Posts by Acton Institute

December 24, 2020

Christmas book recommendations, 2020

In what has been a very trying year of pandemic, unrest, and contentious politics we found ourselves again wrapped up in books, for “[b]ooks, both in their reading and their writing represent not just knowledge but a way of knowing, they are how we become wise.” Continue Reading...
July 23, 2015

Resisting a ‘Social Engineering’ Approach to Development

A conference held in Washington earlier this month sought to forge relationships between leaders of secular and faith-based groups working to alleviate poverty. Representatives from the World Bank Group, the German/British/US government development agencies, the GHR Foundation, World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, Islamic Relief USA, American Jewish World Service, McKinsey & Company, and more gathered for the occasion. Continue Reading...
July 10, 2015

Literature, Empathy and American Prosperity

From devastating racially-motivated murders in Charleston, South Carolina, to a contentious SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage, to heightened partisan rhetoric from presidential contenders, the constant discord at all levels of society has never been more apparent. Continue Reading...
July 08, 2015

Walker: ‘Praised be technology’

In today’s Morning Sun, Bruce Edward Walker writes about the eco-encyclical’s short-sightedness when it comes to the merits of technological advancement. To be fair, much of Laudato Si dispenses with progressive calls for population control to combat climate change, and goes to great lengths to reiterate Catholic doctrine on abortion and euthanasia and even includes a portion on human ecology wherein Francis discusses natural law regarding gender identity. Continue Reading...
July 02, 2015

Réflexion sur l’encyclique « Laudato Si »

A French translation of Samuel Gregg’s The American Spectator article on Pope Francis’s eco-encyclical was published earlier this week in Nouvelles de France. Gregg is the Acton Institute’s director of research, and the article, titled “Laudato Si’: Well Intentioned, Economically Flawed,” was translated by Emmanuel d’Hoop de Synghem. Continue Reading...
June 29, 2015

Mahoney: New Václav Havel biography is ‘moving and intelligent’

Daniel J. Mahoney reviewed Michael Zantovsky’s 2014 book Havel: A Life in the City Journal last week, calling it “a remarkable book about a complex and genuinely admirable human being.” Václav Havel was a Czech writer, philosopher and dissident who served as the first democratically elected president of Czechoslovakia and then the first president of the Czech Republic. Continue Reading...