Today at Ethika Politika, I examine the longstanding claim of the Roman Catholic Church that the universal character of mon good in our present era necessitates a world political authority. The problem, I argue, lies in the tradition’s too closely identifying the good of munities with mon good. The recently canonized Pope John XXIII, for example, states that “[p]ublic authority” is “the means of promoting mon good in civil society” (Pacem in Terris, 136, emphasis mine). And Pope Benedict XVI...

What just happened in Iraq? Conflicts in Syria and Iraq have converged into one widening regional insurgency and Iraq risks a full-scale civil war after an al-Qaeda-linked militant group called ISIS quickly seized a large section of the country’s northern region. The group has already taken Mosul, the country’s second largest city, and is within striking distance of Baghdad. Insurgents stripped the main army base in the northern city of Mosul of weapons, released hundreds of prisoners from the city’s...

Sixpence economics, like the economic teachings of Jesus’ parables, shows us the stewardship responsibility that God has given to human beings, says Jordan Ballor in this week’s Acton Commentary. At the conclusion of the first of his two chapters exploring the theological virtue of faith inMere Christianity, C.S. Lewis provides a brief illustration that helps set the stage quite well for a discussion of the relationship between theology and economics, a relationship that currently stands in need of serious repair....

Given the dynamics of the information age and ever-accelerating globalization, humanity faces a variety of new opportunities and challenges when es to creating, collaborating, and consuming alongside those from vastly different contexts. Although Pentecost Sunday has already past, Pentecostal theologian Amos Yong wrotesome related reflectionson this very question, particularly as it relates to Christian vocation.As Yong notes, “location and situatedness matter, and do so across many registers — religious/theological, ideological, socio-economic, political, educational, linguistic, geographical, cultural, ethnic, racial, and experiential.”...

Last night, economics professor David Bratsurprised everyonein defeating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) in a primary challenge for Virginia’s 7th congressional district. Predictably, the media is now a-buzz about Brat, rapidly catching up on his beliefs, his plans, and so on. Time will tell as for whether Brat is successful as a politician, and whether he is, in fact, a strong conservative alternative to his predecessor.But one item that sticks out in Brat’sacademic CVis his unique interest in...

Next week at Acton University I am giving a lecture titled, “Calvin Coolidge and his Foundational Views on Government.” One of the great things about studying Coolidge is that he is extremely accessible. Coolidge noted during his political career that practicing law was valuable for munication skills that promote brevity and clarity in speech. The Coolidge lecture at Acton University will attempt to do likewise. He’s a president that probably would have little trouble with the 140 character limit on...

, Pew Research says this is a global issue. The Americas are the only region not seeing a noted increase. A third (33%) of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, up from 29% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007. The sharpest increase was in the Middle East and North Africa, which still is feeling the effects of the 2010-11 political uprisings known as the Arab Spring.There also was a significant...

After Elliot Rodger decided to take out his rage on innocent people in California, the web went crazy with vitriol. Rodger had mentioned in his homemade video and his writings that he was angry at women, couldn’t get a date, etc. Despite the fact that the majority of his victims were male, the #YesAllWomen tag went viral. It was meant to denote that all women suffer from abuse and violence. But is this really the case? Thankfully, Christina Hoff Sommers...

I met Naomi Schaefer, not yet Riley, while she was editor of “In Character” and just about to have her first book “God on the Quad” published. I invited her to be a speaker at a Catholic business conference that I was involved with in southern California. The following week she married Jason Riley. The writing career continues to produce good stuff. And there are three kids now and a house in the burbs. Good stuff all around. Her latest...

Neo-, paleo-, theo-, passionate, fiscal, social. . . in modern America there are almost as many brands of conservatism as there are conservatives. To truly understand what a conservative believes, though, it is often more instructive to simply ask what it is they want to conserve. Like Russell Kirk, I believe the institution most essential to conserve is the family. At Canon & Culture I offer a “tentative manifesto” of what a family-first conservatism would entail: I believe that while...