Ascent of the Mountain Flight of the Dov

by Michael Novak

The essence of Ascent of the Mountain, Flight of the Dove remains its vision of religious studies as sustained reflection on our lifelong voyage to discover who we are. The story we choose for ourselves, the story we live, can sacralize or secularize our lives and our world by the way in which we choose to relate to it. With this awareness of the story dimension of life, Ascent of the Mountain, Flight of the Dove opens us to awe, reverence, and wonder at the risks and possibilities of human freedom. This book is even more important than it was thirty years ago. We need religion to strike deeply into the self, away from public glare. Unless Americans become more sophisticated about the language of the self, inner life will shrivel. In addition, our people will continue to be vulnerable to fundamentalist movements. Such movements take over too many innocents. They promise, and sometimes deliver, a touching happiness. But they do so by closing the spirit in a powerful and dangerous way. Families and schools do not provide a large and critical vocabulary by which to express the inner longings of the spirit. The souls of many are parched and they gladly accept water, any water, from those who offer it. Th e liberation of the religious spirit from trivial, closed, and simplistic systems of thought can only be achieved through the development of a critical language, exercises, and disciplines that open rather than close the mind, that lead to higher viewpoints, breakthroughs, and new syntheses, in a constant enlargement of spirit. Novak's book leads us to that place. Michael Novak is George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He has twice been the UN Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission and is the director of AEI's social and political studies. He is the author of twenty-five books and numerous scholarly articles. 240 pages.

Paperback

First published May 1, 1978

About the author

Michael Novak is an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. He is George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute

Novak served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981 and 1982 and led the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1986.

In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate degree at Universidad Francisco Marroquín] due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

Reviews

[Megan S Spark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, thoughtful study of the correct meaning of the term religion, and a challenge to claim a more active role in ones spiritual development. He makes the correct observation (even more true in our times) that American society is more reactive than proactive; we wait to be amazed as things happen, rather than be conscious of the story we are telling each day with our choices. Includes history, social commentary, & interjecting thoughts from peers like Tillich and Bonhoeffer.