Acton Line

This month on the Acton Rundown Dan, Mark, and Nathan chat about upcoming Acton events and new video content. Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Acton On-Demand Nathan Mech on Interfaith Dialogue at the Collins Center for Abrahamic Heritage DEBATE: Carl Trueman & Vincent Phillip Muñoz | Christianity and Liberalism Is There a Future for the Family? | Acton Institute Acton Experience Brasil | Acton Institute 2025 Pittsburgh Dinner | Acton Institute 2025 Portland Dinner | Acton Institute Acton's 35th Annual Dinner | Acton Institute Acton Institute Fifth Annual Academic Conference: Character, Commerce, and Human Flourishing | Acton Institute Virtues, Not Values: Reclaiming the Human Core of Business | Acton Institute Rethinking Charity: Local Agency, Commercial Society, and the Human Person | Acton Institute If you’d like to support this podcast, you can help by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. If you have questions or suggestions for a future episode, you can email us at po

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Nathan Mech, Founding Director of the Collins Center for Abrahamic Heritage at the Acton Institute. They discuss the history and work of the Collins Center. What makes up the Abrahamic heritage? Why is dialogue between Christians, Jews, and Muslims important? How does interreligious dialogue enrich participants from different faith traditions? What contributions have different faiths made to the history of freedom? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Collins Center | Acton Institute Collins Center: Christianity and Liberalism DEBATE: Yasir Qadhi vs. Mustafa Akyol | Islam and the State DEBATE: Sebastian Morello vs. Kevin Vallier | Christianity and the State Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism | Benedikt Koehler Nathan the Wise: A Dramatic Poem in Five Acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing | Project Gutenberg If you’d like to support this podcast, you can help by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. If you have questions or suggestions for a fu

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Clara Piano, visiting assistant professor of economics at the University of Mississippi and an affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute. Clara tells the story of how Fr. Robert Sirico, along with Pope St. John Paul II and Michael Novak, inspired her to start thinking through the moral case for the free economy as an undergraduate as well as her trajectory as a scholar. How is the idea that markets are opposed to morality historically naive? Who is doing great research today exploring the relationship between markets and morals? How do you bring your research and values into the classroom? How should religious leaders understand the relationship between morals and markets? What should young people consider when discerning their professional calling and forming relationships and families? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Clara E. Piano Economics as an Antidote to Envy | Clara E. Piano The Economics of the Parables | Fr. Robert Sirico Defending the F

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. They discuss current crises in American higher education and what can be done to resolve them. Is there too much or too little money in higher education? How should colleges and universities think about their role in preparing students for work and careers? What is the role of the university in forming citizens? Why is it important for universities to hand down cultural heritage and perennial wisdom? How might a reinvention and renewal of general education requirements help solve the crisis in higher ed? Can AI play a constructive role in academic renewal? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal The Case Against Education | Princeton University Press Decadence and renewal in the higher learning: An episodic history of American university and college since 1953 | Russell Kirk Core Knowledge Foundation Cultural Literacy: What Every

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Samuel Gregg, president of and Friedrich Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also an affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute. They discuss his new essay “Michael Novak the Thoroughly Catholic Capitalist,” published in the Summer 2025 issue of Religion & Liberty. How was the American Catholic milieu of the first half of the 20th century different from today’s? Why were religious, ethnic, and political identities so intertwined? How did Michael Novak go from being a writer and journalist to a public intellectual? From liberal to conservative? What were Novak’s unique contributions to Catholic social thought? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here  Michael Novak: A Thoroughly Catholic Capitalist Samuel Gregg | AIER The Open Church | Michael Novak Spirit of Democratic Capitalism | Michael Novak Unmeltable Ethnics: Politics and Culture in American Life | Michael Novak Toward the future : Cat

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Dave Hebert, a senior research fellow at AIER and an affiliate scholar here at the Acton Institute. They discuss the American economy from all angles. What do the latest GDP numbers mean in the real economy? Why are the new tariffs announced by the White House troubling? How does the Bureau of Labor Statistics do its job—and are the latest jobs numbers “rigged”? Will new tariff revenue put a dent in the national debt? What are the economic consequences of erratic policies, undermining of the legitimacy of economic data, and suspicion of the science of economics by policymakers? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here David Hebert | AIER No Jibbering | Dave Hebert | Substack Trump Administration Updates: White House Announces Sweeping New Tariffs for Much of the World | The New York Times Economy Updates: After a Weak Jobs Report, Trump Fires That Agency’s Commissioner | The New York Times U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics David Bahnsen on the State of th

This month on the Acton Rundown: Dan and Mark chat about upcoming Acton events and announce two new affiliate scholars. Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Acton’s 2025 Emerging Leaders Marcel van Hattem on the Fight for Freedom in Brazil Why I Slept on the Streets for a Year – Religion & Liberty Online Why Brazil?: Pursuing Freedom in the Americas: Berlanza, Lucas, Catharino, Alex, Pinheiro, John C: 9798218700645: Amazon.com: Books 2025 Pittsburgh Dinner | Acton Institute Acton's 35th Annual Dinner | Acton Institute The Heart of a Machine: Technological Threats to Liberty in Adam Smith and Beyond The Meaning of Work: What Skilled Trades Can Teach About Forming Workers of Character Silicon Valley Revival? If you’d like to support this podcast, you can help by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. If you have questions or suggestions for a future episode, you can email us at podcast@acton.org.

On today’s episode, Noah Gould, Acton’s Alumni and Student Programs manager, speaks to three members of the Emerging Leaders Program. The Acton Emerging Leaders Program is an 8-week leadership-development internship in Grand Rapids, Mich. The program brings together a cohort of student leaders from across the nation and around the globe for a transformative experience. During the summer, Emerging Leaders will gain professional experience, grow their network, and go deeper into the ideas of a free and virtuous society. Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Emerging Leaders Program | Acton Institute The Use of Knowledge in Society | F.A. Hayek Intellectuals and Socialism | F.A. Hayek The Disadvantages of Being Educated | Albert Jay Nock Dining with Judas: The Limits of Culinary Diplomacy | Abigail Ingram If you’d like to support this podcast, you can help by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. If you have questions or suggestions for a future episode, you can email us at podcast@acto

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Kevin Vallier, professor of philosophy at the University of Toledo, where he is associate director at the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership and affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute. They discuss his new essay, “The Fusionist Manifesto,” published in the Summer 2025 issue of Religion & Liberty. Do critics of the fusionist tradition in American conservatism have a point? In what ways is American conservatism’s fusionist tradition undertheorized? What are the traditional arguments for the compatibility of freedom and virtue, and how might they be improved? How can new intellectual blood best be infused into the fusionist tradition? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here The Fusionist Manifesto American Fusionism | Acton Institute In Defense of Freedom and Related Essays | Frank S. Meyer Free Persons and the Common Good | Michael Novak The Liberty-Virtue Dance | Kevin Vallier, Religion & Liberty Online Fusionism and the Probl

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Eric Kohn, CEO of America’s Future. They discuss just that—and what the organization Eric leads is doing to make that future a bright one. What are the ideas that animated America at its founding, and how do we best transmit them to a new generation? What are the sociological dimensions of building up the liberty movement in America? How can young people build skills and community—and have a good time doing so?Home — America's Future Writing Fellows — America's Future Gell-Mann amnesia effect | Wikipedia A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream | Yuval Levin The Internet of Beefs

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with David Bahnsen, founder, managing partner, and CIO of The Bahnsen Group. With an ever-shifting policy environment and ever-expanding public debt, what is the state of the American economy? How have tariffs and interest rate policy affected economic growth? Why is the housing sector so crucial to the economy? What are the prospects for economic growth in the near future, and will AI revolutionize the American economy? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Acton University Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It  | David Bahnsen Capital Record | National Review Capital Matters Two dolls instead of 30? Toys become the latest symbol of Trump's trade war | AP News The Broken Window | Frédéric Bastiat Understanding the National Debt | U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data Powell Reiterates Fed’s Wait-and-See Approach Before Cutting Rates | The New York Times “The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory” | Milton Friedman Abund

This month on the Acton Rundown: Dan and Mark recap Acton University 2025 and discuss Acton’s upcoming events and publications. Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Religion and Liberty Online Acton University Acton On-Demand Marcel van Hattem on the Fight for Freedom in Brazil Silicon Valley Revival?

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Marcel van Hattem, a Brazilian politician, journalist, and political scientist who is an elected federal representative of the State of Rio Grande do Sul in Brasilia. They begin by discussing Brazil’s history, people, and culture. The conversation then turns to the ongoing constitutional crises and how the Supreme Court’s increasingly authoritarian tendencies have threatened the rule of law, a free press, and freedom of speech in Brazil. What is the best course of action for freedom-loving Brazilians? How are liberty-minded legislators trying to fulfil their duties in the face of authoritarian pressure? Why are the upcoming Senate elections so important for the future of freedom in Brazil? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Acton University Marcel van Hattem – Deputado Federal Marcel van Hattem (@marcelvanhattem) | Instagram photos and videos Marcel van Hattem (@marcelvanhattem) | X Delton Dallagnol on the fight against corruption in Brazil | YouTu

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Dan Churchwell, director of programs and education at the Acton Institute, and A. Trevor Sutton, senior pastor of St. Luke Lutheran Church, about their essay “The Gospel According to Silicon Valley,” which is the cover story for the Summer 2025 issue of Religion & Liberty.   Is there a Christian revival going on in Silicon Valley? How might technology shape and be shaped by a renewal of Christian faith? Is the renewed interest in Christianity genuine? Is “cultural Christianity” merely ideological? What would the fruits of a genuine revival mean for Silicon Valley and the technology produced there? Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here The Gospel According To Silicon Valley | Religion and Liberty Online Christianity Was “Borderline Illegal” in Silicon Valley. Now It’s the New Religion | Vanity Fair The Silicon Valley Christians Who Want to Build ‘Heaven on Earth’ | WIRED Silicon Valley Is Embracing Christianity (With the Help of Peter Thiel) | The New

On today’s episode, Dan Hugger speaks to Dan Churchwell, Acton’s director of programs and education, about what people can expect at Acton University 2025. They share some favorite memories from past years, look forward to some special guests this year, and dive in to what makes this conference unique. Subscribe to our podcasts Watch this podcast here Acton University Acton On-Demand If you’d like to support this podcast, you can help by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. If you have questions or suggestions for a future episode, you can email us at podcast@acton.org.

Today, Acton librarian Dan Hugger and podcast producer Mark Townsend announce that the podcast will be on video going forward. They reveal the new podcast studio, talk about how recent economic events forced them to move quickly, and discuss the joys of flailing-arm tube men. Subscribe to our podcasts Acton On-Demand If you’d like to support this podcast, you can help by leaving a 5-star review at Apple Podcasts. If you have questions or suggestions for a future episode, you can reach us at podcast@acton.org.

On today episode, Acton’s director of programs and education, Dan Churchwell, speaks to Philip Bunn, assistant professor of political science at Covenant College. They discuss his Acton Lecture Series presentation “The Heart of a Machine: Technological Threats to Liberty in Adam Smith and Beyond.” Subscribe to our podcasts Acton Lecture Series Philip D. Bunn

On today’s episode, Acton librarian Dan Hugger speaks with James Otteson from Acton University 2024. They discuss Adam Smith and what he tells us about the role of business in society. Subscribe to our podcasts Acton University Acton On-Demand James Otteson | Mendoza College of Business

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Isaac Willour, journalist and analyst at Bowyer Research. They discuss his Religion and Liberty Online essay “America Poured Billions into DEI Initiatives. Who Benefited?” What ideology underlies diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives? How did DEI take root in corporate America, and why is it now in retreat? What roles do journalism, shareholder activism, and employee initiative play in the ebb and flow of the fortunes of DEI? What alternatives to DEI exist to counter hostile work environments and build workplace cohesion for employees regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, or faith?   America Poured Billions into DEI Initiatives. Who Benefited? | Isaac Willour The Strange Death of DEI | Isaac Willour A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits | The New York Times The Social Responsibility of Business: Milton Friedman Reconsidered | John Elrick What Costco’s Doubling Down on DEI Means—and Doesn’t Mean | Isaac Willour

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Dylan Pahman, research fellow and executive editor of the Journal of Markets and Morality at the Acton Institute. They discuss his recently published essay “An Ascetic Way of Life in a World of Abundance,” an adaptation of a chapter from Dylan’s forthcoming book, The Kingdom of God & the Common Good (Ancient Faith, 2025). How is Orthodox Social Thought shaped by liturgical theology? Why should Christians view life as fundamentally ascetic? What lessons does Orthodox Social Thought have to teach other Christian traditions? Subscribe to our podcasts ‘An Ascetic Way of Life in a World of Abundance’ | Acton Institute For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy | Alexander Schmemann A Voice for Our Time: Radio Liberty Talks, Volume 1 |: Alexander Schmemann A Voice for Our Time: Radio Liberty Talks, Volume 2 | Alexander Schmemann The Pillar and Ground of the Truth: An Essay in Orthodox Theodicy in Twelve Letters | Pavel Florensky, Boris Jakim, Richar