On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding

by Michael Novak

Book Overview

"The leaders of the American Revolution were not, like the leaders of the French revolution, secularists. They did not set out to erase religion." Indeed, as Michael Novak points out in this brilliant... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893554341
• ISBN13: 9781893554344
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Encounter Books
• Length: 235 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

One Winged Birds Can't Fly

One-winged birds can't fly. That's why Michael Novak, the author of "On Two Wings," asserts that the history of the United States has been taught incorrectly for the past 100 years. The American Republic took flight on two healthy wings, one called Faith and the other called Reason. American history, as taught now in our schools, would have students believe our Founders set flight with one wing only: Reason. Novak, the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy and Director of Social and Political Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, makes a strong case for both wings working together. But today the wing of Faith is the one too severely clipped to work as it should. For instance, most people today believe that the Enlightenment was more critical to the American Founders than the Old Testament. The historical record shows that it was the Old Testament that was far more important than the Enlightenment. That's because the Founders held a "Hebrew metaphysic," which included the concepts of time having a beginning and an end, and of final judgment in the hereafter for human actions in this life. The Founders agreed with the Hebrews, that time is linear, not cyclical, as the ancient pagans believed. And the Declaration refers to God as "the Supreme Judge of the world." This "metaphysic" - a mix of theology and philosophy - gave the Founders a wonderful nomenclature in which to express political ideas. The Founders wisely shunned specific theological terms, such as Savior, Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and used instead the imagery of the Old Testament. In this way, they charted a course for common ground. This book should be required reading in college political science programs.

On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American

Citizens who have been led to believe that the Founding Fathers intended to establish a republic free from religion need to read this book and the cited sources. From Jefferson to the Presbyterian minister Witherspoon (who was president of Princeton), all believed that religon and the unfettered public worship of God was vital to a free and moral society. Read this book and learn what the men who fashioned our form of goverment really believed. It's not what the revisionists would have us think.

One of the Author's favorite (and most important) books

Now in its third printing in four months, this is one of my favorites among all my books, and I dare to think it is one of the more important among them. For it deals with an utterly fundamental matter: How to interpret the American founding. And it presents an immense amount of evidence which shows, at least, that many commonly accepted views today are insupportable in historical fact. My works often fly in the face of conventional wisdom, so I have become accustomed to nasty reviews over the years. In this case, the reviews so far--First Things, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Commonweal in particular--have been uncommonly good. For which I am grateful. I'm also grateful to Brian Lamb for putting the book on "Book Notes," and many kind radio personalities for doing the same. I'm trying to get accustomed to so many good notices. It will be time to go back to being annoying, soon enough. -- Michael Novak

The Rest of the Story regarding our Founders

The founders emphasis on God and the practice of religion receives its just due in Michael Novak's On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding. Novak argues the founders agreed on the importance of religion. Ben Franklin represented the founders thought with the statement "...that God governs in the affairs of men." (p.42) The faith of George Washington and his reliance on prayer during the trials of the Revolutionary War is representative of the founders in the truest and noblest sense. (see pp.18-20) Novak surprised me with documentation of Hamilton's faith. The author correctly gives John Adams credit for his leadership while stressing his faith in God and belief in justice as well as the importance of liberty. The author correctly points out how the founders believed liberty was desired by God for men, but may be easily lost by men in less than a generation. The greatest gift of many in this book is the recognition of the forgotten founders. Novak reports on one of the greatest educators of American History John Witherspoon as well as George Mason, James Wilson and Charles Carroll. The most dramatic of the forgotten founders was the story of Joseph Warren and his heroics at Bunker Hill. Warren said prior to Battle of BunkerHill, "You are to decide the important questions upon which rest the happiness and liberty of millions not yet born." (p.124) This book was very well documented. The footnotes are excellent. The book would have benefited from an Index worthy of this excellent book.

our religion and our revolution

This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what was in the hearts and minds of America's founders. Read John Adams, yes. Read Founding Brothers, yes. But don't think that you have the whole story until you read Michael Novak. He shows that our Founders were not a bunch of deists and pantheists; that they had no notion of establishing walls between their government and their God. They were profoundly and traditionally religious men whose passion for justice flowed out of the depths of their faith. This is a classic book that shows the role of faith at our founding and restores our Founders'identity as men of God first and men of the Enlightenment secondly.