Acton Lecture Series

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 @drsamuelgreggSubscribe to our podcastsApply Now for Acton UniversityThe 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 podcastsApply 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 podcastsApply Now for Acton University 2023 (Early Bird Pricing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 podcastsRegister Now for Business Matters 2023Apply 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 podcastsRegister Now for Business Matters 2023Apply 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 podcastsRegister Now for Business Matters 2023Apply 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 podcastsRegister Now for Business Matters 2023Apply 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 podcastsRegister Now for Business Matters 2023Apply 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 podcastsRegister Now for Business Matters 2023Apply 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 UniversityModerator: Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, Founding Director of the Lamppost Education InitiativeSubscribe 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 podcastsAbout Daniel Klein Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 podcastsSamuel 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 podcastsThe 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 podcastsArthur 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 podcastsAbout 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 podcastsThe Gift of Disillusionment | AmazonPeter 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 Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 podcastsChristian Poverty in the Age of Prosperity (Rev. Robert A. Sirico - Acton Institute) Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 podcastsTimothy 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 podcastsApply now for Acton University 2022 About John O'Sullivan Danube Institute See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 podcastsPoverty Cure Summit — Acton Institute HRF Mourns the Passing of Ghanaian Economist and Freedom Champion George Ayittey — Human Rights Foundation See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 podcastsAbout Dr. Lucas G. Freire About the Novak Award | Acton Institute See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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.