Acton Vault: Recent Episodes
Acton Institute
From the archives of the Acton Institute, Acton Vault brings you stories, talks, conversations, and lectures from our 30-plus years of history – all focused on illustrating the Acton Institute's vision of a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
A Special Edition of Acton Vault featuring Acton Line This week, we’re bringing you one of the plenary lectures from this year’s Acton University, featuring Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.” "Wokeism” is arguably the most influential public philosophy in our country today. It has worked its way into the minds and hearts of our young people, into the world of entertainment, and into the boardrooms of powerful corporations. But what is it precisely, and where did it come from? I will argue in my presentation that “wokeism” is a popularization of critical theory, a farrago of ideas coming out of the French and German academies in the mid-twentieth century. Until we understand its origins in the thinking of Adorno, Horkheimer, Derrida, Marcuse, and Foucault, we will not know how critically to engage this dangerous philosophy. Subscribe to our podcasts Word on Fire Catholic Ministries
One of America’s success stories is its economy. For over a century, it has been the envy of the world. The opportunity it generates has inspired millions of people to want to become American.
Today, however, America’s economy is at a crossroads. Many have lost confidence in the country’s commitment to economic liberty. Across the political spectrum, many want the government to play an even greater role in the economy via protectionism, industrial policy, stakeholder capitalism, or even quasi-socialist policies. Numerous American political and business leaders are embracing these ideas, and traditional defenders of markets have struggled to respond to these challenges in fresh ways. Then there is a resurgent China bent on eclipsing the United States’s place in the world. At stake is not only the future of the world’s biggest economy, but the economic liberty that remains central to America’s identity as a nation.
But managed decline and creeping statism do not have to be America’s only choices, let alone its destiny. In his new book The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World (2022), Samuel Gregg insists that there is an alternative. And that is a vibrant market economy grounded on entrepreneurship, competition, and trade openness, but embedded in what America’s founding generation envisaged as the United States’s future: a dynamic Commercial Republic that takes freedom, commerce, and the common good of all Americans seriously, and allows America as a sovereign-nation to pursue and defend its interests in a dangerous world without compromising its belief in the power of economic freedom.
Samuel Gregg is Distinguished Fellow in Political Economy at the American Institute for Economic Research, and an Affiliate Scholar at the Acton Institute. The author of 17 books—including the prize-winning The Commercial Society (Rowman &Littlefield), Wilhelm Röpke’s Political Economy (Edward Elgar), Becoming Europe (Encounter), the prize-winning Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization (Regnery), and most recently, The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World (Encounter), as well as over 400 articles and opinion-pieces—he writes regularly on political economy, finance, American conservatism, Western civilization, and natural law theory. He is a Contributing Editor at Law & Liberty and a Visiting Scholar in the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. He can be followed on Twitter @drsamuelgregg
Subscribe to our podcasts
Apply Now for Acton University
The Next American Economy | Amazon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we’re bringing you a talk from our Acton Lecture Series from 2019.
To be economically literate requires neither formal training nor advanced study. For those with the inclination, the most valuable economic principles can be understood with just a little nurturing of the so-called “economic way of thinking.” In this talk, Dr. Sarah Estelle shares how she sees the economic way of thinking as instructive in some of the ways we can love, too. What does economics have to say about our love for mankind? our neighbors around the globe? the least of these among us? our local communities and families? Integrating a Christian perspective and sound economics, Estelle considers in what cases market exchange can communicate love and in which situations market approaches would only crush it.
Dr. Sarah Estelle is an associate professor of economics at Hope College. Most recently she has undertaken work bridging the principles of traditional Christian teaching and classical liberal economics and especially applying the lessons of economics to the Christian virtue of love, thickly construed. She is the director of Religious Liberty in the States, a brand-new statistical index that measures the legal safeguards for the free exercise of religion in the United States. Dr. Estelle is the founding director of Hope’s Markets & Morality student organization, which explores economic issues through a Christian lens and brings speakers and film screenings to campus to enrich the Hope community’s understanding of markets. Markets & Morality celebrates its 10th year in 2022–23.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Apply Now for Acton University 2023
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Few technologies are as simultaneously disruptive and controversial as cryptocurrency. Attitudes among businesspeople range from viewing it as way to revolutionize the entire monetary system to seeing cryptocurrency as an inherently valueless asset destined for embarrassing collapse. The recent downfall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried have fueled this debate further. Dr. Guido Hulsmann provides his perspective on this topic as one of the world's top Austrian economists and experts on the history of money. Michelle Abbs provides her perspective as one of the world's top women in NFTs. This session was a part of our Business Matters 2023 conference.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
The year is 1837. Imagine that you live in Calcutta and a man with a thick Boston accent offers you some ice cream. There is no such device as a refrigerator, much less a freezer, and yet here is a man offering you a cold (and delicious) treat. How did it get there? In this lecture from the 2019 Acton Lecture Series, Dave Hebert explains how ice harvesters in 19th century Boston were able to create their own system of property rights that allowed each person living around a local pond to thicken ice as needed. The result? These entrepreneurs shipped blocks of ice to destinations as far flung as India, opening up a new market to places where ice (and all its benefits) did not exist.
David Hebert graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from Hillsdale College in 2009, and then attended George Mason University, where he earned a master's in 2011 and a doctorate in 2014. During graduate school, he was an F.A. Hayek fellow with the Mercatus Center and a fellow with the Department of Health Administration and Policy. He also worked with the Joint Economic Committee in the U.S. Congress. Since graduating, he has worked as an assistant professor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, and Troy University in Troy, Alabama. He was also a fellow with the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, where he authored a comprehensive report on federal budget process reform.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Register Now for Business Matters 2023
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we’re bringing you a talk from our Acton Lecture Series from January 2023, that was co-sponsored by the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.
In their own time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Russell Kirk occupied different ends of the political spectrum. Their philosophies inspired the two most powerful movements of the age: the Nonviolent Movement (which led the larger Civil Rights Movement) and the modern Conservative Movement. Without King and Kirk modern American Social Justice liberalism and modern American conservatism as we know them would not exist. And yet, for all of their differences, our modern politics suffer because contemporary liberalism and conservatism lack the grounding in virtues, communitarian values and faith in an ordered universe that both Kingian Nonviolence and Kirkian Conservatism held fast to. Is it possible that by reacquainting ourselves with these lost traditions we could summon the better angels of left and right and restore a politics of virtue for the modern age?
John Wood Jr. is a writer, podcaster, and noted public speaker nationally recognized as a leading voice on issues of political and racial reconciliation. He is national ambassador for Braver Angels, America’s largest grassroots, bipartisan organization dedicated to political depolarization.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Register Now for Business Matters 2023
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today’s episode is a brief one, and takes us back in time to 2000 and the remarks from Sir John Templeton at the Acton Institute’s Annual Dinner. It was at this dinner that Templeton was award the inaugural Acton Institute Faith & Freedom Award for his contributions to civil society as “a pioneering philanthropist with wisdom to understand the tremendous role of faith in the course of human history.”
Beginning a Wall Street career in 1937, he created some of the world’s largest and most successful international investment funds. Templeton, a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), was known for starting mutual funds’ annual meetings with a prayer. Templeton was knighted Sir John by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his many accomplishments. One of these was creating the world’s richest award, the $1 million-plus Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities presented annually in London since 1972. Because of his vision, the John Templeton Foundation continues to give away about $40 million a year – especially to projects, college courses, books, and essays on the benefits of cooperation between science and religion.
In 2003, The Templeton Foundation committed to a generous pledge to launch the Templeton Freedom Awards program with Atlas Network. Since that time, Atlas has presented these awards and grants to outstanding think tanks working to improve the public understanding of freedom. The Acton Institute has won two Templeton Freedom Prizes.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Register Now for Business Matters 2023
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There is no shortage of headlines pointing to another powerful corporation run amok or the consumer base being manipulated. These types of issues have cast a significant shadow on the legitimacy and purpose of business, even the possibility of a good or moral business. This lecture from James Otteson aims to present how a renewed vision of the interconnectedness of morality and prosperity is key to building and sustaining a properly functioning society. Honorable and life-giving business may actually be integral to creating social institutions that produce meaningful value.
James Otteson earned his bachelor of arts degree from the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame in 1990. After completing his undergraduate degree, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, earning an M.A. in philosophy in 1992. He then joined the philosophy department at the University of Chicago, receiving a Ph.D. in 1997.
He has held visiting scholar positions at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, then located at Bowling Green State University; at the Centre for the Study of Scottish Philosophy, then located at the University of Aberdeen; at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities at the University of Edinburgh; in the economics and philosophy departments at the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and in the government department at Georgetown University. He has also taught in the economics department at New York University.
Otteson lectures widely on Adam Smith, classical liberalism, political economy, business ethics, and related issues, including for The Fund for American Studies, the Adam Smith Society, the Acton Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, and the Tikvah Fund.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Register Now for Business Matters 2023
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Russell Kirk has long been known as perhaps the most important founding father of the American Conservative movement in the second half of the 20th century. In the early 1950s, America was emerging from two decades of the Great Depression and the New Deal and facing the rise of radical ideologies abroad; the American Right seemed beaten, broken, and adrift. Then in 1953, Russell Kirk released his masterpiece, The Conservative Mind. More than any other published work of the time, this book became the intellectual touchstone for a reinvigorated movement and began a sea change in Americans’ attitudes toward traditionalism.
Brad Birzer’s biography recounts the story of Kirk’s life and work, with attention paid not only to his writings on politics and economics, but also on literature and culture, both subjects dear to Kirk’s heart and central to his thinking.
Dr. Bradley J. Birzer holds the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in History at Hillsdale College, and also serves as an Associate Professor of History.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Register Now for Business Matters 2023
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dr. Matson's lecture explored how in the British tradition, political economy, which partly emerged out of discourses in natural theology, ethics and jurisprudence, casts some light on the content of our moral obligations. Drawing on Hutcheson, Hume, and Smith, he desicussed how commerce in the eighteenth century came to be depicted as a mode of cooperation—either literally with God or metaphorically with our fellow human beings—through which we serve the common good. That depiction energized the emerging authorization of commercial enterprise, helping to illustrate the virtue of what Deirdre McCloskey calls the “bourgeois virtues,” an understanding which contributed to the Great Enrichment. The depiction continues to edify business as a calling and elaborate how freedom serves the good of humankind.
Erik W. Matson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and the Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Program in George Mason University’s Department of Economics. He serves as an Online Course Lecturer at The King’s College, New York. Previously he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2017.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Register Now for Business Matters 2023
Apply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we’re bringing you a panel from our recent Poverty Cure Summit.
The Poverty Cure Summit provides an opportunity for participants to listen to scholars, human service providers, and community leaders address the most critical issues we face today that can either exacerbate or alleviate poverty. These speakers will join panel discussions to discuss the legal, economic, social, and technological issues pertaining to both domestic (U.S.) and global poverty. Rooted in foundational principles of anthropology, politics, natural law, and economics, participants gained a deeper understanding of the root causes of poverty and identified practical means to reduce it and promote human flourishing.
This panel examines charity in the Muslim tradition.
The featured panelists are:
- Ali Salman, founding member & CEO, Islam and Liberty Network.
- Mahmoud El-Gamal, Professor of Economics and Statistics, Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar, Chair in Islamic Economics, Finance, and Management, Rice University
- Moderator: Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, Founding Director of the Lamppost Education Initiative
Subscribe to our podcasts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For this episode, we are taking you back to June 17, 1997 and the Acton Institute's 7th Annual Dinner in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The guest of honor that evening was Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
Scalia, who passed away suddenly on February 13, 2016, was a jurisprudential giant. One of the foremost proponents of originalist and textualist interpretation of the Constitution and law, his witty, humorous, and frequently biting writing style made his dissenting opinions, and sometimes his majority opinions, both must-reads and very accessible to non-lawyers.
His remarks to those gathered at Acton's Annual Dinner were entitled "On Interpreting the Constitution". In them, he explained his originalist approach to Constitutional law and the severe drawbacks that he saw with any alternative method of interpretation,
Subscribe to our podcasts
There's been renewed interest in the role Christianity has played in liberalism since Larry Siedentop’s 2014 book, Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism. Building on Siedentop, Daniel Klein says universal benevolent monotheism, and Christianity in particular, has led to the articulation of a specific social grammar and corresponding rights—in short Adam Smith’s “liberal plan.” But can liberalism be sustained in a world that no longer takes its ethics from that monotheism?
Daniel Klein is professor of economics and JIN Chair at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where Erik Matson and he lead a program in Adam Smith. He is also associate fellow at the Ratio Institute (Stockholm), research fellow at the Independent Institute, and chief editor of Econ Journal Watch. He and Matson also lead CL Press and curate the Liberty Fund column called Just Sentiments.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Daniel Klein
Books connect us in a very real way to people and ideas from the past. This talk will explore how we can help the current and future generations understand the thoughts and the minds of the thinkers of the past through printed books and publications.
For the past 25 years, Kristopher Bex has served as the President and board member of The Remnant Trust, Inc. Currently located in Lubbock, Texas and Cambridge City, Indiana, The Remnant Trust was founded in 1997 and incorporated in 1999. Mr. Bex served The Remnant Trust in its infancy as an original board member and incorporator. He found its ideas to be unique, interesting and thought it might accomplish some good in a rapidly evolving world of modernizing technology.
Subscribe to our podcasts
For this episode, we're bringing you a session from our recent Poverty Cure Summit. A conversation entitled "Hope for the City: Neighborhoods, Commerce, and Social Capital" featuring Rachel Ferguson, Justin S. Beene, and Ismael Hernandez.
The Poverty Cure Summit provides an opportunity for participants to listen to scholars, human service providers, and community leaders address the most critical issues we face today that can either exacerbate or alleviate poverty. Speakers joined panel discussions to discuss the legal, economic, social, and technological issues pertaining to both domestic (U.S.) and global poverty. Rooted in foundational principles of anthropology, politics, natural law, and economics, participants gained a deeper understanding of the root causes of poverty and identify practical means to reduce it and promote human flourishing.
Subscribe to our podcasts
In 1867, Sen. Charles Sumner posed the question “are we a nation?” in the wake of the Civil War. As America confronts new extremes of polarization in the 21st century, the question is inescapable again. Samuel Goldman explores the ways the U.S. does and does not correspond to historical conceptions of the nation-state.
Samuel Goldman is an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is also director of the Loeb Institute for Religious Freedom. In addition to his academic work, Goldman is an affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute and has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Samuel Goldman | Amazon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The dramatic social changes of the past century have left our world with a fragile sense of identity. Changes in technology and entertainment have constrained spiritual imaginations and reoriented our collective vision of the good life. These trends pave the way for charismatic leaders in politics, the marketplace, and religious communities to provide meaning through belonging to a group, especially one defined by a sense of “movement.” But “movement” thinking disincentivizes the slower work of building—be that the building of character or institutions, and the disastrous result has been on display for decades. Our hope for correcting course is found only in embracing a deeper, more rooted vision of virtue, the brevity of life, and a love for the world around us.
Mike Cosper is a writer and podcast producer/senior director of podcasts at Christianity Today. In 2021 he produced and hosted The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, a serialized podcast telling the story of a Seattle megachurch’s stunning success and collapse. The podcast served as a venue to explore a variety of questions and issues that trouble the church, including character formation, gender, celebrity, and the distorting power of media. His next series launches later this year.
Subscribe to our podcasts
‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill’ Podcasts | Christianity Today
About Mike Cosper
Is Christianity doing more harm than good to American men? | Acton Institute PowerBlog
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Libraries are filled with books on the parables of Christ, and rightly so. In the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “While civilizations have come and gone, these stories continue to teach us anew with their freshness and their humanity.” Two millennia later, the New Testament parables remain ubiquitous, and yet few have stopped to glean wisdom from one of Christ’s most prevalent analogies: the use of money.
In The Economics of the Parables, Rev. Robert Sirico pulls back the veil of modernity to reveal the timeless economic wisdom of the parables. Thirteen central stories—including “The Laborers in the Vineyard,” “The Rich Fool,” “The Five Talents,” and “The Faithful Steward”—serve as his guide, revealing practical lessons in caring for the poor, stewarding wealth, distributing inheritances, navigating income disparities, and resolving family tensions.
Rev. Robert A. Sirico is the president emeritus and co-founder of the Acton Institute, and pastor emeritus of Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Grand Rapids, Mich. His writings on religious, political, economic, and social matters are published in a variety of journals, including: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the London Financial Times, the Washington Times, The Detroit News, and National Review. He is the author of numerous books, including Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, A Moral Basis for Liberty, and The Economics of the Parables.
Subscribe to our podcasts
The Economics of the Parables | Acton Book Shop
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode takes us back in time to September 2018 for a talk from our Acton Lecture Series.
Students of 20th century American history know of the importance of the Marshall Plan to the effort to rebuild Europe after World War II, as well as the leading role taken by the United States in building international institutions and alliances that would be central to maintaining peace and checking the expansionist desires of the communist world. What you may not know is that a central figure in the creation of those institutions was a United States Senator from Michigan who, prior to the war, had been a leader of the isolationist faction in Congress. The story of how Arthur Vandenberg came to be one of the founders of modern American foreign policy is recounted in the book Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century, from Hank Meijer.
Hank Meijer is co-chairman and CEO of Meijer, Inc. in Grand Rapids and vice-chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. He serves on the executive committee of the Food Marketing Institute and is a trustee of the National Constitution Center and The Henry Ford. He is a member of the University of Michigan’s President’s Advisory Group and the Ford School of Public Policy board of advisors and chairs the board of the Kettering Foundation.
His biography of Senator Vandenberg was published in 2017 by the University of Chicago Press.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century | Amazon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings can gather that their author hated tyranny, but few know that the novelist who once described himself as a hobbit “in all but size” was—even by hobbit standards—a zealous proponent of economic freedom and small government. There is a growing concern among many that the West is sliding into political, economic, and moral bankruptcy. In his beloved novels of Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien has drawn us a map to freedom.
Several books ably explore how Tolkien’s Catholic faith informed his fiction. None until now have centered on how his passion for liberty and limited government also shaped his work, or how this passion grew directly from his theological vision of man and creation. The Hobbit Party fills this void. Jonathan Witt and Jay Richards bring to The Hobbit Party a combined expertise in literary studies, political theory, economics, philosophy, and theology.
Jonathan Witt, PhD, is Executive Editor of Discovery Institute Press and a senior fellow and senior project manager with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. His latest book is Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design (DI Press, 2018) written with Finnish bioengineer Matti Leisola. Witt also authored Intelligent Design Uncensored (IVP, 2010) with William Dembski, and A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature (IVP, 2006) with Benjamin Wiker. He is also the author of The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot (Ignatius, 2014), written with Jay Richards.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The conventional wisdom on C.S. Lewis was that he really didn’t care much for politics, or for law, and so he wouldn’t have spent much time or energy on liberty either. But the conventional wisdom is mistaken. The truth is Lewis was deeply interested in the political, properly understood, as well as natural law, the human person, and genuine liberty. In this session we will explore Lewis’ thoughts on these matters by considering his biography, his keen interest in criminal justice reform, what he believed about the purpose of government, and how his views on natural law and human liberty connect to his Christian convictions.
Micah Watson is associate professor and PPE program director at Calvin University. He is also the executive director of the Paul Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics. His research interests include John Locke and the political thought of C.S. Lewis.
Myths about economics die hard. What’s worse, such fallacies are destructive to human cooperation and flourishing. Join us for a discussion of six economic lies you’ve been taught and probably believe.
Caleb Fuller is an assistant professor of economics at Grove City College and a faculty affiliate of the Program on Economics and Privacy at the George Mason University Scalia Law School. He received his BA in economics from Grove City College and PhD in economics from George Mason University. He has published in journals such as ‘Public Choice,’ the ‘International Review of Law and Economics,’ the ‘Review of Austrian Economics’ and others.
Subscribe to our podcasts
No Free Lunch | Amazon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Few questions loom as large for parents and students these days as the question of how to afford a college education. College costs have been rising for decades, and all too often, students rely heavily on student loans and graduate with significant debt loads that they spend years paying off.
Alex Chediak, professor of engineering and physics at California Baptist University, has tackled this question and provided parents and students with an invaluable guide in his book Beating the College Debt Trap.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Alex Chediak
Beating the College Debt Trap | Amazon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Around the world, discouragement erodes the vitality of Christian organizations. Visionaries often succumb to cynicism. Zealous advocates give up. Leaders coast as their passion for the cause grows cold.
Grounded in deep research, The Gift of Disillusionment: Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades invites followers of Jesus to sustain hope in long-term service. It’s about moving past the false hope of idealism and the faint hope of disillusionment to discover true Christian hope.
Peter Greer is the president and CEO of HOPE International, a global Christ-centered economic development organization serving throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Subscribe to our podcasts
The Gift of Disillusionment | Amazon
Peter Greer Author Page | Amazon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we go back in time to October 9, 2014, and the Acton Institute’s 24th annual dinner for this speech from Daniel Hannan.
Hannan is a British writer, journalist, and politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament representing South East England from 1999 through 2020, standing down from the EU Parliament upon in the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU in 20202, for which Hannan was a lead campaigner.
Hannan first rose to international prominence in 2009 when a video of a short speech he delivered to the EU Parliament when viral. In the speech, Hannan strongly criticized then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his response to the 2008 global financial crisis, calling him the “the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government.”
In his address to our 2014 Annual Dinner, Hannan stressed the importance of not taking for granted the sublime inheritance of our liberal democratic systems of governance, and the importance of defending that heritage with a sense of optimism and confidence in what is good about the way we do things.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Christ calls us to spiritual poverty. In today's prosperous society, that call frequently goes unheard or misinterpreted. In this lecture from 2011, Acton's President Emeritus, Rev. Robert. Sirico discusses how one can live out Christ's call in the middle of a prosperous society.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Christian Poverty in the Age of Prosperity (Rev. Robert A. Sirico - Acton Institute)
In 1783 George Washington said that “we have a national character to establish.” 110 Years later Frederick Jackson Turner published “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” and wrote these words: “to the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics… coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind…, that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom…” Turner identified the closing of the frontier as a watershed for national character. In the 110 years since, we have observed that Washington’s project could not be contained in limned geographic descriptions. Have we, then, a national character? And if we do, is it a friend to liberty?
Professor William B. Allen is a professor of political philosophy at Michigan State University, and at the time of this recording was the Senior Visiting Fellow at the Matthew J. Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good at Villanova University. His areas of expertise include the American founding and U.S. Constitution; the American founders (particularly George Washington); the influence of various political philosophers (especially Montesquieu) on the American founding; liberal arts education, its history, importance and problems; and the intersection of race and politics.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse describes how the socialist ideal of equality has played an independent role in the breakdown of the family, arguing that socialism has attacked the family directly and has adopted policies that have led to demographic collapse.
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse is the founder of the Ruth Institute, an interfaith international coalition to defend the family and build a Civilization of Love. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester and taught economics at Yale and George Mason Universities.
The lecture was presented in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 3, 2008.
Subscribe to our podcasts
On April 14, 2015, The Acton Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy jointly hosted Timothy Carney for a lecture on the topic "Is Big Business a Danger to Economic Liberty?"
Timothy P. Carney is the senior political columnist at the Washington Examiner, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of three books. Tim was a 2012 Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hillsdale College and he sits on the board of visitors for the Institute for Political Journalism.
A protégé of the late columnist Robert Novak, Tim was senior reporter at the Evans-Novak Political Report and became editor when Novak retired in 2008. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and many other publications. He is author of Obamanomics (2009) and The Big Ripoff (2006), which won the Templeton Enterprise Award from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the 2006 Lysander Spooner Award for the "best book on liberty." Tim is a native of Greenwich Village and an alumnus of St. John's College in Annapolis. He now lives in the D.C. area with his wife and six children.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Timothy Carney Author Page | Amazon
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
We go back in time to April 2011, when Samuel Gregg, current senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, discussed the social teaching of Benedict XVI, illustrating how much the pope changed the focus of Christian engagement with political, social, and economic questions. Whether the subject was Islam, ecumenism, the rise and decline of the West, or simply "Who is Jesus Christ?,” Benedict opened up discussions once considered taboo and caused even hardened secularists to rethink some of their positions. Two years after Gregg’s lecture, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, and Jorge Bergoglio was elected his successor, assuming the name Pope Francis.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Samuel Gregg | AIER
'The Modern Papacy' by Samuel Gregg
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Kenneth G. Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, delivered a plenary address as part of Acton University 2018. His topic for the evening was “C.S. Lewis and Freedom: Christianity's Most Famous Apologist Meets Adam Smith.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Kenneth G. Elzinga
“To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement”
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Why does federal aid seem to have a reverse Midas touch? Drawing on examples from the nation's past and present—from the fur trade and railroads, to cars and chemicals, to aviation and Solyndra—"Uncle Sam Can't Count” is a sweeping work of economic history that explains why the federal government cannot and should not pick winners and losers in the private sector.
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2015 Acton Lecture Series, featuring American historian Burton W. Folsom speaking on his book (co-written with Anita Folsom) “Uncle Sam Can’t Count.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
Uncle Sam Can't Count: A History of Failed Government Investments, from Beaver Pelts to Green Energy
About Burton W. Folsom
Biden's 'stimulus' for a growing economy is all about central control | Acton Institute
America's public debt: Crisis or the cost of civilization? | Acton Institute
Emanuel Cleaver: People get 'saved' through government spending | Acton Institute
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you an address given by the late Charles Colson, former Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon, at the Acton Institute’s Third Anniversary Dinner, on the topic of the decline of American values.
Subscribe to our podcasts
'Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph' | Acton Institute
What are transatlantic values? | Acton Institute
Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis | Acton Institute
Liberty and the Good Life | Acton Institute
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president emeritus of the Acton Institute, gave this plenary address during Acton University 2017. He spoke on the importance of virtue in society and that the most influential institution in any society is the family. If we truly believe in human flourishing, then change starts at home and in our local communities. That is how we gradually transform the world.
Subscribe to our podcasts
"The Economics of the Parables"
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you a plenary address delivered by L. Gregory Jones, president of Belmont University, featured at Acton University, 2022.
For too many people, the future isn’t what it used to be. In the midst of dealing with multiple pandemics, people have gotten stuck in old patterns and become increasingly fearful. How do we rediscover a hopeful future? Dr. Jones argues that we need to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, linked to virtuous character and purpose, that will refocus on cultivating life that really is life.
How can we navigate toward a future of human flourishing, one of rediscovered virtue, entrepreneurship, and devotion to God? Dr. Jones offers an inspiring way forward.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About L. Gregory Jones
At the beginning of the 20th century, Dutch theologian, journalist, and statesman Abraham Kuyper toured the Mediterranean world and directly encountered Islam for the first time. His observations and insights from this trip were published as “On Islam,” a nuanced and substantive examination of the faith and culture of the Muslim world, as well as the effects of European colonialism, all anchored in an informed Christian point of view.
In this episode, we bring you a panel discussion that was delivered as part of the Acton Institute’s 2018 book launch for a new English-language edition of “On Islam.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
On Islam (Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology)
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Hans-Martien ten Napel of Leiden University delivered an address entitled "Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Religious Freedom: To Be Fully Human" at the Acton Institute "Reclaiming the West: Public Spirit and Public Virtue" conference in Washington, D.C., on December 6, 2017.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Hans-Martien ten Napel
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2013 Acton Lecture Series, featuring Samuel Gregg, Acton’s director of research, speaking on his book Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future.
In Becoming Europe, Gregg explains how European economic life has drifted in the direction of what Alexis de Tocqueville called “soft despotism” and ways in which similar trends are discernible in the United States. The good news is that economic decline is not inevitable and that the path to recovery lies in the distinctiveness of American economic culture. Yet there are ominous signs that some of the cultural foundations of America’s historically unparalleled economic success are being eroded in ways not easily reversible, and so the European experience should serve as the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Samuel Gregg, D.Phil. (Oxon.)
Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future | Samuel Gregg
Are We All Europeans Now? | National Review
The U.S. Bishops and the Tweet Heard ’Round the World | Acton Institute
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
What can we do to live happier lives? How can we help others find the secret to true, lasting happiness? What is the connection between free enterprise and happiness? Prolific author and social scientist Arthur C. Brooks discusses the confluence of work, happiness, and human flourishing.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Arthur Brooks
From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life | Arthur C. Brooks
Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think | Arthur C. Brooks
AEI's President on Measuring the Impact of Ideas | Arthur C. Brooks
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode of Acton Vault, Dr. Jordan Ballor, director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, delivered a plenary lecture at Acton’s first annual academic colloquium entitled “Is Homo Economicus Sovereign in His Own Sphere? A Challenge from Neo-Calvinism for the Neoclassical Model.” Ballor is also the series editor of the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology | Lexham Press
About Jordan Ballor, D.theol., Ph.D.
The Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy
How does human work further human dignity? | Acton Institute
Entrepreneurship in theological perspective: Creative and innovative | Acton Institute
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Rooted in the tradition of the Orthodox Church and its teaching on the relationship between God, humanity, and all creation, Fr. Michael Butler and Prof. Andrew Morriss offer a new contribution to Orthodox environmental theology. Too often policy recommendations from theologians and church authorities have taken the form of pontifications, obscuring many important economic and public policy realities. The authors establish a framework for responsible engagement with environmental issues undergirded not only by church teaching but also by sound economic analysis.
Fr. Butler and Prof. Morriss take the discussion of Orthodox environmental ethics from abstract principles to thoughtful interaction with the concrete, always sensitive to the inviolability of human dignity, the plight of the poor, and our common pursuit of communion with God.
This presentation was delivered as part of the 2015 Acton Lecture Series.
Subscribe to our podcasts
The False Promise of Green Energy | Acton Institute
Fr. Michael Butler offers insight on Laudato Si' | Acton University 2015
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Honorable Janice Rogers Brown, retired judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, delivered an evening plenary address as part of Acton University 2018.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Apply now for Acton University 2022
Register for free — The Islamic Case for Liberty — Acton Institute
Janus v. AFSCME: Political freedom for public employees — Acton Institute
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2022 Acton Lecture Series, featuring Matthew Tuininga, Ph.D., associate professor of Christian ethics and the history of Christianity at Calvin Theological Seminary, speaking on Abraham Kuyper's principles for Christian liberalism. Kuyper was a staunch critic of the secularist liberalism he identified as the legacy of the French Revolution, but in its place he advocated what might be described as Christian liberalism.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Apply now for Acton University 2022
Calvin Theological Seminary
About Matthew J. Tuininga
The Abraham Kuyper Collection – Acton Bookshop
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode of Acton Vault, John O’Sullivan, president of the Danube Institute in Budapest, accepted the 2011 Faith and Freedom Award on behalf of Lady Margaret Thatcher during Acton’s 2011 Anniversary Dinner.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Apply now for Acton University 2022
About John O'Sullivan
Danube Institute
In this episode of Acton Vault, John D. Wilsey, associate professor of church history and philosophy at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, dissects Alexis de Tocqueville’s understanding of self-interest and how it helps preserve liberty within the bounds of democracy.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About John D. Wilsey
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Alexis de Tocqueville, socialism, and the American Way | Acton Institute
Video: John Wilsey On How To Read de Tocqueville's 'Democracy In America'
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you an insightful conversation between Michael Matheson Miller, Acton Institute senior research fellow and producer of the documentary Poverty, Inc., and the late George Ayittey, Ghanaian economist, author, and president of the Free Africa Foundation.
The Acton Institute’s Poverty Cure series includes supplementary conversations with renowned scholars, businesspeople, and nonprofit leaders. This is a conversation that took place in 2020.
Ayittey died on January 28, 2022, at the age of 76.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Poverty Cure Summit — Acton Institute
HRF Mourns the Passing of Ghanaian Economist and Freedom Champion George Ayittey — Human Rights Foundation
In October 2018, Brazilian professor Lucas Freire delivered the 18th annual Calihan Lecture here at the Acton Institute.
Freire was the 2018 recipient of the Novak Award, a $15,000 grant that rewards those early in their academic career who can demonstrate the relationship between religion, economic freedom, and the free and virtuous society.
Recipients of the Novak Award make a formal presentation at an annual public forum known as the Calihan Lecture.
Freire’s lecture was part of an international two-day conference, “Crisis in the Public Square: A Response from the Kuyperian Tradition.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Dr. Lucas G. Freire
About the Novak Award | Acton Institute
In this episode, we bring you a keynote address that was delivered as part of the 2017 Education and Freedom Conference, featuring Jeff Sandefer, co-founder of Acton Academy, a new and innovative K–12 school that offers a nontraditional approach to education—an alternative to standardized testing and rote memorization.
Sandefer opens his address by questioning the typical education model: “Common Core, standardized tests, control, regurgitation, [and] oversight—19th-century solutions in the 21st century. Perhaps this makes sense to some until you ask the question, ‘What if children really are far more capable than we ever imagined?’”
Subscribe to our podcasts
Acton Academy
Jeff Sandefer — Acton Academy Co-Founder
A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey — Acton Bookshop
Ian Rowe on “Agency”: Empowering all children to achieve success — Acton Line Podcast
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
What’s it like to be the son or daughter of a dictator? Not just any dictator, but a genocidal monster on the level of a Josef Stalin? What’s it like to bear a name synonymous with oppression, terror, and evil?
Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor of National Review, set out to answer that question in his book “Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators.” He looks into the families of the worst of the worst: Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and so on.
Some of the kids are down-the-line loyalists. Some even succeeded their fathers as dictators themselves (as in North Korea and Syria). Some have doubts. A few defect. All have been rocked by prison, war, exile, and the like. These men and women lead all-too-interesting lives.
This is a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2015 Acton Lecture Series.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Jay Nordlinger
Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators
When Dad Is the Devil | National Review
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode of Action Vault, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2013 Acton Lecture Series, featuring John Blundell speaking on the topic of “Ladies for Liberty: Women Who Made a Difference in American History.” Blundell was director general and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He passed away on July 22, 2014, at the age of 61.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Acton Lecture Series
About John Blundell
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode of Action Vault, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2014 Acton Lecture Series, featuring F.H. Buckley, Foundation Professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law, speaking on the unchecked presidential power we’re witnessing today in our government. Buckley explains that what we assume was the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of a separation of powers was not what the Founders had in mind. What they expected was a country in which Congress would dominate the government and in which the president would play a much smaller role.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Acton Lecture Series
About F.H. Buckley
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you an interview that was conducted as part of our 2022 Business Matters online conference, featuring Mark Murray, former president of Meijer (one of America’s largest private companies), former president of Grand Valley State University, and former budget director for the State of Michigan.
Murray draws from his diverse leadership experience to speak on how each of us can achieve virtuous leadership. Acton’s director of communications, Eric Kohn, asks him about leadership lessons he’s learned in each of the three industries he’s worked in, current crises facing businesses, and the search for fulfillment.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Virtuous Leadership vs. Narcissistic Leadership
Magnanimity and Humility Make for Good Entrepreneurs
Do private property and religious liberty go hand in hand? Are they truly inseparable? The Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president emeritus and co-founder of the Acton Institute, defends private property as the solid ground of religious liberty in this contribution to the 2016 Acton Lecture Series.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Acton Lecture Series
About Rev. Robert A. Sirico
Acton research on private property
Private property and public good
The Church, property rights, and the environment
In defense of private property
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
With more than a million words of trenchant journalism under his byline and more citations in The Penguin Dictionary of Humorous Quotations than any writer then alive, P.J. O’Rourke had established himself as America’s premier political satirist. Both TIME and The Wall Street Journal labeled him “the funniest writer in America.”
In this episode, O'Rourke delivers remarks on the current state of American governance at the Acton Institute's 23rd Anniversary Dinner on October 24, 2013.
O’Rourke died at his home in Sharon, New Hampshire, on February 15, 2022, at the age of 74.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About P.J. O'Rourke
Why we need more O'Rourke Conservatives
Acton Line: PJ O'Rourke on capitalism; Peter Jackson's 'They Shall Not Grow Old'
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2014 Acton Lecture Series featuring Jay Richards, Ph.D., senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and New York Times bestselling author, speaking on why a belief in God is necessary for libertarianism to flourish.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Acton Lecture Series
About Jay Richards
Dr. Gerald McDermott addresses the important issue of the state of public virtue and what might be done to restore it in his address at Acton's "Reclaiming the West: Public Spirit and Public Virtue" event in Washington D.C. on December 6, 2017.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Dr. Gerald McDermott
In this episode, Sam Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute, delivered the opening plenary lecture of Acton University 2017. Gregg’s lecture focuses on the very real dangers faced by religious believers around the world (and especially in developing nations). He also touches on threats to religious freedom within western nations. These threats, ironically, often stem from modern ideological interpretations of “tolerance.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Samuel Gregg, D.Phil. (Oxon.)
Reason, faith, and the struggle for Western civilization
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Organizations commonly face roadblocks when trying to address poverty or engage effectively with people directly affected by it. When it comes to poverty alleviation, organizations tend to think that what is needed is the perfect strategy, a new idea, or a great program. What’s most important, however, are the people involved, the relationships built, and the process we use to get to the solution.
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2022 Acton Lecture Series featuring Marlo Fox speaking on building solutions with the people directly affected by poverty, creating organization and community cultures that strengthen social capital across economic lines.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Thinktank-inc.org
About Marlo Fox
Acton Lecture Series
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
We often say what’s right and what’s wrong can be vague and not always easy to discern. The natural law tradition says that’s nonsense: Moral basics are known to every human being. If this is true, then we aren’t ignorant of the good, just self-deceived. So what happens when we tell ourselves that we don’t know what we really do know?
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2017 Acton Lecture Series, featuring Dr. J. Budziszewski speaking on natural law and the revenge of conscience.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Dr. J. Budziszewski
Acton Lecture Series
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 1994 Acton Lecture Series featuring Sister Connie Driscoll speaking on the welfare myth.
Sister Connie (1933–2005) was the co-founder of St. Martin de Porres House of Hope, now the Southside Center of Hope, in an impoverished neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. It’s a community for women and their children who are healing and recovering from substance abuse.
Sister Connie believed in personal responsibility and refused any type of government aid. When women entered the community, Sister Connie took their welfare checks and taught them how to pay rent.
She described her practice in a 1997 Forbes interview: “They have to turn over 80 percent of their welfare check and 50 percent of their food stamps. I put the money and stamps into a safe-deposit box and return it when they’re ready to leave. We teach them to pay rent, utilities and food bills first, then prioritize what else they need. The word on the street is that ours is a tough house. The women always have somewhere to be: career or computer training, GED classes, Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings or a job here in the house.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Sister Connie Driscoll
Acton Lecture Series
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
There are competing creation “myths” regarding American liberty. The Jamestown, Va., settlers of 1607 have vied with the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony in New England for dominance in America’s self-understanding of its origins. In this presentation, delivered as part of the 2019 Acton Lecture Series, Alan Crippen argues that these narratives have obscured the role of William Penn and his “holy experiment” of Pennsylvania as the most influential seedbed of American liberty.
Subscribe to our podcasts
Acton Lecture Series
Faith and Liberty Discovery Center
On May 5, 1994, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas delivered the keynote address at the Acton Institute’s Fourth Anniversary Dinner. His remarks were entitled, “Religion and the Constitution of Liberty.”
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Clarence Thomas
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2021 Acton Lecture Series, featuring Rachel Ferguson, Ph.D., speaking on black liberation through the marketplace.
Viewing America’s record on individual rights and constitutional order through a classical liberal lens, Ferguson sees the undeniable and blatant injustices perpetrated against black Americans. But she also discovers black entrepreneurs overcoming extraordinary obstacles and a black community that has created flourishing institutions and culture.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Rachel Ferguson
Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America
Anthony Bradley on why black lives matter
Acton Lecture Series
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Robert Doar, a Morgridge Scholar and the president of the American Enterprise Institute, explores the history and future of welfare policy in America. Weaving together personal anecdotes and statistical insights, he explains the significant progress that has been made to alleviate poverty in past decades.
At the same time, Doar maps out many of the obstacles still standing in the way of further advances. Based on decades of experience and the influence of his father's public service, Robert outlines the most important features of an effective anti-poverty program that promotes work, family life, and civil society and that lays the groundwork for a more prosperous America.
This presentation was delivered as part of the 2019 Acton Lecture Series.
About Robert Doar
Acton Lecture Series
Subscribe to our podcasts
America has experienced a surge in populism in recent years that has turned the established order of our politics on its head. Where does such a movement come from? What can history tell us about where it's going? And what can statesmen do to channel this political outrage for the good of all the people?
In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2016 Acton Lecture Series, featuring Ben Domenech, co-founder and publisher of The Federalist, speaking on the rise of American populism.
Domenech looks at the history of populism in America, from Andrew Jackson to William Jennings Bryan, and traces that strain of politics straight through to the rise of Donald Trump. According to Domenech, the roots of the current populist uprising in America can be traced to the failure of elite institutions to address or even acknowledge the problems and needs of average citizens.
Subscribe to our podcasts
About Ben Domenech
The Federalist: Culture, Politics, Religion
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On November 17, 2021, an audience of Acton supporters and friends gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan to celebrate Rev. Robert A. Sirico’s three decades of leadership of the institute as he officially transitioned to the role of President Emeritus. Sirico’s remarks were a reflection on those years of work in service of the cause of liberty, the current state of political and social discourse in the United States, and his vision for how the Acton Institute can help to bridge the vast social divides that exist today.
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
Our world is a world of ever evolving technology. Every positive advancement in digital technology inevitably comes with an encroachment on privacy whether it be in business, health, families, or freedom. From rampant cancel culture and propaganda on social networks to data collection and surveillance, social manipulation has become the new digital contagion—influencing our behavior and threatening our security. Protection from the omnipresence of digital tech can come in many mediums whether it be political and economic reforms, challenges in the judicial system, or decentralizing the power of the state and large corporations. How much technology is too much? How can innovations in digital technology be used to serve the masses instead of manipulating them?
In this episode, we’re bringing you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2021 Acton Lecture series featuring Michael Matheson Miller speaking on his new book, Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism.
Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Andrew Klavan is a screenwriter, author, and two-time Edgar Award winner. Among his works are the internationally bestselling crime novels True Crime and Don't Say a Word. Both books were adapted into screenplays and went on to Hollywood success—the former directed by Clint Eastwood and the latter directed by and starring Michael Douglas.
A prolific author, Klavan has also written thrillers for young adults, such as the bestselling Homelanders series, and a number of nonfiction works, including the religious memoir A Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ. That personal story formed the basis of his keynote address at the Acton Institute’s 29th Annual Dinner on October 15, 2019.
In that address, Klavan shared the story of his journey from atheism to faith in Jesus Christ and laid out his views on how to speak about faith in a culture that has largely abandoned not only biblical truth but the very idea of truth itself.
About Andrew Klavan
True Crime & Don't Say a Word
The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Distributism is a political and economic theory under which the means of productions would be redistributed to as many people as possible, as part of an effort to decentralize power to the greatest extent possible, and to protect the rights of smaller political and economic units against the encroachments of both central government and big business. While distributists and free market advocates can find some common ground, there remain significant differences between the two groups.
On February 18, 2016, the Acton Institute hosted a debate on the topic of distributism.
Arguing in favor of distributism was Joseph Pearce, who at the time was writer-in-residence at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tenn., and the director of the college’s Center for Faith and Culture. Currently, Pearce is director of book publishing at the Augustine Institute and editor of the St. Austin Review. On the side of free markets was Jay Richards, assistant research professor in the Busch School of Business and the academic content lead for the Tuscon Project at the Catholic University of America. Acton Institute president and co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico served as the moderator of the discussion.
Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault
Joseph Pearce bio
Jay W. Richards bio
Acton’s 31st Annual Dinner
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Religious-liberty litigants have won 18 of their past 19 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, 14 of them unanimously or by supermajority vote. But a number of those decisions have been on narrow legal grounds and have not resolved the continuing tension between secular culture and those trying to live their faith in the public square.
In this episode, John Bursch, vice president of appellate advocacy at Alliance Defending Freedom, discusses where we’ve been and where we might be going when it comes to America’s “first freedom”: religious liberty.
This presentation was delivered on Oct. 28, 2021 as part of the Acton Lecture Series.
Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault
Alliance Defending Freedom
Bio | John Bursch
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Is the market economy rooted in greed and self-interest? Jeffrey Tucker, founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, says no. Many degrees of love are at the core of what it means to exchange, invent, speculate, and produce. True love of neighbor cannot neglect private ownership, the profit motive, and personal vision, all of which are necessary for a vibrant economy that works for everyone.
This presentation was delivered as part of the 2015 Acton Lecture Series.
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
Brownstone Institute
Bio | Jeffrey A. Tucker
Latest Book | Liberty or Lockdown
The Purges Have Begun
Why Masks? Control, Power, and Revenue
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On Thursday, Sept. 23, Rev. Robert A. Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute, debated Joshua Davis, executive director at the Institute for Christian Socialism, at the St. Augustine's Catholic Center at the University of Idaho on the question of Capitalism vs. Socialism: How does each system serve a Christian conception of a healthy society?
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
Capitalism vs Socialism: How does each system serve a Christian conception of a healthy society?
What is capitalism?
The deceit of 'democratic socialism'
How socialism fosters an envious, covetous worldview
Why capitalism is worth conserving
9 big questions about democratic socialism
An aid to defining 'capitalism'
'Inclusive capitalism'? Why not simply 'capitalism'
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
What makes a president "good" or "bad"? Are historians always the best judge of such things? Or should we be getting second opinions?
In this lecture, Larry Reed, president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education, offers his answers to these questions while taking us on a stroll through the triumphs and follies of some of the men who have occupied the White House.
Reed’s presentation was delivered as part of the 2014 Acton Lecture Series.
More from Larry Reed
Foundation for Economic Education
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
Between Catholics and Protestants, the list of common beliefs, values, and practices is much longer and more substantive than the differences. (Assuming, of course, they are not heretics to their own traditions.) Why, then, has our alliance been so weak in stemming the tide of public secularization, immoralism, and decadence?
In this episode, we bring you a lecture that was delivered as part of Acton University 2018, featuring Peter Kreeft speaking on the commonalities enjoyed by Catholics and Protestants.
The Official Peter Kreeft Site
Think locally, act locally | Acton Commentary
Abraham Kuyper | Religion & Liberty
Subsidiarity and Sphere Sovereignty: Christian Reflections on the Size, Shape and Scope of Government
The Principle of Subsidiarity | Religion & Liberty
What is Subsidiarity? | Acton Power Blog
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we are bringing you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2014 Acton Lecture Series featuring John “Chuck” Chalberg as he plays the role of G.K. Chesterton. In his performance, Chesterton speaks about America, which he thought was the only country with the soul of a church. He also addresses the state of the family, past and present. His starting point and end point is this: "Without the family we are helpless before the state."
Is GK Chesterton Still Relevant? Why, Yes
Video | An Evening With GK Chesterton
Acton Lecture Series
Subscribe to Acton Vault, Acton Unwind, & Acton Line
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On September 11th, 2001 terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth hijacked airliner was crashed in a field near Shanksville, Penn., after a group of passengers rushed the cockpit to take the plane back. The attacks resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans. This attack challenged the way we celebrate our fundamental freedoms here in America.
One month later, The Acton Institute had its 11th Annual anniversary Dinner. The dinner featured a keynote address by journalist and political commentator, Tony Snow, as well as comments by Fr. Robert Sirico.
A New York firefighter tells his story of 9/11
Subscribe to Acton Vault podcast
Subscribe to Acton Unwind podcast
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse describes how the socialist ideal of equality has played an independent role in the breakdown of the family, arguing that socialism has attacked the family directly and has adopted policies that have led to demographic collapse.
This presentation was delivered as part of the 2008 Acton Lecture Series.
Bio | Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D
The Ruth Institute
Acton Lecture Series
Subscribe to Acton Vault podcast
Subscribe to Acton Unwind podcast
In this episode, we're bringing you a plenary session featuring a conversation with Fr. Robert Sirico and Michael Novak which was delivered as part of Acton University 2012.
The life of Novak has been a story of intellectual exploration, with philosophy, Roman Catholic theology, and economics as the pillars of his career. Novak has changed the hearts and minds of millions to rethink how we approach human anthropology within the free market.
Novak was a public intellectual, author, professor, and former US Ambassador among many other things. He was the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and the 1994 recipient of the million-dollar Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. He has authored more than 45 books on philosophy, theology, culture, and economics, including his masterpiece, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism.
Novak passed away on February 17th 2017 at his home in Washington at the age of 83.
About Michael Novak
The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
Subscribe to Acton Vault podcast
Subscribe to Acton Unwind podcast
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we're bringing you a plenary speech given by Joel Salatin which was delivered as part of Acton University 2015. Salatin is a full-time, third generation alternative farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. He speaks on defending small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm.
His farm, Polyface Inc, the “Farm of Many Faces” has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Gourmet, and countless other radio, television and print media.
Joel Salatin | Bio
Polyface Farm - We Are Your Clean Meat Connection
Subscribe to Acton Vault podcast
Subscribe to Acton Unwind podcast
For over half a century America has been suffering from a growing but strangely overlooked crisis: a flight from work by men in the prime of life. Just before the COVID-19 crisis, almost 7 million men 25-54 were neither working nor looking for work. Employment rates for prime aged U.S. men mirrored those near the end of the Great Depression. In the wake of the COVID-19 shock, America's 'men without work’ problem has become even more acute.
In this episode, we're bringing you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2021 Acton Lecture Series featuring Nicholas Eberstadt, as he outlines the dimensions of the problem, examines some of its causes, discusses its far-reaching implications, and speculates about possible solutions.
Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis
Covid relief bill’s side effects on our future economy
How to rebuild the economy after COVID-19
Bio | Nicholas Eberstadt, Ph.D.
Acton Lecture Series
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Communism took power in Cuba through deceit and intrigue in 1959. While Fidel Castro denied he was a communist, promising to restore democracy in the island, he began consolidating totalitarian rule and exporting revolution in Latin America and Africa.
As the totalitarian dictatorship became evident, Cuba's democratic resistance defied the Castro regime in two phases: 1959-1966 (violent resistance) and 1976 - present (non-violent resistance). US Cuba policy would undergo dramatic changes between 1959 and the present with consequences for the entire hemisphere.
In this episode, we're bringing you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2018 Acton Lecture Series featuring John Suarez as he explores Cuba’s history and looks to its future in this address.
Bio | John Suarez
Center for a FREE Cuba
Cuba Libre: Protestors call for an end to communism and oppression
How global leaders used COVID-19 to restrict religious liberty
Acton Lecture Series
Acton Institute Events Podcast
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
For decades, the race to space was the domain of the state. Today space is rapidly becoming commercialized, opening vast opportunities for entrepreneurs. The commercialization of space also brings challenges.
In this episode, we're bringing you a panel discussion featuring Daniel Britt, PhD., Joel Sercel, PhD., and Paul Stimers, PhD., that was delivered as part of Acton University Online 2021. The discussion was moderated by Stephen Barrows, PhD., Managing Director of Programs here at the Acton Institute.
This panel celebrates the role of the new space entrepreneurs and discusses the legal and philosophical principles which should underlie humanity’s shift from space exploration to industrialization and settlement.
Bio | Daniel Britt, Ph.D.
Bio | Joel Sercel, Ph.D.
Bio | R. Paul Stimers, JD
Bio | Stephen Barrows, Ph.D.
Acton Line | Joel Sercel on the ethics of space exploration
Acton Institute PowerBlog | The stewardship of space
Acton Lecture Series
Acton Institute Events Podcast
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just sixteen years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on Andre, the young man she had met at church. But when math and history were subordinated to the study of the Koran and political propaganda, Marina protested. Her teacher replied, "If you don't like it, leave." She did, and, to her surprise, other students followed. Soon she was arrested with hundreds of other youths who had dared to speak out, and they were taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Two guards interrogated her. One beat her into unconsciousness; the other, Ali, fell in love with her. Sentenced to death for refusing to give up the names of her friends, she was minutes from being executed when Ali, using his family connections to Ayatollah Khomeini, plucked her from the firing squad and had her sentence reduced to life in prison. But he exacted a shocking price for saving her life -- with a dizzying combination of terror and tenderness, he asked her to marry him and abandon her Christian faith for Islam. If she didn't, he would see to it that her family was harmed. She spent the next two years as a prisoner of the state, and of the man who held her life, and her family's lives, in his hands. Her search for emotional redemption envelops her jailers, her husband and his family, and the country of her birth -- each of whom she grants the greatest gift of all: forgiveness.
Marina Nemat was born in 1965 in Tehran, Iran. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, she was arrested at the age of sixteen and spent more than two years in Evin, a political prison in Tehran, where she was tortured and came very close to execution. She came to Canada in 1991 and has called it home ever since. Her memoir of her life in Iran, "Prisoner of Tehran" (Penguin Canada 2007), has been published in 28 other countries, and has been an international bestseller. In 2007, Marina received the inaugural Human Dignity Award from the European Parliament, and in 2008, she received the prestigious Grinzane Prize in Italy. In 2008/2009, she was an Aurea Fellow at University of Toronto’s Massey College, where she wrote her second book, "After Tehran: A Life Reclaimed" (Penguin Canada 2010). Marina regularly speaks at high schools, universities, and conferences around the world and sits on the Board of Directors at CCVT (Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture) and on advisory boards at ACAT (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture) and PEN Canada. She also teaches memoir writing, in Farsi and in English, at the School of Continuing Studies at University of Toronto and writes book reviews for The Globe and Mail.
This presentation was delivered as part of the 2015 Acton Lecture Series.
Prisoner of Tehran: One Woman's Story of Survival Inside an Iranian Prison
Religious liberty versus secular tyranny
Marina Nemat speaks at Acton University 2013
An interview with Marina Nemat
Acton Lecture Series
Acton Institute Events Podcast
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Saul Alinsky might be called the "anti-Acton". As Lord Acton warned that power corrupts, Saul Alinsky, the father of modern "community organizing", rejoiced that corruption empowers. Decades after Alinsky's death his ideas and teaching continue to shape the American political and social landscape. This lecture given by Joseph A. Morris, President of The Lincoln Legal Foundation, supplies an overview of Alinksy's thinking and shows its application in current events.
This presentation was delivered as part of the 2010 Acton Lecture Series. Although this lecture was 11 years ago, the influence of Alinksy’s writings are more dominant now in our political culture than ever before.
The Heartland Institute - Joseph A. Morris
Events | Acton Institute
The roots of radicals' rage
In this episode, we're bringing you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2021 Acton Lecture Series featuring Dr. Carl Trueman on his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. In this timely work, he explores the development of the sexual revolution as a symptom—rather than the cause—of the human search for identity. Trueman surveys the past, brings clarity to the present, and gives guidance for the future as Christians navigate the culture in humanity’s ever-changing quest for identity.
Book: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
Why the Market Needs the Family
The libertine road to serfdom – Acton Institute PowerBlog
What do the Cold War and the Sexual Revolution have in common?
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The greatest civilization of ancient times expired more than 1,500 years ago but the lessons to be learned from its experience are eternal. In this lecture, Lawrence W. Reed focuses on the Roman Republic—the key features, personalities and events that defined its rise as well as those that caused its decay in the First Century B.C. into an imperial autocracy. Many of the trends of our day echo those of the ancient Republic, which make its lessons all the more relevant, even pressing, for us now.
Reed became president of the Foundation for Economic Education in 2008. Prior to that, he was founder and president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan. He also taught economics and chaired the department of economics at Northwood University in Michigan from 1977 to 1984. He holds a B.A. in economics from Grove City College and an M.A. in history from Slippery Rock State University.
Foundation for Economic Education
The History of Freedom in Antiquity
Romenomics: How to understand the present through the commercial past
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode, we're bringing you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2021 Acton Lecture Series featuring Jessica Hooten Wilson speaking on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his fight against propaganda using art to force "even an opposing heart to surrender." Through fiction, Solzhenitsyn provides a way to love our so-called enemies, encourage conversation rather than silencing, and, even when all appears despairing, open the door to hope.
Solzhenitsyn: Prophet to America
Solzhenitsyn's advice to the free world
Solzhenitsyn: Freedom's habits and hindrances
Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Religion & Liberty
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the dragon slayer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this episode we bring you an Acton Lecture featuring Dr. Patrick Gerry as he addresses the false promise of big government.
The debate over the size and scope of the federal government has raged since the New Deal. So why have opponents of big government so rarely made political headway? Because they fail to address the fundamental issue.
Patrick Garry is a law professor with a Ph.D. in constitutional history. He has testified before Congress on constitutional issues and is a contributor to The Oxford Companion to the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of numerous constitutional law books, including Wrestling With God: The Court's Tortuous Treatment of Religion and An Entrenched Legacy: How the New Deal Constitutional Revolution Continues to Shape the Role of the Supreme Court.
Is big government a near occasion of sin?
Fearing Big Government
Class warriors for big government
Rev. Sirico: The dangers of accepting government money, even in a crisis
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Beginning with a conversation prompted by African American scholars like Dr. Alvin Poussaint of Harvard Medical School, to the current Black Lives Matter movement, there has been much debate about what led to the death of George Floyd as well as other systemic challenges that undermine black thriving.
Anthony Bradley provides a distinctly Christian perspective on what is needed for black communities to thrive from within. In addition to the social and structural issues that must be addressed, within black communities there are opportunities for social change based on God's vision for human flourishing.
Although the Black Lives Matter movement keeps the church on the margins, Bradley believes that enduring change cannot happen without the church and other civil-society institutions.
Why do black lives matter?
Black Marriage Matters
The rise of the black entrepreneur: A new force for economic and moral leadership
How Christians should think about racism and police brutality
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On June 17th, 1997, United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the keynote address at the Acton Institute's 7th Annual Anniversary dinner. His remarks were entitled "On Interpreting the Constitution."
Justice Scalia was arguably the Supreme Court’s most famous originalist in interpreting the Constitution. Scalia was equally known for using a textualist approach to statutory interpretation of the law.
Back when he gave this address, originalism and textualism were essentially synonymous. Today however, there is a clear distinction between the two. Originalism is the interpretation of the Constitution as it would have been understood when it was first adopted. Textualism is the idea that what the text says, is simply the law.
According to Scalia, the constitution is static - it cannot change and should not be open to discussion surrounding historical or present inquiries.
This approach directly opposes the idea that the Constitution is a living document which should adapt to our ever changing culture and societal norms. Scalia’s argument is that instead of examining the intentions of the drafters, we should look to the common understanding of the text at the time it was written.
Scalia believed that the law does not allow room for hearsay or subjective interpretations, and is often quoted as saying, “The text is the law, and it is the text that must be observed.”
Biography on Justice Scalia
5 Facts About The U.S. Constitution
What is our Constitution? - by Justice Antonin Scalia
The Constitutional Way to Defeat Cancel Culture
Acton Video - Justice Antonin Scalia's Keynote Address
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Today, we’re bringing you a conversation from our recent Business Matters 2021 conference.
Business Matters brought together leading experts and CEOs to address some of the most critical issue and biggest challenges facing businesses in these volatile times.
Between the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, and political turmoil, we have seldom seen a more uncertain time for our businesses and for the world. Business leaders are being tested by switching to remote work, closing and reopening offices, adjusting to the changing needs of clients, laying off employees, and preparing for policy changes under a new presidential administration.
This conversation – featuring Amway’s Doug DeVos, Brian Hooks of Stand Together, and dean of the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America Andrew Abela – will discuss the timeless principles that are needed to confront these challenging times.
In this episode, we’re bringing you an Acton Lecture Series event from December of 2016, featuring Ilya Shapiro speaking on judicial abdication and the growth of government.
Ilya Shapiro is the director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review.
In this discussion, Shapiro recounts the fight for the Supreme Court during the 2016 presidential campaign and how that battle crystalized the importance of judges' both having the right constitutional theories and being willing to enforce them.
According to Shapiro, too much "restraint" — like Chief Justice Roberts in the Obamacare cases — has led to the unchecked growth of government, toxic judicial confirmation battles, and even our current populist moment.
In this episode, we’re bringing you the most recent presentation from our Acton Lecture Series program, featuring the recipient of the Acton Institute’s 2020 Novak Award, Dr. Gregory Collins.
Named after distinguished American theologian Michael Novak, this honor rewards new, outstanding scholarly research concerning the relationship between religion, economic freedom, and a free and virtuous society. It recognizes those scholars early in their academic career who demonstrate outstanding intellectual merit in advancing the understanding of theology’s connection to human dignity, the importance of the rule of law, limited government, religious liberty, and freedom in economic life.
Gregory M. Collins is a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in the Program on Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University. His book on Edmund Burke’s economic thought, Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020 and has already garnered significant attention inside and outside the academic community. He has published, or has forthcoming, articles on Burke, Adam Smith, Leo Strauss, Britain’s East India Company, and Frederick Douglass in the Review of Politics, History of Political Thought, American Political Thought, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Slavery & Abolition, and Perspectives on Political Science. His current book project is a comparative study of Burke and the Enlightenment.
In this lecture, drawing out some important themes of his recently published book on Edmund Burke’s economic thought, Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy, Dr. Collins explains whether Burke overcame perhaps the most powerful moral and metaphysical objection to commercial exchange: that the never-ending process of economic satisfaction is fundamentally at odds with the good life.
Acton Institute names Gregory M. Collins of Yale University the 2020 Novak Award winner
Gregory Collins - Yale University
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Today, we’re bringing you a presentation from our Acton Lecture Series program from January 2020 with Adam MacLeod, professor of law at Faulkner University, explaining the rise of morality in public discourse.
According to MacLeod, our most contentious controversies today are moral. Political neutrality has failed. We disagree not only about questions of efficiency and democracy but also about what is right to do and who we are becoming as a people. We have not yet understood the implications of this shift in public reasoning from discourse about political ideals to debates about moral imperatives. To disagree well and to flourish together despite our differences, we need to understand the sources of our moral ideas.
MacLeod’s lecture examines the roots of our disagreement and advances a proposal for doing difference well. We can preserve civil liberties and pluralism by grounding rights in moral reasons, which provide a more secure foundation for civil rights.
Adam MacLeod - Faulkner University
Upcoming Acton Institute Events
How to talk about rights in our polarized age - Acton Line podcast
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On December 2nd, 2020, the economist Walter E. Williams passed away at the age of 84.
Williams worked his way out of grinding poverty in the Philadelphia housing projects to chair George Mason University’s economics department. Over his career he authored 10 books and more than 150 other publications, and become one of the most recognized commentators on our American public life of the last four decades. Williams spread his message of racial equality, the dignity of work, and the morality of capitalism through his syndicated newspaper column, PBS documentaries, and frequent radio and TV appearances.
Today, we feature a presentation that Dr. Williams gave in 1994 for the Institute’s Acton Lecture Series, discussing the legitimate role of government in a free society.
A quick heads up: as we mentioned, this audio is from 1994. Our production team has done a lot of work to clean it up, but in the beginning of the talk Dr. Williams’ audio is very faint. Rather than cut out the beginning of his remarks, we’ve left them in. If you want to skip ahead to where the audio becomes clearer, then you can jump to the 7:46 mark in the podcast.
In this Acton Lecture Series program from December 3rd, 2020, founder of the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation Justin Beene addressed the topic of transformational leadership in a time of crises.
Today’s “new normal” demands authentic leaders who are grounded and yet reflective. Many of us go through life without a rhythm of both reflecting and discerning. Beene discusses how leaders can grow and contribute to the flourishing of our families, organizations, and culture during a time of crises.
About Justin Beene
Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation
In this Acton Lecture Series program from November 5, 2020, Acton Institute's Eric Kohn spoke with David French, senior editor at The Dispatch, about the outcomes of the 2020 election and his new book, “Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.”
In “Divided We Fall,” French surveys the landscape of a politically and culturally polarized America, examining the true dimensions and dangers of this widening ideological gap.
Just two days after the 2020 election, French analyzed the impacts the election outcomes (to the extent that they were known) could have on an increasingly divided and tribalistic nation, with each faction believing their distinct cultures and liberties are being threatened by an escalating violent opposition.
It might come as a surprise, but poverty rates in the developing world are dropping dramatically. In fact, economic growth in developing nations has far outpaced the growth of high income countries. Thus, not only has the world experienced a historic reduction in poverty over the last twenty-five years, but global income today is much more equal than at any time in the last 100 years. This event presents the good news about poverty alleviation.This event was co-sponsored by America's Future Foundation.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
How Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg forged a consensus that helped make the American Century.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
As one of only two presidents to have never formally joined a church, people have wondered just how much Abraham Lincoln himself was under God when he said that the United States should consider itself as such as it strove for a new birth of freedom.However, the Civil War shifted the ground decisively under Lincoln's feet. In the cauldron of war, he discovered that God was not merely a remote force or a faceless universal power, but a personal, intelligent, and willing God who intervened in the affairs of men, to direct them in ways that they could not even begin to imagine.This was a God whom he wanted his nation to be under.==`Allen Guelzo, Ph.D. is the Director of Civil War Era Studies and the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During 2017-18, he has served as the Wm L. Garwood Visiting Professor in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He holds the MA and PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
John Suarez is the program officer of the Washington, DC based Center for a Free Cuba. He has been interviewed by TV, radio and print media on Cuba. Mr. Suarez is a human rights activist. He holds degrees from Florida International University and Spain’s Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. He has testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington DC, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, and served as an interpreter for Cuban dissidents in Congressional hearings. Since 2009 he has maintained the blog, Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter. He is a member of the Cuban Democratic Directorate (2002-present).
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
A Soviet spy who was converted to Christ, Whittaker Chambers sacrificed everything for the sake of his Christian witness against injustice. As one of the most profound Christian thinkers of the 20th century, Chambers offers reflections on religion and public life with far-reaching implications for the 21st. This lecture will explore how his story points to uncomfortable lessons for Left and Right alike in our own day. ===Greg Forster, Ph.D. serves as the director of the Oikonomia Network at the Center for Transformational Churches at Trinity International University, and is a visiting assistant professor of faith and culture. He has a Ph.D. with distinction in political philosophy from Yale University. He is the author of seven books, most recently The Church on Notice and Joy for the World, and the co-editor of four books. He is a Friedman fellow at EdChoice; has published numerous articles in scholarly and popular periodicals; has spoken at the Gospel Coalition and Jubilee conferences; and contributes regularly to online outlets. His primary scholarly interest is studying how the structures of culture and civilization (family, work, education, business, politics, etc.) respond to the challenge of the gospel and the ambiguous tensions of religious freedom, in order to equip the church to be good citizens of both the Kingdom of God and our human communities.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Only the family can provide the sense of security and identity that every person needs. Civilization itself depends on children having a good first year.Family breakdown is expensive. Taxpayers provide programs to step in when the family fails. Businesses have trouble finding workers they need, with even basic skills. Individuals and families struggle to make ends meet when families don’t work together. What exactly are we going to do about all this? Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, long-time Research Associate at the Acton Institute, and Founder and President of the Ruth Institute, gives practical steps everyone can take to make the family great again.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Acton’s 8th Annual Chicago Open Mic Night took place on Wednesday, November 8th at the University Club of Chicago. The panel for the evening included:Paul Bonicelli, Ph.D., Director of Education and Programs, Acton InstituteIsmael Hernandez, Founder and Director, Freedom and Virtue InstituteSamuel Gregg, D.Phil., Director of Research, Acton Institute
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
While the formal significance of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation might be celebrated by Protestants and lamented by Catholics, reflecting back on sixteenth-century reform 500 years removed affords valuable lessons. The occasion also allows us to highlight the theological and legal thinking of a most remarkable though much forgotten figure of the Protestant Reformation.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In The Fifth Estate: Think Tanks, Public Policy, and Governance, James G. McGann illustrates how policymakers have come to value the independent analysis and advice provided by think tanks and why it has become one of the defining characteristics of the American political system. Drawing on case studies in both foreign and domestic policy, McGann clarifies the correlation between think tank research and the policies enacted by the past three presidential administrations. He also describes a phenomenon known as “the revolving door,” where think tanks provide former government officials an opportunity to share insights from public service, remain involved in policy debates, and continue to provide advice and commentary.Based on the history and the level of involvement seen today, the influence of think tanks is unlikely to diminish in the coming years.James G. McGannJames G. McGann Ph.D. is a senior lecturer of International Studies at the Lauder Institute, director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program and senior fellow, Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. McGann earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and was a National Fellow at Stanford University while writing his doctoral thesis, which examined the nature and evolution of public-policy research organizations in the United States. His research and consulting have enabled him to work with governments and civil society organizations in over 100 countries. He has authored over numerous books on think tanks and is the creator and editor of the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The US Supreme Court hangs in the balance when it comes to some of the most important areas of the law, with a couple of more vacancies possible, and there are an unprecedented number of vacancies anticipated on the Federal appeals courts. Leonard Leo - Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society - describes how this state of affairs presents a unique opportunity to transform the courts so as to engender a greater respect for limited, constitutional government.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
After World War II, Bill Buckley, Frank Meyer, and others assembled the “three-legged stool” of modern American conservatism: free markets, anti-communism, and cultural conservatism. It was a synthesis that elected Ronald Reagan and won the Cold War. But that synthesis is fraying, because cultural conservatism itself has diverging strains that came together in the 20th century, but are now going their separate ways. Cultural conservatism will look very different in 25 years than it did 25 years ago.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The fight for the Supreme Court during the presidential campaign has crystalized the importance of judges' both having the right constitutional theories and being willing to enforce them. Too much "restraint" - like Chief Justice Roberts in the Obamacare cases - has led to the unchecked growth of government, toxic judicial confirmation battles, and even our current populist moment.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In Victoria Coates’ 2016 book David’s Sling: A History of Democracy in Ten Works of Art the author argues that democracy has had a unique capacity to inspire some of the greatest artistic achievements of western civilization from the Parthenon to Picasso’s Guernica. While Dr. Coates does not maintain that this is an exclusive arrangement, or without its fair share of failure and catastrophe, ultimately democracy emerges as one of the great catalysts of western civilization. In this talk Dr. Coates will focus on two case studies from David’s Sling, Michelangelo’s "David" and Albert Bierstadt’s Rocky Mountains: Lander’s Peak, and then expand the discussion to explore how similar histories could be written about two other pillars of western civilization: the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the belief in the limitless potential of the individual.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
America has experienced a surge of populism in recent years that has turned the established order of our politics on its head. Where do these movements come from? What can history tell us about where they are going? And what can statesmen do to channel this political outrage for the good of the people?
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.