Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'thomas aquinas'

January 21, 2026

Saving a Liberal Order from Liberal Philosophy

In recent years, Christians across the political spectrum have grown increasingly skeptical of liberalism. Postliberal movements argue that liberal democracy is not merely insufficient but fundamentally hostile to Christianity itself. According to this view, neutrality is a myth, liberal rights are corrosive of virtue, and Christians must choose between faithfulness and liberal politics. Continue Reading...
October 31, 2025

Dilexi Te and Loving the Poor

Pope Leo XIV’s first major proclamation, Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You), is an apostolic exhortation addressed “to all Christians” on caring for the poor. Pope Francis was preparing this exhortation when he died. Continue Reading...
August 27, 2025

How Robert George Applies Natural Law to Public Policy

“Contrary to what many influential voices in our culture, politics, and even our institutions of higher education would have you believe, the truth about even the most controversial matters can be objectively known, and cannot be altered by one’s subjective feelings or ‘lived experiences.’” Continue Reading...
March 25, 2025

Flannery O’Connor at 100

It’s jarring, maybe, to think of Flannery O’Connor as an old lady. Then again, to our eyes, in photographs from the last years of her life, maybe she looks already old. Continue Reading...
April 07, 2020

Thomas Aquinas versus Adrian Vermeule

The relationship between law, morality, and liberty is one of those topics that invariably generates fierce debate. And it usually plays out in very predictable ways. On the one hand, there are some whose first instinct is to lurch for a comprehensive legal response to any number of moral evils to which legal coercion may not be the most optimal or even just response: “There ought to be a law against that!” Continue Reading...
April 04, 2019

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Aquinas and Bitcoin

Yesterday in Forbes, Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, analyzed moral questions of cryptocurrency in light of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae. It is an application of centuries-old thought to a very recent phenomenon—but of course, as the article seeks to show, moral considerations are perennial even as their particular objects change. Continue Reading...
May 14, 2015

Aquinas’ Lessons for Economists

Prof. Harry Veryser stars in a new video from ISI that explores some of the lessons about private property, rights, responsibilities, and stewardship that can be gleaned from the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Continue Reading...
May 06, 2014

Now Available: ‘On Exchange and Usury’ by Thomas Cajetan

Christian’s Library Press has released a new translation of two treatises on exchange and usury by Thomas Cajetan (1469-1534), a Dominican theologian, philosopher, and cardinal. Although best known for his commentaries on the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, Cajetan also wrote dozens of other works, including short treatises on socioeconomic problems. Continue Reading...