Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Acton Commentary

June 29, 2016

New Acton Commentary: Economics not Great at Orthodox Council

Recently, The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church was held in Crete, culminating in a document titled “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World”.  In the most recent Acton Commentary, research fellow and managing editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality Dylan Pahman comments on the flaws in economic principles and guidelines espoused in the document. Continue Reading...
June 16, 2016

A Russian Businessman Discovers the Law of Love

“When I first read the description of Fr. Alexander Torik’s novel Flavian, I was skeptical,” says Rev. Gregory Jensen in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Recently translated from Russian, it is the story of “an unexpected turning point in the life of Aleksei, a quite ordinary city dweller.” Continue Reading...
May 25, 2016

Wendell Berry: Great Poet, Cranky Luddite on Ag Tech

A new documentary, The Seer: A Portrait of Wendell Berry, misses the real story on U.S. farming productivity, says Bruce Edward Walker in this week’s Acton Commentary. Perhaps it’s the fact that the bulk of the film’s running time ignores two-thirds of what, for me, makes Berry so special – his fiction and poetry – in favor of what renders him more of a curmudgeon, which is his activism against industrial agriculture. Continue Reading...
May 11, 2016

The Captain of Conscience

The new Marvel film Captain America: Civil War examines the conflict between conscience and coercion, says Jordan Ballor in this week’s Acton Commentary. The latest superhero blockbuster Captain America: Civil War opened to a huge box office as well as to critical acclaim last weekend. Continue Reading...
May 04, 2016

Christianity and the Rise of Capital

“Money has not only the character of money,” says Samuel Gregg in this week’s Acton Commentary, “but it also has a productive character which we commonly call capital.” Like all medieval clergy, Olivi and Bernardine fiercely opposed usury. Continue Reading...
April 27, 2016

Bruce Wayne: A Capitalist Superhero

“The real hero of the recently released Batman v. Superman film is an often overshadowed character, Bruce Wayne,” says Daniel Menjivar in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the hero that Gotham, and in the case of this film, Metropolis needs too. Continue Reading...
April 26, 2016

Work and Eternity

A distinctive of neo-Calvinism, that movement associated with a late-nineteenth century Dutch revival of Reformational Christianity in the Netherlands, is its focus in emphasis if not also in substance not only on individuals but also on institutions. Continue Reading...
April 20, 2016

Time and Eternity: The Abiding Profit

“The temporal achievements of science, technology, inventions and the like also have a divine significance,” writes Abraham Kuyper in this week’s Acton Commentary, an excerpt from Common Grace: God’s Gifts for a Fallen World. Continue Reading...
April 13, 2016

Money and Moral Absolutes

In medieval Europe merchants would often write Deus enim et proficuum (“For God and Profit”) in the upper corners of their accounting ledgers or A nome di Dio e guadangnio (“In the Name of God and Profit”) on partnership contracts. Continue Reading...