Michael Novak, Economic Justice, and War and Peace

As Michael Novak’s comrade-in-arms the late Richard John Neuhaus put it to me on more than one occasion, “we have a greater need to be reminded than to be instructed” (riffing on Boswell’s Life of Johnson). In many respects, having spent his life instructing us, we need Novak’s reminders now more than ever. Having come of age regarding himself as a man of the Left, Novak had to think himself out of the follies of socialism, command economies, and central planning. While the challenges of political economy that we face today are not quite so severe, the lessons learned—and taught—by Novak could go a long way toward putting us back on the road to full economic freedom and human flourishing in the economy. Similarly, as we struggle in an uncertain geopolitical environment, with the United States engaged in war, several more-limited military strikes, and increased drone usage, Novak’s work seeking moral clarity in the nuclear age provides helpful guidance as we try to make morally upright choices in the waging of war. While Novak’s writings span many topics and have impacted the lives of several generations of American Catholics in many domains, this paper analyzes two aspects of Novak’s thought—the economy and war and peace—with a view to explicating their significance for younger Catholics and other Christians seeking to think coherently about these issues