David Novak

David Novak was born in Chicago in 1941. He received his A.B. from the University of Chicago in 1961, his M.H.L. (Master of Hebrew Literature) in 1964 and his rabbinical diploma in 1966 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Georgetown University in 1971.

David Novak is a founder, vice-president, and coordinator of the Jewish Law Panel of the Union for Traditional Judaism, and a founder and faculty member of the Institute of Traditional Judaism in Teaneck, New Jersey. He serves as Vice-President of the Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York City and is on the editorial board of its journal First Things. He is a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, and a member of the Board of Consulting Scholars of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. In 1992-93 he was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. In 1995 he was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Religion and Business Ethics at Drew University. In 1996 he delivered the Lancaster/Yarnton Lectures at Oxford University and at Lancaster University. In the fall of 2004 he was the Charles E. Test, M.D. Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Princeton University. In the spring of 2006 he was Visiting Professor of Religion at Princeton. In 2007 he was appointed a member of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, a federal agency by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He has also been a consultant to government agencies in the United States, Israel, and Poland.

David Novak is the author of sixteen books, the last three being The Sanctity of Human Life (Georgetown University Press, 2007), Tradition in the Public Square: A David Novak Reader, edited by Randi Rashkover and Martin Kavka (Eerdmans, 2008), and In Defense of Religious Liberty (ISI Books, 2009). His book, Covenantal Rights: A Study in Jewish Political Theory (Princeton University Press, 2000) won the award of the American Academy of Religion for Abest book in constructive religious thought in 2000. He has edited four books, and is the author of over 250 articles in scholarly and intellectual journals.

Since 1963 David Novak has been married to Melva Ziman. The Novaks have two grown children and five grandchildren.