Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'christianity'

March 11, 2013

Vatican Smoke Signals

Here’s a curious tidbit regarding the fumata, the white or black smoke that will rise from the Sistine Chapel’’s chimney signaling whether a pope has been elected or not. “It is sometimes hard to distinguish the actual color of the smoke, such as in 2005”. Continue Reading...
March 11, 2013

At the Vatican Conclave: The Lull before the Storm

ROME — For all the ‘Vaticanisti’ (journalists specializing in the Vatican) sitting around Rome and interviewing one another for the last several weeks, the wholesale consumption of high blood pressure medication took a precipitous drop on the announcement Friday afternoon that the Conclave to elect the new pope would occur on Tuesday, March 12, one day later than I had predicted several weeks ago.  Continue Reading...
March 11, 2013

Chuck Colson, Compassion, and Criminals

As Joe noted last week, over at Think Christian, H. David Schuringa highlights the primacy of the church’s ministry to prisoners and their families. He points to efforts both great and small: Over the last 20 years, prison ministry has finally gotten back on the church’s agenda. Continue Reading...
March 11, 2013

Women of Liberty: Hildegard of Bingen

(March is Women’s History Month. Acton will be highlighting a number of women who have contributed significantly to the issue of liberty during this month.) “This strange child” is how Hildegard was once described. Continue Reading...
March 07, 2013

Orthodoxy and Natural Law: A Reappraisal

At Ethika Politika today, I examine the recent critique by David Bentley Hart in the most recent issue of First Things of the use of natural law in public discourse in my article, “Natural Law, Public Policy, and the Uncanny Voice of Conscience.” Continue Reading...
March 06, 2013

Women of Liberty: Joan of Arc

(March is Women’s History Month. Acton will be highlighting a number of women who have contributed significantly to the issue of liberty during this month.) Joan of Arc 1412-1431 The Maid of Orleans Young Joan, by any account, had a plain beginning to an extraordinary life. Continue Reading...
March 05, 2013

Lecrae Urges Christians to Move Beyond a ‘Sacred-Secular Divide’

At last fall’s evangelical-oriented Resurgence Conference, Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist Lecrae Moore encouraged the American church to rethink how it engages culture, urging Christians to move beyond what has become a narrow, overly introverted “sacred-secular divide” (HT): We are great at talking about salvation and sanctification. Continue Reading...
February 27, 2013

Legal Constraint and True Liberty

In today’s Acton Commentary, I explore the Christian conception of law as a necessary palliative to the anti-social effects of sin. “Since we do not always govern ourselves as we ought to, in accord with the moral order, there must be some external checks and limits on our behavior,” I write. Continue Reading...