As the leader of a Christian think tank in Sweden, Per Ewert watched Greta Thunberg’s global crusade unfold earlier than most of the world. But when he saw her demonstrating outside parliament with her school strike movement, he got a jolt: The book Greta was reading was co-written by … him. In a new essay for the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, Ewert writes: When I think of the school book Greta was reading when it all began,...

As human persons made in the image of a creative God, we are uniquely fashioned to produce and create, contribute and collaborate, give and receive, trade and exchange. Such a reality has a wide range of implications for our economic activity and institutions, whether in our daily work and mundane interactions or the pioneering of new products, services, and enterprises. Economists and policymakers have long had their eyes on such matters, of course—constantly observing and analyzing the role of creativity...

This will be my last letter from Rome, as I am resigning as director of Istituto Acton, effective tomorrow, October 1. I started writing these monthly pieces in January 2010 to give you some idea of what it’s like to live and work in the Eternal City, with occasional missives from different parts of the world that I visited. I hope you have found them entertaining, maybe even enlightening. After twenty wonderful years here, it is simply time for a...

Secular materialists and atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris like to mock religious people for being superstitious and illogical: resorting to fanciful explanations of events by invoking the work of God or miracles. Yet it is always amusing to me to see the length that materialists will go to hold fast to their mythical materialist beliefs. It almost charming to watch Sam Harris make a logical case for determinism and against the existence of free will, all the while...

1917 was the year of socialist revolutions. In the United States, an abortive revolt took place in Oklahoma that August, fueled by revolutionaries twisting the Gospel. The “Green Corn Rebellion” took place August 2 and 3 in Seminole County, in the rural, central portion of the Sooner State. Two weeks earlier, the draft lottery had begun during World War I. Hundreds of members of the secretive Working Class Union – many of them under threat of violence from the WCU’s...

Mark your calendar! As announced earlier this year, Professor Giuseppe Franco is the recipient of the 2019 Novak Award. In the ing 19th annual Calihan Lecture, Franco will examine the social philosophy and economic ethics of Wilhelm Röpke, 19th century economist said to be one of the spiritual fathers of the social market economy. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at the University of San Diegoin California, during which Prof. Matt Zwolinski, director of the University’s...

Despite a series of setbacks on the most important political issues of his day, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson still envisions a free, innovative future that links the transatlantic sphere in prosperity. He recently outlined his vision of a post-Brexit future that will unleash the creativity and wealth-creating powers of citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. Johnson made surprisingly forward-looking and optimistic remarks shortly after the Supreme Court of the UK ruled his decision to prorogue Parliament “unlawful.” The...

Much has been written about the unintended consequences of foreign aid flowing from the West to “developing” countries. Economists such as Dambisa Moyo, William Easterly, and Angus Deaton have mented on the downright pernicious effects of government to government aid. Not too long ago, a new voice was added to this chorus of foreign aid critics: Pope Francis. During his recent visit to the East African nation of Mozambique, Pope Francis made ments which suggested a link between foreign aid...

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy In America is renowned as one of the best examinations of early American society and politics, and remains one of the most mentaries ever written on the practice of democracy in the United States. In this edition of Acton Line, John Wilsey, Professor of History and Christian Apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, discusses Tocqueville’s masterwork and its continuing relevance for modern America. Wilsey also addresses the work of Tocqueville’s panion, Gustave de Beaumont, who wrote...

Like Americans today, St. Nikolai Velimirovic witnessed dizzying technological changes between his birth in 1881 and the day he died in 1956 in a rural Pennsylvanian monastery. The former bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who spent time in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, shared how Christians should view technology – something equally important in our day, as everyone from parents to legislators offers their own solutions. “The New Chrysostom,” as he was known, began with an eloquent turn-of-phrase:...