Fill in the blanks: “_____ first came to public notice in the early 1960s as a Catholic liberal, fervently enthusiastic about the Kennedy presidency and reform in the Catholic church. As a champion of the laity, _____ raised controversy by challenging theological orthodoxy and by deviating from Catholic anti-Communist orthodoxy when he took an outspoken position against the American role in Vietnam.”
The answer is Michael Novak (interviewed in this issue by Michael Cromartie), whose evolution to the champion of democratic capitalism is traced in a fascinating chapter in Patrick Allitt’s “Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America” (Cornell, 315 pp.; $29.95, hardcover).
See also Novak’s powerful early work “Belief and Unbelief: A Philosophy of Self-Knowledge” (Transaction, 241 pp.; $19.95, paper), which has just been reissued with a new introduction by the author.
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