Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Vocation

September 11, 2019

Can a big bad state deliver us from evil?

Thirty five years ago the American novelist Thomas Pynchon asked the question, “Is It O.K. To Be A Luddite?” The occasion was the then 25th anniversary of C.P. Snow’s Rede Lecture, “The Two Cultures of the Scientific Revolution,” which argued, way back in 1959, that our culture was increasingly polarized into “literary” and “scientific” factions unable to understand each other. Continue Reading...
August 30, 2019

In praise of ‘garbagemen’

When I was twelve my family lived on a small, dry piece of land in rural Texas. Since we lived far outside of any city limits, we couldn’t rely on services like water (we had a well), sewage (we had a septic tank), or sanitation (we had a 12-year-old boy and a 50-gallon burn barrel). Continue Reading...
"Garbage Truck" by Jeffrey Beall is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
August 28, 2019

Abba Moses on the Christian vocation

Today in the Orthodox Church we commemorate 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. Continue Reading...
August 23, 2019

Adieu and thank you, Joe Carter

For nearly eight years, Senior Editor Joe Carter has been a mainstay of the PowerBlog. Not only have readers come to expect his daily PowerLinks but Joe’s numerous contributions (let’s enumerate: 4,400 posts!) Continue Reading...
August 15, 2019

Mass shootings and the vocation of hero

If you wonder why there are so many mass shootings in America lately you might start by asking why you don’t know the name of Leo Johnson. Seven years ago today, Johnson, the operations manager for Family Research Council (FRC) was temporarily manning the front desk at the organization’s Washington, DC headquarters when a terrorist entered with a handgun and 100 rounds of ammunition. Continue Reading...