A Special Edition of Acton Vault featuring Acton Line This week, we’re bringing you one of the plenary lectures from this year’s Acton University, featuring Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.” "Wokeism” is arguably the most influential public philosophy in our country today. It has worked its way into the minds and hearts of our young people, into the world of entertainment, and into the boardrooms of powerful corporations. But what is it precisely, and where d...
Jul 12, 2023•50 min•Ep. 111
One of America’s success stories is its economy. For over a century, it has been the envy of the world. The opportunity it generates has inspired millions of people to want to become American. Today, however, America’s economy is at a crossroads. Many have lost confidence in the country’s commitment to economic liberty. Across the political spectrum, many want the government to play an even greater role in the economy via protectionism, industrial policy, stakeholder capitalism, or even quasi-so...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, we’re bringing you a talk from our Acton Lecture Series from 2019. To be economically literate requires neither formal training nor advanced study. For those with the inclination, the most valuable economic principles can be understood with just a little nurturing of the so-called “economic way of thinking.” In this talk, Dr. Sarah Estelle shares how she sees the economic way of thinking as instructive in some of the ways we can love, too. What does economics have to say about o...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 109
Few technologies are as simultaneously disruptive and controversial as cryptocurrency. Attitudes among businesspeople range from viewing it as way to revolutionize the entire monetary system to seeing cryptocurrency as an inherently valueless asset destined for embarrassing collapse. The recent downfall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried have fueled this debate further. Dr. Guido Hulsmann provides his perspective on this topic as one of the world's top Austrian economists and experts on the history of...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 108
The year is 1837. Imagine that you live in Calcutta and a man with a thick Boston accent offers you some ice cream. There is no such device as a refrigerator, much less a freezer, and yet here is a man offering you a cold (and delicious) treat. How did it get there? In this lecture from the 2019 Acton Lecture Series, Dave Hebert explains how ice harvesters in 19th century Boston were able to create their own system of property rights that allowed each person living around a local pond to thicken...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 107
In this episode, we’re bringing you a talk from our Acton Lecture Series from January 2023, that was co-sponsored by the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal. In their own time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Russell Kirk occupied different ends of the political spectrum. Their philosophies inspired the two most powerful movements of the age: the Nonviolent Movement (which led the larger Civil Rights Movement) and the modern Conservative Movement. Without King and Kirk modern American Social...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 106
Today’s episode is a brief one, and takes us back in time to 2000 and the remarks from Sir John Templeton at the Acton Institute’s Annual Dinner. It was at this dinner that Templeton was award the inaugural Acton Institute Faith & Freedom Award for his contributions to civil society as “a pioneering philanthropist with wisdom to understand the tremendous role of faith in the course of human history.” Beginning a Wall Street career in 1937, he created some of the world’s largest and most succ...
Jan 20, 2023•16 min•Ep. 105
There is no shortage of headlines pointing to another powerful corporation run amok or the consumer base being manipulated. These types of issues have cast a significant shadow on the legitimacy and purpose of business, even the possibility of a good or moral business. This lecture from James Otteson aims to present how a renewed vision of the interconnectedness of morality and prosperity is key to building and sustaining a properly functioning society. Honorable and life-giving business may act...
Jan 06, 2023•46 min•Ep. 104
Russell Kirk has long been known as perhaps the most important founding father of the American Conservative movement in the second half of the 20th century. In the early 1950s, America was emerging from two decades of the Great Depression and the New Deal and facing the rise of radical ideologies abroad; the American Right seemed beaten, broken, and adrift. Then in 1953, Russell Kirk released his masterpiece, The Conservative Mind. More than any other published work of the time, this book became...
Dec 30, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 103
Dr. Matson's lecture explored how in the British tradition, political economy, which partly emerged out of discourses in natural theology, ethics and jurisprudence, casts some light on the content of our moral obligations. Drawing on Hutcheson, Hume, and Smith, he desicussed how commerce in the eighteenth century came to be depicted as a mode of cooperation—either literally with God or metaphorically with our fellow human beings—through which we serve the common good. That depiction energized th...
Dec 23, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 102
In this episode, we’re bringing you a panel from our recent Poverty Cure Summit. The Poverty Cure Summit provides an opportunity for participants to listen to scholars, human service providers, and community leaders address the most critical issues we face today that can either exacerbate or alleviate poverty. These speakers will join panel discussions to discuss the legal, economic, social, and technological issues pertaining to both domestic (U.S.) and global poverty. Rooted in foundational pr...
Dec 16, 2022•52 min•Ep. 101
For this episode, we are taking you back to June 17, 1997 and the Acton Institute's 7th Annual Dinner in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The guest of honor that evening was Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia, who passed away suddenly on February 13, 2016, was a jurisprudential giant. One of the foremost proponents of originalist and textualist interpretation of the Constitution and law, his witty, humorous, and frequently biting writing style made his dissenting opinions, and sometim...
Dec 09, 2022•37 min•Ep. 100
There's been renewed interest in the role Christianity has played in liberalism since Larry Siedentop’s 2014 book, Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism. Building on Siedentop, Daniel Klein says universal benevolent monotheism, and Christianity in particular, has led to the articulation of a specific social grammar and corresponding rights—in short Adam Smith’s “liberal plan.” But can liberalism be sustained in a world that no longer takes its ethics from that monotheism? D...
Dec 02, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 99
Books connect us in a very real way to people and ideas from the past. This talk will explore how we can help the current and future generations understand the thoughts and the minds of the thinkers of the past through printed books and publications. For the past 25 years, Kristopher Bex has served as the President and board member of The Remnant Trust, Inc. Currently located in Lubbock, Texas and Cambridge City, Indiana, The Remnant Trust was founded in 1997 and incorporated in 1999. Mr. Bex se...
Nov 25, 2022•53 min•Ep. 98
For this episode, we're bringing you a session from our recent Poverty Cure Summit. A conversation entitled "Hope for the City: Neighborhoods, Commerce, and Social Capital" featuring Rachel Ferguson, Justin S. Beene, and Ismael Hernandez. The Poverty Cure Summit provides an opportunity for participants to listen to scholars, human service providers, and community leaders address the most critical issues we face today that can either exacerbate or alleviate poverty. Speakers joined panel discussi...
Nov 18, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 97
In 1867, Sen. Charles Sumner posed the question “are we a nation?” in the wake of the Civil War. As America confronts new extremes of polarization in the 21st century, the question is inescapable again. Samuel Goldman explores the ways the U.S. does and does not correspond to historical conceptions of the nation-state. Samuel Goldman is an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is also director of the Loeb Institute for Religious Freedom. In addition t...
Nov 11, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 96
The dramatic social changes of the past century have left our world with a fragile sense of identity. Changes in technology and entertainment have constrained spiritual imaginations and reoriented our collective vision of the good life. These trends pave the way for charismatic leaders in politics, the marketplace, and religious communities to provide meaning through belonging to a group, especially one defined by a sense of “movement.” But “movement” thinking disincentivizes the slower work of ...
Nov 04, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 95
Libraries are filled with books on the parables of Christ, and rightly so. In the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “While civilizations have come and gone, these stories continue to teach us anew with their freshness and their humanity.” Two millennia later, the New Testament parables remain ubiquitous, and yet few have stopped to glean wisdom from one of Christ’s most prevalent analogies: the use of money. In The Economics of the Parables, Rev. Robert Sirico pulls back the veil of modernity...
Oct 28, 2022•36 min•Ep. 94
This episode takes us back in time to September 2018 for a talk from our Acton Lecture Series. Students of 20th century American history know of the importance of the Marshall Plan to the effort to rebuild Europe after World War II, as well as the leading role taken by the United States in building international institutions and alliances that would be central to maintaining peace and checking the expansionist desires of the communist world. What you may not know is that a central figure in the ...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 93
Anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings can gather that their author hated tyranny, but few know that the novelist who once described himself as a hobbit “in all but size” was—even by hobbit standards—a zealous proponent of economic freedom and small government. There is a growing concern among many that the West is sliding into political, economic, and moral bankruptcy. In his beloved novels of Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien has drawn us a map to freedom. Several books ably explo...
Oct 14, 2022•43 min•Ep. 92
The conventional wisdom on C.S. Lewis was that he really didn’t care much for politics, or for law, and so he wouldn’t have spent much time or energy on liberty either. But the conventional wisdom is mistaken. The truth is Lewis was deeply interested in the political, properly understood, as well as natural law, the human person, and genuine liberty. In this session we will explore Lewis’ thoughts on these matters by considering his biography, his keen interest in criminal justice reform, what h...
Oct 07, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 91
Myths about economics die hard. What’s worse, such fallacies are destructive to human cooperation and flourishing. Join us for a discussion of six economic lies you’ve been taught and probably believe. Caleb Fuller is an assistant professor of economics at Grove City College and a faculty affiliate of the Program on Economics and Privacy at the George Mason University Scalia Law School. He received his BA in economics from Grove City College and PhD in economics from George Mason University. He ...
Sep 30, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 90
Few questions loom as large for parents and students these days as the question of how to afford a college education. College costs have been rising for decades, and all too often, students rely heavily on student loans and graduate with significant debt loads that they spend years paying off. Alex Chediak, professor of engineering and physics at California Baptist University, has tackled this question and provided parents and students with an invaluable guide in his book Beating the College Deb...
Sep 23, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 89
Around the world, discouragement erodes the vitality of Christian organizations. Visionaries often succumb to cynicism. Zealous advocates give up. Leaders coast as their passion for the cause grows cold. Grounded in deep research, The Gift of Disillusionment: Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades invites followers of Jesus to sustain hope in long-term service. It’s about moving past the false hope of idealism and the faint hope of disillusionment to discover true Christian hope. Peter G...
Sep 16, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 88
This week, we go back in time to October 9, 2014, and the Acton Institute’s 24th annual dinner for this speech from Daniel Hannan. Hannan is a British writer, journalist, and politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament representing South East England from 1999 through 2020, standing down from the EU Parliament upon in the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU in 20202, for which Hannan was a lead campaigner. Hannan first rose to international prominence in 2009 when a video of a sho...
Sep 09, 2022•30 min•Ep. 87
Christ calls us to spiritual poverty. In today's prosperous society, that call frequently goes unheard or misinterpreted. In this lecture from 2011, Acton's President Emeritus, Rev. Robert. Sirico discusses how one can live out Christ's call in the middle of a prosperous society. Subscribe to our podcasts Christian Poverty in the Age of Prosperity (Rev. Robert A. Sirico - Acton Institute) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 02, 2022•46 min•Ep. 86
In 1783 George Washington said that “we have a national character to establish.” 110 Years later Frederick Jackson Turner published “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” and wrote these words: “to the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics… coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind…, that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which...
Aug 26, 2022•54 min•Ep. 85
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse describes how the socialist ideal of equality has played an independent role in the breakdown of the family, arguing that socialism has attacked the family directly and has adopted policies that have led to demographic collapse. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse is the founder of the Ruth Institute, an interfaith international coalition to defend the family and build a Civilization of Love. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester and taught economics at Yale and Geo...
Aug 19, 2022•33 min•Ep. 84
On April 14, 2015, The Acton Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy jointly hosted Timothy Carney for a lecture on the topic "Is Big Business a Danger to Economic Liberty?" Timothy P. Carney is the senior political columnist at the Washington Examiner, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of three books. Tim was a 2012 Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hillsdale College and he sits on the board of visitors for the Institute for Political Jour...
Aug 12, 2022•58 min•Ep. 83
We go back in time to April 2011, when Samuel Gregg, current senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, discussed the social teaching of Benedict XVI, illustrating how much the pope changed the focus of Christian engagement with political, social, and economic questions. Whether the subject was Islam, ecumenism, the rise and decline of the West, or simply "Who is Jesus Christ?,” Benedict opened up discussions once considered taboo and caused even hardened secularists...
Aug 05, 2022•45 min•Ep. 82
