Michael Novak, theologian who made a spiritual case for capitalism, dies at 83 [View all]

By Emily Langer
February 17 at 7:27 PM

Michael Novak, a Catholic philosopher who helped carve a space for religion in modern politics, diplomacy and economics, arguing that capitalism is the economic system most likely to achieve the spiritual goods of defeating poverty and encouraging human creativity, died Feb. 17 at his home in Washington. He was 83.

The cause was complications from colon cancer, said his daughter Jana Novak.

Mr. Novak, who spent his formative years in the seminary, was widely recognized as one of the most influential Catholic theologians of his generation. He was the 1994 recipient of the Templeton Prize, which honors makers of an “exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension” and is accompanied by a monetary award exceeding that of the Nobel Prize.

In a measure of Mr. Novak’s influence within the Catholic Church, he was received and consulted by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He was at times a professor, a columnist, chief U.S. delegate to the U.N. Human Rights Commission and, for several decades, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank in Washington.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/michael-novak-theologian-who-made-a-spiritual-case-for-capitalism-dies-at-83/2017/02/17/fa38989c-f212-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.f2c000e2a7ab

An intellectual scumbag for whom I offer the Prayer of Saint Gertrude: