Today in the Orthodox Church memorate St. Moses the Ethiopian, also simply known as St. Moses the Black. His life and teachings have enriched the Christian spiritual tradition for more than 1,600 years, and he has something to teach us about the concept of vocation. Abba Moses was one of the desert fathers, the first Christian monks who lived in the wilderness of ancient Egypt and dedicated their lives to the pursuit of virtue and holiness. According to tradition, he...

In one of the most memorable mid-1990s episodes of The Simpsons, the curmudgeonly misanthrope Charles Montgomery Burns achieves a lifelong dream: Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun. I shall do the next best thing: block it out. While Mr. Burns had no use for our nearest star, the other residents Springfield were dismayed by the citywide sun-block. They understood, as Steve Martin once said, that “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”...

Whenever the conservative movement loses its way, says Samuel Gregg in an article for Law & Liberty, it’s only a matter of time before some turn for guidance to the figure most associated with modern Anglo-American conservatism’s emergence—Edmund Burke. And Burke admirers who have reservations about market economies should remember, says Gregg, that Burke robustly defends what we would call “market liberalism.” Burke’s status as a conservative icon often draws attention away from that portion of his political career spent...

This is the fourth in a series of essayson Peter Drucker’s early works. It was sometimes said of fascists that they “made the trains run on time.” In The End of Economic Man, Peter Drucker saw that fascists “proved” their fitness through effective organization. Technical details substituted for real social ends. But the real power of fascist organization has to do with its ambition prehensiveness. In effect, the fascist state holds up the political party and insists that all be...

What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? The late great Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. Rosling explains how the productivity gains of the washing machine (and similar labor-saving devices) lead to increases in education and economic growth in the developing world. ...

In the routine stories of humanitarian activism gone wrong, we find ready reminders of the limits of good intentions. In each case—whether among governments or non-profits and religious institutions—we see how a heartfelt motivation to “do good” can easily serve as a blind spot on hearts and minds. One of the latest examples involves Renee Bach, an American missionary who, at age 20, moved to Uganda and soon started a charity for malnourished children. Now, Bach is under fire for...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set up a collision with Parliament over the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit, as he announced that he intends to prorogue Parliament next month. Here are the facts you need to know. What does it mean to “prorogue” Parliament? To prorogue Parliament resets the session, as Members of Parliament take an extended recess. All pending legislation is wiped clean, except for measures MPs voted to carry over. The traditionalQueen’s Speechthen rings in a new session...

From Gillette to Pepsi, panies are starting to market their products by advocating for social justice issues, signaling to consumers that they are “woke.” Is ‘woke capitalism’ a trend that’s truly new in the market? Is there a place for businesses ment on social issues? Acton’s president and co-founder, Rev. Robert Sirico, explains. Afterwards, Daniel J. Mahoney, professor of political science at Assumption College speaks about his newest book, “The Idol of our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts...

Over at the University Bookman, W. Bradford Littlejohn reviews Niels Hemmingsen’s On the Law of Nature: A Demonstrative Method, recently published by CLP Academic. Littlejohn describes this surprising sixteenth century treatise as “a concise one-stop shop summary of Aristotelian-Thomistic epistemology, philosophy of action, and natural law theory.” The work, written by a Danish Lutheran theologian, challenges the received historical narratives about Protestant and Roman Catholic ethics: Thanks to the painstaking translation labors of Hillsdale classicist E.J. Hutchinson, Niels Hemmingsen has...

The U.S. has diverged from the OECD approach to economic and energy issues that critics called this weekend’s G7 Summit the “G6-plus-one.” However, a new study shows America’s less regulated, less regimented economy has generated such abundance that the poorest 20 percent of Americans are more prosperous than the average European. “If the U.S. ‘poor’ were a nation, it would be one of the world’s richest,” writes Jim Agresti of Just Facts in a new article for the Acton Institute’s...