Intellectuals

November 11, 2020

Life in exile: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on ‘creative minorities’

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks recently passed away from cancer at the age of 72, completing a rich life and establishing a legacy as one of Judaism’s leading public intellectuals. As former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and a member of the House of Lords, Sacks had a unique ability to weave together Jewish insights across a range of intersecting areas – from philosophy and theology to economics and politics – leading to a distinctive moral witness amid the rise of secularization. Continue Reading...

November 09, 2020

6 quotes: Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and a member of the House of Lords, passed away early on the morning of Saturday, November 7, 2020, following his third bout with cancer. Continue Reading...

October 19, 2020

6 quotes: Russell Kirk

October 19 is the birthday of Russell Kirk (1918-1994), whose book The Conservative Mind gave shape and direction to a rebounding transatlantic political and philosophical tradition. Kirk rooted conservatism, not in a political platform, but in a deep-seated respect for tradition, faith, order, morality, and precedent. Continue Reading...

September 24, 2020

Acton Institute names Gregory M. Collins of Yale University the 2020 Novak Award winner

In recognition of Gregory M. Collins’ outstanding research in the fields of ethics, politics and economics, the Acton Institute will be awarding him the 2020 Novak Award. Gregory M. Collins is a postdoctoral associate and lecturer in the program on ethics, politics, and economics at Yale University. Continue Reading...

September 19, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, RIP

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on the evening of Friday, September 18, 2020, at the age of 87. She died following her fifth bout with cancer, which had metastasized to her pancreas. Continue Reading...

August 21, 2020

The political theology of global secularism, part 2: secularization and the re-emergence of myth

This is part two of our series, “The Political Theology of Global Secularism.” You may read part one here. Check back frequently for forthcoming installments. – Ed. David Foster Wallace wrote of our secular age: [I]n the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. Continue Reading...

July 31, 2020

6 quotes: Milton Friedman on woke capitalism, racism, and equality

Milton Friedman was born on July 31, 1912. His work in pioneering monetary theory at the University of Chicago would win him the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences in 1976 and popularize a new school of free-market economics, “The Chicago School.” Continue Reading...

May 14, 2020

Awe and wonder: The keys to curbing COVID-19 hubris

In our information age, armchair economists and epidemiologists are many. Society remains deeply divided—preoccupied with social media squabbles over the credibility of our leaders and the rightness or wrongness of their proposed solutions. Continue Reading...

April 28, 2020

J.D. Vance and the politics of resentment

Resentment is a complicated emotion, a curious mix of disappointment, disgust, anger, and fear. The villainous court composer Antonio Salieri in Miloš Forman’s Academy Award-winning film Amadeus is a study in resentment. Continue Reading...

April 16, 2020

Lord Acton, Sohrab Ahmari, and the fragility of faith

People have been making some drastic changes to their lives to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have taken this challenge as an opportunity to grow in wisdom. Others have been called to learn new skills, and still others are doing whatever they can to keep their bearings in a time of crisis. Continue Reading...

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