History

December 11, 2019

Wilhelm Röpke on liberalism and Catholic social teaching

This week’s Acton Commentary, adapted from my preface to the newest Acton Institute publication The Humane Economist: A Wilhelm Röpke Reader, illustrates what makes Röpke such an interesting and vital economist: Röpke saw his project in holistic terms involving intersecting and interdependent spheres or orden that to be fully appreciated and understood scientifically must be examined in their economic, social, and moral dimensions. Continue Reading...

December 09, 2019

Brian Tierney, rest in peace

The world of medieval history suffered a great loss on November 30 with the death of Professor Brian Tierney. Widely recognized as a leading scholar of medieval Western Christianity and how church law and institutions affected the broader culture of Europe, Tierney wrote widely but also deeply on topics ranging from the origins of papal infallibility to how religion shaped the development of constitutionalism. Continue Reading...

December 04, 2019

Catholic social teaching is for all of life

Senator Marco Rubio’s interest in Catholic social teaching is exciting even if confused in its economic analysis and public policy recommendations. On the Acton Line Podcast released today I discuss with Fr. Continue Reading...

November 27, 2019

Calvin Coolidge on Thanksgiving: Gratitude for ‘the things of the spirit’

Despite being surrounded by unprecedented levels of opportunity and prosperity, we live in a profoundly anxious age, fearful of economic decline and disruption even as we strive to resist idols of status, wealth, and comfortability. Continue Reading...

November 25, 2019

Stephanie Slade on markets, planning, and Catholic social teaching

Stephanie Slade writes in next month’s edition of Reason Magazine about, ‘Regulation and ‘the Right Ordering of Economic Life” according to Catholic social teaching: The Church’s surprising lesson for partisans of big government is that the best tools for correctly ordering economic life are found in the choices of individual market actors. Continue Reading...

November 22, 2019

The rise of ‘woke’ culture: Lessons on the power of institutions

We continue to see the ill effects of “cancel culture” and safetyism, whether through student-led riots and intimidation efforts at colleges and universities, the garden-variety intolerances of “woke capitalism,” or the self-destructive interventionism of “bulldozer parenting.” Continue Reading...

November 19, 2019

Guarding our hearts in an age of mass and social media

I try to guard my attention closely for, as King Solomon admonishes, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23). I don’t always succeed, but on my best days I focus on things I truly wish to understand through diligent study and things which I am able to do something about. Continue Reading...

November 18, 2019

The 101 greatest philosophers of liberty (and Lord Acton is #70)

The Acton Institute’s namesake, Lord Acton, finds himself honored in a new book about the philosophers who cultivated the intellectual seeds that blossomed into Western civilization. Lord John Dalberg-Acton ranks at number 70, not because he had less influence on liberty than 69 others, but because the new collection unfolds in chronological order. Continue Reading...

November 14, 2019

Public school installs stained glass window celebrating ‘Christian socialist’

When a public school receives a stained glass window from a church, it typically stirs controversy about the separation of church and state. Yet an elementary school has recently installed a window celebrating a self-described “Christian socialist.” Continue Reading...

November 12, 2019

Ronald Reagan statue unveiled on ruins of the Berlin Wall

In the early church, new converts would often raze pagan temples and build Christian churches on the ruins. A secular version of this triumphant gesture took place this weekend as the unveiling of a statue of President Ronald Reagan, and an invocation of God, took place on the toppled remains of the Berlin Wall. Continue Reading...

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