Prof. Giovanni Patriarca, recipient of the Acton Institute’s 2012 Novak Award given recently in Rome at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, was interviewed by RomeReports Television News Agency in a video released Friday.
Read more on Video: Novak Award Winner Says Religion Inspires Hope, Creativity in Crisis…
Rome contributor to ZENIT, Stefanie DeAngelo, recently interviewed the Acton Institute’s 2012 Novak Award winner, Professor Giovanni Patriarca. During the interview Prof. Patriarca speaks candidly about some of his academic influences, including Michael Novak and Benedict XVI. He also offers his reasons for hope in overcoming the prolonged global economic crisis.
by Stefanie DeAngelo
2012 Novak Award Winner Prof. Giovanni Patriarca
ZENIT: You have recently received the Novak Award. What are some of the major contributions of the American philosopher and theologian to our thinking about the current state of the world?
Patriarca: The work of Dr. Michael Novak is so rich that it is not easy to summarize it in a few thoughts. In addition to his famous works on economics, a number of his articles published in the last few years, especially in the journal First Things, explores some of modernity’s contradictions regarding individual and social responsibility and the demise of traditional values that were held by previous generations. As Alexis de Tocqueville also warned, the loss of a metaphysical perspective, leads to materialism and the absurdity of nihilism. Read more on Novak Award Winner reflects on influences of Benedict, Michael Novak…
Acton President Rev. Robert Sirico presents the 2012 Novak Award to Prof. Giovanni Patriarca
An overflow crowd, which included two current and one former rector of Rome’s pontifical universities, enthusiastically turned out on November 29 to support the winner of the Acton Institute’s Novak Award. Students, professors, journalists, entrepreneurs and politicians alike packed the Aula delle Tesi auditorium at the Pontifical University of Thomas Aquinas to hear Prof. Giovanni Patriarca deliver his lecture “Against Apathy: Reconstruction of a Cultural Identity”.
The Novak Award, a $10,000 prize named after the American theologian and social philosopher Michael Novak, is given annually to a young international professor whose distinguished research advances a deeper understanding of theology’s connection to human dignity, the importance of limited government, religious liberty, and economic freedom. The recipient delivers a formal presentation at the award ceremony known as the Calihan Lecture. Read more on Novak Award Winner Assesses Spiritual, Vocational Crisis of Economy…
Professor Hunter Baker recently appeared on the Research on Religion podcast to discuss, among other things, his latest book, The End of Secularism. Baker’s book, like much of the podcast’s discussion, centers on the treatment of religious matters within the public square. In doing so, the podcast covers a broad range of relevant topics and is worth a listen.
Mark your calendar! As announced earlier this year, Dr. Hunter Baker is the recipient of the 2011 Novak Award. Hunter will deliver the 11th annual Calihan Lecture and receive this year’s Novak Award on October 5, 2011 at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. Hunter’s presentation will conclude a day-long conference, “Whole Life Discipleship: Integrating Faith, Economics, & Work,” which will consist of two other lectures and a panel discussion. For more information or to register to attend, please see the event page or the press release.
Read more on Hunter Baker to Deliver Acton Institute’s Calihan Lecture…
From Abraham Kuyper’s opening address to the First Social Congress in Amsterdam, November 9, 1891, The Problem of Poverty:
The first article of any social program that will bring salvation, therefore, must remain: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” This article is today being erased. Men refuse any longer to recognize God in statecraft. This is not because they do not find the poetry of religion charming, but because whoever says I believe in God thereby acknowledges God’s ordering of nature and an ordinance of God above human conscience–a higher will to which we as creatures must submit ourselves.
Kuyper said this at the close of the nineteenth century, and in the intervening decades the question of the place of the Christian faith in public life has become even more pressing.
Lithuanian scholar and Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Kęstutis Kevalas, is the winner of the Acton Institute’s 2010 Novak Award.
During the past nine years, Fr. Kęstutis Kevalas has initiated a new debate in Lithuania, introducing the topic of free market economics to religious believers, and presenting a new set of hitherto unknown questions to economists. Fr. Kevalas is a respected figure and well known expert on Christian social ethics, the free market, and human dignity to the people of his home country. In addition to his active work as a speaker and pastor at national events, he serves as a lecturer on moral theology at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Maltese-American marketing professor, Dr. Andrew Abela, is the winner of the Acton Institute’s 2009 Novak Award.
Dr. Abela’s main research areas include consumerism, marketing ethics, Catholic Social Teaching, and internal marketing communication. Believing that anti-free market perspectives seem to dominate discussion about the social impact of business, Dr. Abela is working to explore Christian ethics further to show how these issues can be resolved more humanely and effectively through market-oriented approaches. To aid this work, Dr. Abela is currently preparing a catechism for business leaders, which will address tough ethical questions in business in the light of Christian social ethics.
The nomination process has begun for the international 2008 Novak Award. Named after theologian Michael Novak, this $10,000 award rewards new outstanding research into the relationship between religion and economic liberty. Over the past seven years, this award has been given to young, promising scholars throughout the world.
