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March 16, 2017

Beyond a material understanding of poverty

As we continue to encounter the adverse effects of particular forms of foreign aid, it becomes increasingly clear that solving complex social and economic problems requires a level of care, concern, and discipleship not well suited to detached top-down “solutions.” Continue Reading...
March 15, 2017

5 ways the church can help the poor

“My community includes people who are both materially poor and ‘poor in spirit’,” says Zachary Ritvalsky in this week’s Acton Commentary. “However, what exactly does it mean to say that people are ‘poor in spirit’?” Continue Reading...
March 15, 2017

Understanding the President’s Cabinet: HHS Secretary

Note: This is the eighth in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introduction here.   Cabinet position: Secretary of Health and Human Services Department: Department of Health and Human Services Current Secretary: Thomas E. Continue Reading...
March 15, 2017

‘Instruction by which we may profit’: A guide to reading Tocqueville’s ‘Democracy in America’ (Part 1)

When Alexis de Tocqueville authored Democracy in America, a two-volume treatment of America, he wrote it “to find there instruction by which we ourselves may profit.” By “we,” Tocqueville was referring to his fellow Frenchmen, but although he may have written those words in 1835, we as Americans of the 21st century also have plenty to profit from Tocqueville’s wisdom, if we’ll but receive it. Continue Reading...
March 14, 2017

5 facts about the Brexit vote and Scottish independence

On Monday night, Parliament passed a bill allowing Prime Minister Theresa May to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. On the same day, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for Scotland to hold a second referendum on declaring independence from the UK. Continue Reading...