Michael Matheson Miller

Michael Matheson Miller is the chief of strategic initiatives, senior research fellow, and director of the Center for Social Flourishing at the Acton Institute.

Posts by Michael Matheson Miller

December 13, 2019

Think like Lenin

Gary Saul Morson has excellent and enlightening piece at the New Criterion on Vladimir Lenin and what he calls Leninthink.  “Lenin did more than anyone else to shape the last hundred years. Continue Reading...
November 18, 2019

The myth of the young entrepreneur

Jeffrey Tucker wrote a good piece at The American Institute for Economic Research. It is an important reminder about how hard business is and how the idea that most entrepreneurs are young is a myth. Continue Reading...
November 14, 2019

The temptation of propaganda

Law & Liberty just published a talk I gave at the Philadelphia Society meeting earlier this year on conservatism and the future of truth.   We live in an age of propaganda. Continue Reading...
October 31, 2019

Thomistic Institute Aquinas 101

The Thomistic Institute has a new video series introducing the work of St. Thomas Aquinas called Aquinas 101. The videos are well done, concise, and clear, and if you are looking for an introduction to St. Continue Reading...
September 30, 2019

6 ways to combat consumerism

The Gospel reading on Sunday was the story of Lazarus and the rich man. I often refer to this parable in discussions about poverty, because Augustine points out that it was not wealth that sent the rich man to hell, but his indifference. Continue Reading...
September 30, 2019

On mythical materialism

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. Continue Reading...
September 24, 2019

Wilfred McClay on friendship new and old

What is friendship? What does it mean to be or to have a friend? And why does Aristotle consider friendship a virtue and an important for political life? Wilfred McClay has a nice essay on friendship at the Hedgehog Review, where he reflects on the title of the song “My New, Old Friend.” Continue Reading...
August 31, 2019

Robert Nisbet on Tradition and Revolt

It is a common theme in fairy tales and other stories that the loser of the struggle will tell the victor that their victory will come with a cost. We see a similar theme in the Bible with the prophets–perhaps most famously when Israel finally gets the king they wanted so they could be like the other nations.  Continue Reading...