.
• Religious Freedom, John Locke, and the American Polity Ethika Politika, December 9, 2013.
• Religious Freedom, John Locke, and the American Polity, part. 2 Ethika Politika, December 10, 2013.
• Natural Law, Politics and the Transformation of America Ethika Politika, August 13, 2012.
• The Varieties of American Exceptionalism Ethika Politika, July 3, 2012.
• Corporate Personhood and 14th Amendment Rights Ethika Politika, May 15, 2012.
• Catholic in Faith, Protestant in Culture The Catholic Way, 2009.
• Nationalism or Patriotism? Chronicles, vol. 31, no. 1 (January 2007).
• American Catholics as Cultural Protestants New Oxford Review, vol. 66, no. 10 (November 1999).
• The Americanization of the Globe New Oxford Review, vol. 65, no. 2 (February 1998).
• The Brave New World Order: America as a Cultural Vacuum Caelum et Terra, vol. 4, no. 3 (Summer 1994).
• American Idolatry Fidelity, vol. 9, no. 6 (May 1990).

Thomas Storck has written extensively on economics and distributism -- you can find some of his writings on our page devoted to the Libertarian-Distributist debate. For a full list of Storck's writings on distributism and economic matters see ThomasStorck.org.

Joseph A. Varacalli

Joseph A. Varacalli

Dr. Varacalli is Professor of Sociology and newly appointed Director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College. In 1992, he co-founded (with Stephen M. Krason) the Society of Catholic Social Scientists. He is the author of Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order (2001) and The Catholic Experience in America (The American Religious Experience) (2005).

Info

• Special Section: Joseph Varacalli: a Bibliography (Catholic Social Sciene Review 2009)

Published Works (Relevant to the Discussion):

• Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order Lexington Books (January 2000).

Relevant Articles

• Catholicism, the Tea Party Movement, and American Civilization: Questions, Propositions, and Proposals Catholic Social Science Review Vol. XVII (2012).
• A Catholic House in Repair or Further Dividing? Catholic Social Science Review Vol. XIV (2009).
• On Being Catholic American Homiletic and Pastoral Review August / September 2004. Dr. Varacalli presents a series of twelve propositions and principles on how Catholics ought to analyze their relationship to American society and culture.
• Central Themes in the History of the Catholic Church in the United States The Catholic Social Science Review Volume XI, 2007.
• Catholic Social Thought And American Civilization Homiletic & Pastoral Review Oct. 2002.
  
• Catholicism & Democracy Homiletic & Pastoral Review May. 2002.
• Putting the Catholic House Back Together. Lay Witness April 2001.
  
• The Failure Of The Therapeutic: Implications For Society And Church. Faith & Reason Spring 1997.
  
• The Contemporary Culture War In America: Whither Natural Law, Catholic Style? Faith & Reason Winter 1995.
  
• The Catholic Religious and Cultural Center: A Contemporary Call on Behalf of the Faith. Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter Vol. 18, No. 3. July 1995. pp. 22-26. [.pdf format].
  
• Multi-Culturalism, Catholicism and American Civilization. Homiletic and Pastoral Review March 1994.
  
• Granting a Little Too Much to America: One Neo-Conservative on the Renewal of American Democracy. Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter Vol. 13, No. 3. June 1990. p. 21 ff. [review of Catholicism and the Renewal of American Democracy, by George Weigel].
  
• Neo-Orthodoxy, the Crisis of Authority, and the Future of the Catholic Church in the United States. Faith & Reason Fall 1989.
  

George Weigel

George Weigel

George Weigel is Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. An online archive of Michael Novak's writings can be found here.

Relevant Articles / Interviews

• Europe and America: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow The Wriston Lecture -- The Manhattan Institute. November 7, 2006.
  
• From Centesimus Annus to Deus Caritas Est: The Free and Virtuous Society of the 21st Century On December 12, the Acton Institute hosted a conference at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University on the relationship of Pope John Paul II's 1991 social encyclical, Centesimus Annus, to Pope Benedict XVI's inaugural encyclical, Deus Caritas Est.
• The Blessings of Charity: A papal challenge to conventional wisdom - on Deus Caritas Est. Philanthropy Magazine March 1, 2006.
  
• Religious Conviction and Democratic Etiquette. Comments at the Thomas More Institute, London. Thursday, May 20, 2004.
  
• The Free and Virtuous Society: Catholic Social Doctrine in the Twenty-First Century. The fourth annual Tyburn Lecture at Tyburn Convent, Marble Arch, London. May 19, 2004.
  
• World Order: What Catholics Forgot. First Things 143 (May 2004): 31-38.
  
• Europe's Problem: And Ours. First Things 140 (February 2004): 18-25.
  
• A Better Concept of Freedom. First Things 121 March 2002): 14-20.
  
• Papacy & Power. First Things 110 (February 2001): 18-25.
  
• The Moral Foundations of Freedom. Acton Lecture on Religion & Liberty. October 23, 2000.
  
• John Paul II and the Priority of Culture. First Things 80 (February 1998): 19-25.
  
• The Catholic Human Rights Revolution Crisis July/August 1996.
  
• Faith - Essential Ingredient of Democratic Capitalism. Interview with George Weigel. Religion & Liberty. The Acton Institute. March-April 1996.
  
• Christian Conviction & Democratic Etiquette. First Things 41 (March 1994): 28-35.
  
• Is America Bourgeois? Crisis October 1, 1986.
  • Is America Bourgeois?, by David Schindler. Communio 14.3 (1987): 262-90.
  • The Dialogue Between Catholic "Neoconservatives " and Catholic "Cultural Radicals ": Toward a New Horizon, by Mark Lowery.

Michael Novak

Michael Novak

Michael Novak holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. His research focuses on the three systems of the free society--the free polity, the free economy, and the culture of liberty--and their springs in religion and philosophy. Twice the U.S. ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission, and once to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He directs social and political studies for the AEI and is the author of twenty-five influential books published in every major Western language (as well as Bengali, Korean, Japanese). He is the recipient of the 1994 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion; the Antony Fisher Prize for The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism presented by Margaret Thatcher; the Weber Award for contributions to Catholic Social Thought in Essen, Germany; the Cezanne Medal from the City of Provence, and the Catholic Culture Medal of Bassano del Grappa in Italy; the highest civilian award from the Slovak Republic in 1996; the Masaryk Medal, presented by Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, in 2000. An online archive of Michael Novak's writings can be found here.

Relevant Articles / Interviews

Understanding Novak: Introductory Resources

• American and Catholic: Michael Novak's Achievement, by George Weigel. City Journal Winter 2014.
• The Novak Achievement, by Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus. First Things 36 (October 1993).
• Controversial Engagements. First Things 92 (April 1999): 21-29. Novak gives an account of his career and development of thought in response to Eugene McCarraher.
• The Debate We Have To Have: Michael Novak, Christianity, and Capitalism, by Samuel Gregg. The Adelaide Review June 1999.
  

On Democracy, Religion & 'The American Experiment'

Michael Novak on the "Hunger for Liberty" -- an interview with Zenit.org. May 11, 2005.

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

• 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.
  
• The Truth About Religious Freedom First Things 161 (March 2006): 17-20.
  
• Religion and the Founders, by Christopher Levenick & Michael Novak. National Review March 7, 2005.
  
• 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.
  
• The Faith of the Founding. First Things 132 (April 2003): 27-32.
  
• Democracy & Religion in America: Tocqueville's surprising linkage. National Review Online, October 2, 2002
  
• The Judeo-Christian Foundation of Human Dignity, Personal Liberty, and the Concept of the Person Markets & Morality Vol. 1, No. 2. Fall 1998.
  
• The Future of Civil Society. CRISIS Magazine, 14 no. 8. September 1996.
  
• Aquinas and the Heretics First Things 58 (December 1995): 33-38.
  

On Economics & Social Thought

• Wealth & Virtue: The moral case for capitalism. National Review Online. Feb. 18, 2004.
  
• Michael Novak's Recipe for a Civilization of Love. Interview w/ Zenit.org. July 17, 2003.
• Human Dignity, Personal Liberty: Themes from Abraham Kuyper and Leo XIII. Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 5, Number 1. Spring 2002.
  
• Defining Social Justice. First Things 108 (December 2000): 11-13.
• Capitalism and the Human Spirit. The Public Interest April 15, 2000.
  
• The International Vocation of American Business. Religion & Liberty. The Acton Institute. July-August, 1999.
  
• God, Man & Money Catholic Dossier May / June 1999.
  
• Controversial Engagements - an account of his career and development of political thought. First Things 92 (April 1999).
  
• Economics as Humanism. First Things 76 (October 1997): 18-19.
  
• The Future of Civil Society. Crisis 14 no. 8 (September 1996).
  • Michael Novak and Yves R. Simon on the common good and Capitalism, by Thomas R. Rourke. Review of Politics, Spring 1996, Vol. 58 Issue 2, p229, 30p;
  • A `Catholic Whig' replies, by Michael Novak. Review of Politics, Spring 1996, Vol. 58 Issue 2, p259, 6p.
  • Response to a `Catholic Whig', by Thomas R. Rourke. Review of Politics, Spring 1996, Vol. 58 Issue 2, p265, 3p.
• The Free Market & Public Morality. Interview with Michael Novak. Religion & Liberty May-June 1994.
  
• 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.
• Michael Novak's Portrait of Democratic Capitalism, by Edward W. Younkins. Markets & Morality. Vol. 2, No. 1 Spring 1999.

See Also:

• Michael Novak: American and Catholic, by George Weigel. City Journal 02/05/14.
• Collected Articles by Michael Novak.
• Michael Novak's Official Homepage.

Relevant Writings

• List of Major Works by Michael Novak [.pdf format]
• Extended Summaries of Novak's Writing [.pdf format]

John Courtney Murray, SJ (1904-1967)

John Courtney Murray, SJ (1904-1967)

John Courtney Murray (September 12, 1904 – August 16, 1967), was an American Jesuit priest and theologian, who was especially known for his efforts to reconcile Catholicism and religious pluralism, particularly focusing on the relationship between religious freedom and the institutions of a democratically structured modern state. During the Second Vatican Council, he played a key role in persuading the assembly of the Catholic bishops to adopt the Council's ground-breaking Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae.

Articles by John Courtney Murray

• The Crisis of Church-State Relations in the U.S." Joseph A. Komonchak (editor). [In 1950, Msgr. Montini, number 2 man in the Vatican Department of State, asked John Courtney Murray to write a memorandum on Church-State relations in the United States, the subject of considerable controversy not only between Catholics and others but also among American Catholics. Fr. Komonchak discovered a copy of this memorandum in the papers of Clare Boothe Luce in the Library of Congress and another in the papers of Card. Stritch of Chicago. He published the text, with an introduction in The Review of Politics].
• America's Theologian: An Archive of Articles by John Courtney Murray America
• Published and Unpublished Works By John Courtney Murray, S.J. Woodstock Theological Center Library. Georgetown University.

Excerpts from Books

• Religious Freedom: John Courtney Murray, S.J. and Vatican II, by Francis Canavan, S.J. Faith & Reason Summer 1987.
  
• We Hold These Truths and More: Further Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition, by Donald D'Elia. Chap. 5 in We Hold These Truths and More: Further Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition The Thought of Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J. and its Relevance Today. 62-76. Steubenville, OH: Franciscan University Press, 1993.
  
• The Truths They Held: The Christian and Natural Law Background to the American Constitution, by Robert R. Reilly. Chap. 6 of We Hold These Truths and More: Further Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition. The Thought of Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J. and its Relevance Today. Edited by J. D'Elia & Stephen M. Krason. Steubenville, OH: Franciscan University Press, 1993.
  

On the thought of John Courtney Murray

• Murray's Mistake: The political divisions a theologian failed to foresee, by Michael Baxter. America 09/23/13.
  • Misreading Murray: Yet Again, by George Weigel. First Things 10/09/13.
  • A Response to 'Murray's Mistake', by David J. O'Brien. America 10/28/13.
• Fifty Years Ago in 'America': John Courtney Murray on 'Pacem in Terris', by Tim Reidy. America 04/29/13.
• The Civic University, by Stephen M. Fields, S.J. First Things 161 (March 2006): 12-15.
  
• He Held These Truths Robert W. McElroy. America 02/07/05.
• American Catholics and the State, by Gregory A. Kalscheur. America 08/02/04. "We need to draw again on Murray’s insights if we are to do justice to the critical question of what it means to be an American Catholic engaged in public life in our pluralistic democratic society."
• Does John Courtney Murray's Defense of Freedom Extend to Economics? An Austrian Perspective. Markets & Morality Vol. 5, No. 2. Fall 2002. The Acton Institute.
  
• Citizen Murray, by J. Leon Hooper, S.J. Boston College magazine. Winter. 1995.
  
• "What would John Courtney Murray say? On abortion & euthanasia", by Todd David Whitmore. Commonweal, Oct 7, 1994. [Well worth reading, but not one I can find at the moment - Christopher]
  
• Religious Freedom, Truth & American Liberalism: Another Look at John Courtney Murray, by David Schindler. Communio Winter 1994.
  
• John Courtney Murray and the American Catholic Experience, by Michael Tortolani. 1993 Lord Acton Essay. The Acton Institute.
  
• John Courtney Murray, S.J., and Religious Pluralism. Panel discussion on "the formative influence that religion and American political life have on each other" with J. Leon Hooper, S.J., Woodstock fellow and Murray scholar; Os Guinness of the Trinity Forum; and Michael J. Perry of Northwestern University Law School & moderated by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, editor of Commonweal. Woodstock Report, March 1993, no. 33.
  
• A Contested Legacy, by James Finn. Book review of John Courtney Murray and the American Civil Conversation, ed. by Robert P. Hunt & Kenneth L. Grasso. First Things 30 (February 1993): 54-57.
  
• "John Courtney Murray: Reliable Interpreter of Dignitatis Humanae?", by Fr. Brian W. Harrison. Part I Living Tradition No. 33, Jan. 1991.; Part II Living Tradition No. 34, March 1991.;
• An Unfinished Argument: John Courtney Murray, Dignitatis Humanae and the Catholic Theory of the State, by Professor Kenneth L. Grasso, Department of Political Science, Southwest Texas State University. [Lecture Series].
  
• The Enduring Problems of Religious Liberty, by Charles M. Whelan. America 11/30/85.
• Economic Justice for Some? - Is Murray's Discourse Ethic a Serious Alternative to Class Warfare, as an instrument of Public Policy Formation?, by Dennis P. McCann. DePaul University, Chicago, IL.
• The Silencing of John Courtney Murray, by Joseph A Komonchak. - "Here is an essay, the fruit of a lot of research, that explains how it was that John Courtney Murray found his views, at least the views attributed to him, condemned as “erroneous” by the Holy Office and was then advised by his Jesuit superiors to pursue other areas of inquiry."

Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus (1936-2009)

Richard J. Neuhaus

(May 14, 1936 – January 8, 2009) was a prominent Christian cleric (first as a Lutheran pastor and later as a Roman Catholic priest) and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen. He was the founder and editor of the monthly journal First Things (popular among readers for his monthly column "The Public Square") and the author of several books, including The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America (1984), The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World (1987), and Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth (2006). Fr. Neuhaus passed away on January 8, 2009; an online archive of his writings can be found here.

"Proposing Democracy Anew", a three-part series from his monthly column "The Public Square":

• Part One First Things October 1999.
• Part Two First Things November 1999.
• Part Three First Things December 1999.

• Our American Babylon First Things 158 (December 2005): 23-28.
  
• Internationalisms, Etc.. [From "The Public Square"] First Things 148 (December 2004): 64-84.
  
• The Naked Public Square Now. Twenty years after its publication, various authors (Stanley Hauerwaus, Harvey Cox, Jeane Bethke Elshtain, et al.) reflect on the influence of the book and contemporary problems raised by its argument, with a response by Father Neuhaus. First Things 147 (November 2004): 11-27.
  
• The Unresolvable Conflict: Religion, Politics, and Morality Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPS) "American Culture and Democracy" lecture series. September 27, 2004. [available in audio format]
  
• Catholics, Protestants, and the Meanings of Freedom. [From "The Public Square"] First Things 135 (August/September 2003).
  
• The Persistence of the Catholic Moment, First Things 130 (February 2003): 26-30.
  
• "Schindler's Complaint", First Things 74, June-July 1997.
  
• The Liberalism of John Paul II. First Things 73 (May 1997): 16-21.
  
• To Propose the Truth: The Catholic Moment Requires Five Transformations. Crisis April 1994.
  
• Religion's Role in Public Life, Interview w/ Richard John Neuhaus. Religion & Liberty Sept.-Oct. 1993.
  
• Christianity & Democracy. A declaration, written by Richard John Neuhaus and published by the Institute for Religion & Democracy, "intended to set forth the Christian case for, and stake in, the liberal democratic order." Originally published October 1981 & republished in First Things 66 (October 1996): 30-36.
  

Other Articles by R.J. Neuhaus.

Robert P. Kraynak

Robert P. Kraynak

Robert P. Kraynak came to Colgate in 1978 from Harvard University, where he received his PhD in government. He teaches courses in the fields of political philosophy and general education, including courses on American political thought, the history of Western political philosophy, natural law, religion and politics, and conservative political thought. He received the Colgate Alumni Corporation "Distinguished Teaching Award" in 2006, and he directs Colgate's Center for Freedom and Western Civilization. Among his published works are Christian Faith and Modern Democracy: God and Politics in the Fallen World (Notre Dame Press, 2001); In Defense of Human Dignity, edited with Glenn Tinder (Notre Dame Press, 2003): and Reason, Faith, and Politics, edited with Arthur M. Melzer (Lexington, 2008). He also contributed to Human Dignity and Bioethics, published by the President's Council on Bioethics (2008).

Church-State Relations in America and Europe - Interview w. Zenit News Service.

• Part I: America's Civil Religion. March 25, 2005.
  
• Part II: Different Paths of Development. March 26, 2005.
  
• III: on Catholicism and Americanism. March 27, 2003.
  

• Aquinas for the Democratic Age. Review of Liberty, Wisdom, and Grace: Thomism and Democratic Political Theory, by John P. Hittinger. Claremont Review of Books Spring 2004.
  
• The Illusion of Christian Democracy Conclusion to a symposium on Christian Faith and Modern Democracy, on the tension between Christianity and modern liberal democracy. [.pdf format]
  
• Natural Rights and the American Experiment: Some Problems for Christian Theology Lecture for The Witherspoon Fellowship. March 12, 2004.
  
• Conservative Critics of Modernity: Can They Turn Back the Clock? The Intercollegiate Review Volume 37, Number 1 - Fall 2001.
  
• Interview - Mars Hill Audio Journal Vol. 54.

From Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 7, Number 2. Fall 2004:

• The Influence of Kant on Christian Theology: A Debate About Human Dignity and Christian Personalism, by Derek S. Jeffreys.
  
• A Response to Derek S. Jeffreys, by Robert Kraynak.
  
• A Response to Robert Kraynak by Derek S. Jeffreys.
  
• A Response to Derek S. Jeffreys [Part II], by Robert Kraynak.

Christian Faith and Modern Democracy - A Symposium - Catholic Social Science Review Volume IX (2004) - [NOTE: all articles in Adobe .pdf format]:

• Introduction - Kenneth L. Grasso.
• About Christian Faith and Modern Democracy, by Robert Kraynak.
• Words That Sound Alike But Have Different Meanings, by Gary Glenn.
• Making the Christian Case for Democracy, by Jeanne Heffernan
• Democracy, Modernity, and the Catholic Human Rights Revolution, by Kenneth L. Grasso.
• Kraynak: Christianity vs. Modernity?, by Robert P. Hunt.
• Christian and Democrat? The Trans-Political Character of Christian Democracy, by Timothy Sherratt.
• Freedom, Equality, Dignity of the Human Person, by Norris W. Clarke, SJ.
• Personhood as Gift and Task, by Gregory Beabout.
• Christianity, a Culture of Love, and Kraynak's Private Critique, by David S. Crawford.
• The Illusion of Christian Democracy, by Robert Kraynak.

Joe Hargrave

Joe Hargrave

Joe Hargrave is an adjunct professor of political science at Rio Salado Community College in Tempe, Arizona.

From Crisis Magazine.

• How John Locke Influenced Catholic Social Teaching 11/05/10.
• Why Catholics Should Be Communitarians 05/18/09.
• Catholic Social Teaching and the Welfare State 03/16/09.

From The American Catholic

• Tea Time with Pope Leo XIII - whether or not, and to what extent, it is legitimate to resist the government?
• A Distributist Manifesto - "There is a great deal of confusion about what Distributism is, what it means, what its place is in Catholic social thought, and even over who started it. This essay will attempt to address some of these confusions..."
• Exploring Americanism and the Catholic Counter-Culture What are we to make of Leo XIII's condemnation of "Americanism"?
• Of Christians, Catholics and Tea Parties (Part II) (The American Catholic)
• Of Christians, Catholics and Tea Parties (Part I) (The American Catholic)
• Culture, Religion & The Nation-State (The American Catholic)
• America: More Propositional Than Some Think