There’s a line that’s been attributed to Martin Luther that goes something like this: “Even if I knew the world was going to end tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today.” Continue Reading...
Latest Posts
April 07, 2025
There Is No ‘Just Tariff’
James Hartley provided a thought-provoking and insightful discussion of tariffs at a recent Acton Lecture Series event. Far be it from me to say he is completely off-base when it comes to tariffs. Continue Reading...
April 03, 2025
Can Virtue Be Taught?
Educating young people in a mass democracy proves no easy task. Variations in location, the abilities and interests of the students, the role of the parents, and conceptions concerning the end(s) of education create much confusion that aggregated metrics fail to capture. Continue Reading...
April 02, 2025
Economics According to St. Matthew
Michael Pakaluk, a Harvard-trained philosopher and professor of political economy at the Catholic University’s Busch School of Business, has written a new book, Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel with a Fresh Translation. Continue Reading...
April 01, 2025
What Is War Good For?
It’s a common belief today that all war is evil. This is especially true in the wake of the confusing quagmires that have come to characterize warfare in the 21st century: Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Ukraine. Continue Reading...
March 27, 2025
The Secular and the Dead
More than a decade ago, I had the privilege of visiting Tuol Sleng, a museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, that displays in horrific detail the murderous brutality committed by the totalitarian Khmer Rouge, which governed the country from 1975 to 1979. Continue Reading...
March 26, 2025
Severance and the Bifurcated Self
One of the topics of the times is work-life balance. Should you work all the time, like Elon Musk? Should you embrace the workless life of social media influencers? To be middle class is a mix of the two. Continue Reading...
March 25, 2025
Flannery O’Connor at 100
It’s jarring, maybe, to think of Flannery O’Connor as an old lady. Then again, to our eyes, in photographs from the last years of her life, maybe she looks already old. Continue Reading...
March 20, 2025
Pope Francis’ Plea for Migrants and Acton’s Core Principles
Pope Francis’ papacy has been characterized by a consistent emphasis on reaching out to the marginalized and accompanying them with love and mercy. The Holy Father speaks often of those on the peripheries: the forgotten, the excluded, those who interrupt the rhythms of our lives because they require more attention and care than most. Continue Reading...
March 19, 2025
The What Ifs and What Was of American History
Professor Walter A. McDougall’s new book, Gems of American History, is subtitled The Lecturer’s Art, an apt phrase for a collection of lectures delivered to audiences ranging from the Museum of the American Revolution to the Agnes Irwin School. Continue Reading...
