At last summer’s Acton University conference, one of the evening key note lectures included Diet Eman, a Grand Rapids resident and one of the leaders of the World War II Dutch resistance.  As a 20-year-old bank teller in the Netherlands in 1940, Diet dove into underground activities, doing anything she could to protect Jews from the deadly Nazi advance.  She, along with a small minority of ordinary Dutch citizens, bravely put their lives on the line to preserve human life and dignity.

Read more on The Dutch Resistance: Diet Eman at Aquinas College…

Václav Havel

Václav Havel, playwright, anti-Communist dissident and former president of the Czech Republic, died yesterday at the age of 75. There has been an outpouring of tributes to the great man today. In light of that, I’d like to point PowerBlog readers to the September-October 1998 issue of Religion & Liberty and the article “Living Responsibly: Václav Havel’s View” by Edward E. Ericson.

Read more on Vaclav Havel and the ‘Notion of Responsibility’…

Acton Institute is pleased to announce both the opening of registration for the 2012 Acton University (AU), and the launch of AU Online, a new internet-based educational resource for exploring the intellectual foundations of a free and virtuous society.

Read more on Acton University Registration Opens, Plus AU Online Launches…

Tomorrow is a big day at the Acton Institute. November 15th marks the launch of two programs, 2012 Acton University (AU) and AU Online, a new internet-based educational resource for exploring the intellectual foundations of a free and virtuous society.

Read more on November 15 Countdown: Acton University…

This year’s Acton University was very successful, and we are still seeing its effects through blog posts, tweets, and Facebook messages. Some of our PowerBlog readers may be wondering what they missed out on, or would also like to think back a few weeks to their favorite Acton University moments.

Read more on Acton University: A Student Perspective…

Metropolitan Jonah at AU 2011

We’ve posted the text of Metropolitan Jonah’s AU talk on “Asceticism and the Consumer Society” on the Acton site. His remarks, delivered on Thursday, June 16, at the plenary session looked at the “opposing movements in the human heart” between consumerism and worship. In the course of his talk, Jonah cited Orthodox Christian theologian Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s definition of secularism as “in theological terms … a heresy … about man.”

Read more on Metropolitan Jonah: Asceticism and the Consumer Society…

Acton University has been full of thought provoking lectures and stimulating discussion. It is easy to see why the attendees wish the conference was much longer. There are many interesting lectures, one just wishes he or she could attend all of them.

Read more on Civil Society, Entrepreneurship, and the Common Good…

Continuing the tradition from 2010, Acton University 2011 lectures will be available for purchase online from our secure order page.  New lectures will be posted as they conclude throughout the week, so check back often.

Read more on Purchase Acton University 2011 Lectures Online…

We now have a live stream of the #ActonU hashtag on Twitter running on the right side of our blog. This tab will keep you updated on the folks who are using this tag in their Twitter posts. Feel free to join in and be featured on the blog! You might even find someone to meet up with between sessions. For those of you who aren’t at Acton University you can use the feed to find out what you’re missing. If you do not see the feed on the right side of the blog you may need to refresh your browser.

Read more on Follow Acton University on Twitter from the PowerBlog…

Metropolitan Jonah

Julia Duin, a veteran religion reporter, has written a profile of the embattled leader of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Jonah, for the Washington Post weekend edition. She does an admirable and fair job of not only telling us about this American-born bishop but explaining why his short tenure has sparked so much controversy within the various Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States. (Let me bring to your attention, right away, that Jonah is our plenary speaker on June 16 at Acton University.)

Read more on The Orthodox Church in the Public Square…