Month: November 2013

November 06, 2013

From Too Big to Fail to Too Big to Flourish

“We hear a lot about ‘too big to fail’ banks and other financial institutions,” says Jordan Ballor in this week’s Acton Commentary. “But what about a federal government whose size and scope have become so vast as to crowd out civil institutions?” Continue Reading...
November 06, 2013

Sid Meier, Slot Machines, and the Flow of Vice

My wife despises Sid Meier. She’s never met him, nor would she even recognize his name. But she knows someone is responsible for creating the source of my addiction. For over twenty years I’ve spent (or wasted, as my wife would say) countless hours playing Civilization, Meier’s award-winning strategy game. Continue Reading...
November 06, 2013

Envy and Wanting What Others Have

Over at the University Bookman today, I review John Lanchester’s novel Capital. I recommend the book. I don’t explore it in the review, “Capital Vices and Commercial Virtues,” but for those who have been following the antics of Banksy, there is a similar performance artist character in the novel that has significance for the development of the narrative. Continue Reading...
November 06, 2013

Does Advocating Limited Government Mean Abandoning the Poor?

Does promoting limited government require abandoning a commitment to the poor? Ryan Messmore, whose answer is a firm “no”, argues that non-government institutions can provide personalized assistance to help individuals fix relational problems, overcome poverty and lead healthy lives: Calls for limited government are often mistakenly equated with a disregard for people in need. Continue Reading...
November 05, 2013

Audio: Russell Kirk’s Final Public Lecture

On Saturday, November 9, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute is hosting a conference on the 60th Anniversary of Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind. The conference, which will examine the impact of Kirk’s monumental book—which both named and shaped the nascent conservative movement in the United States—is to be held at the Eberhard Center on the downtown Grand Rapids campus of Grand Valley State University, which Acton supporters will recognize as the home of Acton University from 2006-2010, and that conference’s precursor, the Acton Symposium in 2005. Continue Reading...
November 05, 2013

Worship as a Political Activity

Today many Christians in America will engage in the political activity of voting. But as Peter Leithart reminds us, worship is the leading political activity of Christians: Christians are engaged in political action just by being part of the church. Continue Reading...
November 05, 2013

Conscience and Christian Stewardship

I recently shared a lengthy excerpt from Faithful in All God’s House, highlighting the investment-return motif that appears throughout the Bible. “All of God’s gifts to mankind are as a divine investment on which the investor expects full return,” write Berghoef and DeKoster. Continue Reading...