In his reflection on Michael Novak’s 1980’s The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, in the October issue of First Things, R.R. Reno recalls the three mutually-supporting legs upon which Novak held Western culture to stand, but argues that culture no longer supports these legs.  The first two legs--a free economy and liberal democratic political institutions are especially mutually supporting, in that both seek to limit the power of the state, thereby liberating “…the energies of individuals and independently organized communities.”  The third, a Judeo-Christian moral ecology is also reinforcing, in that it “…prizes human dignity, and encourages self-discipline, social trust, and individual initiative,” with both religions based on “Greco-Roman philosophy, law, and civic management.”  But, Reno argues that the mutual support of these the three legs critically depended upon an historical epoch that may now be...(Read Full Article)