Marvin Olasky (born June 12, 1950) is editor-in-chief of WORLD Magazine, the author of more than 20 books, including The Tragedy of American Compassion, and Distinguished Chair in Journalism and Public Policy at Patrick Henry College. He is married to writer and professor Susan Olasky, and they have four sons.[1]
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Olasky was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, to a Russian-Jewish family and graduated from Yale University in 1971 with a B.A. in American Studies.[2] In 1976 he earned his Ph.D. in American Culture at the University of Michigan.[2] He became an atheist in adolescence and a Marxist in college, ultimately joining the Communist Party USA in 1972.[2] He left the Communist Party the following year and in 1976 became a Christian after reading the New Testament and a number of Christian authors.[2]
Olasky was provost of The King's College in New York City from 2007 to 2011, prior to which he was a professor in the University of Texas at Austin journalism department.[3] He is now dean of the World Journalism Institute and a senior fellow of the Acton Institute.[4][5] He joined World Magazine in 1990 and became its editor in 1994 and its editor-in-chief in 2001. Earlier, he was a reporter on the Boston Globe and a speechwriter at the Du Pont Company.[2]
Olasky’s most famous book is The Tragedy of American Compassion, which in 1992 Newt Gingrich distributed to incoming Republican representatives of the 104th Congress.[6] The book, an overview of poverty-fighting in America from colonial times to the 1990s, argues that private individuals and organizations, particularly Christian churches, have a responsibility to care for the poor, and contends that challenging personal and spiritual help, common until the 1930s, was more effective than the government welfare programs of recent decades.[7] Olasky argues that government programs are ineffective because they are disconnected from the poor, while private charity has the power to change lives because it allows for a personal connection between giver and recipient.[7]
The book eventually helped to define "compassionate conservatism" in relation to welfare and social policy. In 1995, Olasky became an occasional advisor to Texas gubernatorial candidate George W. Bush. Bush made faith-based programs a major component of his 2000 presidential campaign, and Olasky's academic work helped form the basis for Bush's "compassionate conservatism."[6]
Olasky became provost of The King's College in June 2007.[3] On November 5, 2010, the college announced his resignation, saying he would "devote more time to his role as editor-in-chief of World magazine."[8] In an online article at Christianity Today about the announcement, Olasky suggested the move was related to the recent hiring of Dinesh D'Souza as the college's president: "'It will come as no surprise to you that Dinesh D'Souza and I have different ideas about some things," [Olasky] said in an e-mail to Christianity Today. 'I'd like to leave it at that and not do an interview.' This is a shift from what he told CT in August: 'I remain committed to King's.'"[3] In a blog post, WORLD publisher Nick Eicher said "there are no hard feelings" between Olasky and The King's College.[9]
On August 22, 2011, Patrick Henry College announced Olasky's appointment to its newly created Distinguished Chair in Journalism and Public Policy beginning in the fall semester of 2011.[10]
As provost of The King’s College from August 2007 through January 2011, Olasky was involved in several controversies. Through his journalism and connection to World magazine, he helped to publicize the college[11], but his conduct and policies alienated students, including student leaders.[12] He taught only one course during his first two years at King’s, while seeking to transform the curriculum.[13]
An editorial in a student journal known as The Gadfly criticized Olasky for relaxing academic standards and for introducing undesirable changes.[14] Published in December 2008, the editorial argued that these changes had weakened academics and were hindering King’s in its goal of becoming a nationally prominent and intellectually rigorous Christian liberal arts college.[14] “Gothamization,” Olasky’s plan to have all of the courses at King’s “engage” New York City through field trips and similar activities, also drew criticism.[15]
On April 12, 2010, leaders in student government at King’s (“The King’s Council”) formally criticized Olasky for disrespectful behavior towards Professor Stanley Hauerwas of Duke University, who had lectured at the college on April 8th.[12] During the question-and-answer period after the lecture, Olasky asserted that Hauerwas, a distinguished ethicist, was reading “a different Bible than the one I'm familiar with."[16] Then, in a letter sent to King’s students on April 10th, Olasky wrote that he believed statements like those Hauerwas had made "when I was a Marxist and parroted speakers very much like him."[17] Despite a resolution by the King’s Council urging an apology, Olasky did not apologize to Hauerwas for his remarks.[12][18] The Council passed the resolution, seven to one, with one abstention.[12]
Olasky’s public statements on his duties as provost were also controversial. Roughly three months before announcing his resignation, he asserted that as provost he was responsible for ensuring that the academic program at King’s “remains firmly in the Protestant, evangelical tradition.”[19] But according to official documents, King’s is a nondenominational Christian college.[20] Despite his defense of King's as an evangelical institution, the first person Olasky hired at King’s was Anne Hendershott, a popular sociology professor and a practicing Roman Catholic.[21] Before she had completed her first semester at King's, Olasky appointed Hendershott to head the college's program in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.[22]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Olasky edited the 16-book Turning Point Christian Worldview series funded by Howard Ahmanson, Jr.'s Fieldstead Institute, which champions and funds the cause of "total integration of Biblical law into our lives."[23][24] Ahmanson has funded four of Olasky's books, and Michelle Goldberg, author of the book Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, places Olasky in a crucial role in the Christian reconstructionism and dominionism movements, saying "I’m not sure whether he actually identifies himself as a Christian reconstructionist, but he’s very close to Christian reconstructionism."[25] Olasky has described himself as a "Christian libertarian."[26]
Olasky diverges from the mainstream of journalistic theory. He argues in his 1996 book Telling the Truth that God created the world, knows more about it than anyone else, and explains its nature in the Bible, so "biblical objectivity" accurately depicts the world as it is, whereas conventional journalistic objectivity shows either a blind materialism or a balancing of subjectivities.[27][28] He has emphasized the Christian origins of freedom of the press and investigative journalism.[27]
Olasky attained brief mass-media notoriety when he contrasted George W. Bush's first presidential campaign in 2000 with that of John McCain:
Jonah Goldberg, who took exception to Olasky's descriptions of both candidates, nonetheless recognized what Olasky was trying to say:
In her 2004 book Bushwomen, Laura Flanders writes, "Olasky is not a fan of high-achieving women. Women joining the workforce have had 'dire consequences for society,' he told a Christian magazine in 1998.” [17] Olasky later said in response to this book that he was actually praising the high achievements of women in major philanthropic organizations: “From my study of the history of poverty-fighting in America, I found that it was basically women who ran the charitable enterprises. Men were involved, but it was essentially women who had the time to volunteer…. Now they don’t have the time because so many of them work.”[31][32][33]
Flanders also quoted another Olasky statement: “’God does not forbid women to be leaders in society...but there's a certain shame attached to it,' he said."[34] Olasky later said he was referring to the story of Deborah, a military leader in the Old Testament book of Judges, and noting that Deborah explicitly tells Barak, who refuses to lead without her, that he will not receive honor.[35]
In a 1999 profile of Olasky for the New York Times Magazine, David Grann claimed Olasky had hidden his first marriage, which ended in divorce while Olasky was in his early 20s. "Olasky had -- until a family member accidentally mentioned it to me -- carefully hidden his divorce from the press."[6] In a subsequent letter to the editor of the Times, Olasky disputed that characterization.[36]