Religion & Liberty Online

‘Neo-Calvinism and Modern Economics’: Acton Institute to host academic conference

On October 8, 2021, in-person at the Acton Building in Grand Rapids, Mich., the Acton Institute will host its First Annual Academic Colloquium, sponsored by its Journal of Markets & Morality.

The theme is “Neo-Calvinism and Modern Economics,” featuring two panels of academic papers, followed by a plenary lecture by Jordan Ballor, director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy and series editor of the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology. Published in partnership with the Acton Institute, the series of collected works concludes this year with its 12th and final volume.

In recent years, Kuyper and the neo-Calvinist tradition of Christian social thought have undergone a somewhat of a renaissance in the English-speaking world, due in part to the translation and publication of Kuyper’s collected works. Indeed, to some extent, any Christian conversation about “worldviews” or “stewardship” or “social spheres” owes a debt to Kuyper’s Calvinist vision.

Anyone interested in the development of those themes for our economic life together is invited to attend, and scholars are invited to submit paper proposals to Dylan Pahman, executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality, at [email protected]. The full call for papers is available upon request. The deadline for proposals is August 31, 2021.

The tentative conference schedule is as follows:

10:30am – First Panel and Q&A

Noon – Lunch

2:00pm – Second Panel and Q&A

3:30pm – Coffee Break

4:00pm – Jordan Ballor’s Plenary Lecture

5:00pm – End

The registration fee is $25, with a reduced student rate of $15 for any up-and-coming young scholars.

You can register for the conference here.

Dylan Pahman

Dylan Pahman is a research fellow at the Acton Institute, where he serves as executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality. He earned his MTS in historical theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. In addition to his work as an editor, Dylan has authored several peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, essays, and one book: Foundations of a Free & Virtuous Society (Acton Institute, 2017). He has also lectured on a wide variety of topics, including Orthodox Christian social thought, the history of Christian monastic enterprise, the Reformed statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper, and academic publishing, among others.