Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'community'

Acton Commentary: It Takes a Village to Raise a Business

President Obama’s speech last week in which he asserted to businesspeople, “You didn’t build that,” has been getting some pretty harsh and some pretty hilarious responses. In this week’s Acton Commentary, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Business,” I caution against responses that play into a simple individualist/collectivist dichotomy that underlays the president’s message: We all know at some level that we didn’t get where we are on our own, and that we have an ongoing responsibility and dependence on others for our continuing enjoyment of the goods of human existence. Continue Reading...

Truth and Blessings at Acton University

On the drive over to Acton University this morning I heard an argument on the radio about how the economy would have been fixed if only the dollar amount of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 would have been doubled. Continue Reading...

Acton Commentary: Contagious Community

In this week’s Acton Commentary, “Contagious Community,” I look at the positive as well as the negative aspects of coordination and cooperation between human beings on a global scale. The film Contagion provided the occasion for these reflections, and I argue that while the film is clear about the dangers of globalized human relationships, it also teaches a more subtle lesson. Continue Reading...

Community, Culture, and Confession

Inspired by Art Prize, I wrote a blog about culture, technology, and the universal desire for community. This appeared on Ethika Politika‘s blog today and an excerpt can be found below: Last week as I was wandering through Grand Rapids’ Art Prize (the world’s largest art competition), I came across the very simple interactive piece that is pictured below. Continue Reading...

Government and the Good Life

In preparing for an Acton University lecture last week on Christianity and Government (you can listen to it here)[audio:http://bonhoeffer.acton.org/acton_media/mp3/2010-6-16_Miller.mp3] I was reflecting on some of the core differences between a Christian vision of government in comparison to modern, secular visions. Continue Reading...

Wikipedia: Freedom in Community

In this week’s Acton Commentary, I reflect on a decade of Wikipedia, a remarkable experiment in human interaction: Ten years ago this month, Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales hired Larry Sanger to develop an online encyclopedia. Continue Reading...