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

Natl Book Network, June 2003. Paper Back. New. ''One wing of the eagle by which American democracy took flight has been quietly forgotten,'' laments Michael Novak. He's undertaken not only to remember it, but also to produce ''overwhelming evidence'' by which we might overcome ''the prevailing (and complacent) mischaracterizations of our past.'' It's a book this lauded theologian/philosopher/economist/political theorist (you get the idea) has wanted to write for some forty years, basing his apology for humble faith in accord with human reason on a ''Biblical metaphysics'' -- the Hebrew vision of the world as embodied in the Old Testament. While Mr. Novak isn't the first to propose such a thesis, his approach (teeming with vivid anecdotes, direct quotes and pages of documentary evidence) is appealing and to the point. The founding fathers set out to perform a grand experiment in liberty, constructing a republic on ''the religious and moral habits of its people.'' But in keeping with the liberty of a self-governing society, they also recognized human weakness and the need for repentance, building into the Constitution's framework a system of checks and balances. Michael Novak realistically tells their story, ending with a biographical appendix of the lesser-known signers of the Declaration and underscoring the fact that our freedom has its start in their lives. Our task (he quietly implies) is to guard ourselves against the moral entropy they recognized and fought against themselves.