For this episode of Acton Line, we’re bringing you one of the plenary talks from Acton University 2024. Robert and Berni Neal explore the complementarity of business and philanthropy, sharing their personal journey and philosophy on integrating wealth creation and ethical stewardship. Robert, a managing partner at Hager Pacific Properties, and Berni, a dedicated Catholic evangelist, discuss how their faith and values guide their business decisions and philanthropic efforts. They emphasize the importance of delayed gratification, ethical behavior, and the role of stewardship as a collaboration with God. Through personal anecdotes and strategic insights, the Neals illustrate how business can serve as a noble vocation that not only generates wealth but also contributes to the greater good.

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On today’s episode, we bring you a wide-ranging conversation between Acton librarian Dan Hugger and Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado from Acton University 2024. They discuss the religious heritage of India, democracy, and the promises and challenges of interreligious dialogue today.

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For this episode of Acton Line, we’re bringing you one of the plenary talks from Acton University 2024. Dr. Anthony Bradley, Acton Institute distinguished research fellow, delves into the complex relationship between childhood trauma and poverty. Drawing from extensive research, Dr. Bradley discusses how adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction can have long-lasting effects on brain development and overall life outcomes. He emphasizes the importance of compassion and community support in mitigating these effects and highlights the critical role of positive childhood experiences in fostering resilience and thriving. Through compelling case studies and personal anecdotes, Dr. Bradley underscores the need for long-term commitment and community-based interventions to break the cycle of poverty and trauma.

Acton University is Acton’s flagship conference, focused on building the foundations of human freedom and exploring the intersection of faith and free markets. To learn more about Acton University, please visit university.acton.org. To find additional content from previous Acton Universities, please visit ondemand.acton.org.

How should you allocate your personal wealth? How do the decisions you make regarding personal wealth impact your character? In his Acton Lecture Series talk, Kenneth Elzinga discussed Christian stewardship and proposed a new way to think about the relationship between “donor” and “receiver.”

Capitalism didn’t fail—it was ruined, says Ruchir Sharma.

In his new book, “What Went Wrong with Capitalism,” Sharma takes you back to the 19th century to illustrate how the reflexes of government have changed. From hands-off to hands-on, from doing too little to help in hard times to trying to prevent anyone from suffering economic pain ever.

Too much of the conversation about poverty, whether in government, among social service providers, or in churches, is animated by highly emotional conventions, trite melodramatic comparisons, and comfortable ideological clichés, says Ismael Hernandez.

For this episode of Acton Line, we’re bringing you one of the plenary talks from Acton University 2024. In this talk, Dr. Umi Waheeda, co-founder of the Al Ashriyyah Nurul Iman Islamic boarding school in West Java, Indonesia, shares her journey of transforming lives through education and entrepreneurship. Founded in 1998 during the Indonesian riots, the school provides free education, meals, accommodation, and health services to over 15,000 children, supported by 65 student-run business units. Dr. Waheeda discusses the challenges she faced after her husband’s death, her innovative approach to self-sustainability, and her vision of creating entrepreneurs who are job creators rather than job seekers. Her story is a powerful testament to the impact of combining principled entrepreneurship with a commitment to the social good.

Acton University is the Acton Institute’s flagship conference, focused on building the foundations of human freedom and exploring the intersection of faith and free markets. To learn more about Acton University, please visit university.acton.org. And to find additional content from previous Acton Universities, visit ondemand.acton.org.

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Daniel Silliman, historian and news editor for Christianity Today, about his new book, One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation. Silliman argues that Nixon’s life was framed by a fundamentally theological struggle: He wanted to be loved by God but couldn’t figure out how. From an idiosyncratic Quaker childhood, to an explicitly modernist youth and final embrace of a Cold War Christianity, did the president ever find the grace he craved?

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In this episode, Acton’s director of research, John Pinheiro, speaks to Jeremy Beer from Acton University 2024 about the definition of philanthropy, the importance of philanthropy today, and why finding a way to connect identities is the key to success.

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In this episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn talks to Kevin Vallier about his book “All the Kingdoms of the World,” the conversations he’s had with young college students interested in ideas like Catholic integralism and post-liberalism, and where he thinks movements rooted in those ideas are at today.

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In today’s episode, we bring you one of the plenary talks from Acton University 2024. Here Dr. John Tomasi, a distinguished political philosopher and president of Heterodox Academy, delves into the critical role played by universities in supporting a free society.

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Each summer, the Acton Institute welcomes a cohort of students to Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of our Emerging Leaders Program. This leadership-development program is not your typical internship. Students from across the United States and around the globe get to participate in eight weeks of seminars, networking, and Acton events to develop professional experience, grow their network, and go deeper into the ideas of a free and virtuous society.

In this episode, Noah Gould, Acton alumni and student programs manager, talks to three Emerging Leaders about how they found Acton, how they’ve spent their summer, and how they’ll take what they’ve learned into their future vocations.

Common ground is hard to find in today’s politics. In a society teeming with irreconcilable political perspectives, many people have grown frustrated under a system of government that constantly demands compromise. More and more Americans on both the right and the left have come to blame the Constitution for the resulting discord.

But the Constitution is not the problem; it’s the solution, says Yuval Levin in his new book, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—And Could Again.

In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton’s director of marketing and communications, sits down with financial expert David Bahnsen to discuss the current state of the American and global economies, where inflation is at, and the role of the Federal Reserve.

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In the 34-year history of the Acton Institute, never have we had an opportunity to combine Ludwig Von Mises and the Austrian school of economics with mixed martial arts. That is, until Renato Moicano presented us with just that opportunity at Acton University 2024.

Hailing from Brazil, Renato has been a professional MMA fighter since 2010 and currently competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Rather than boasting about himself after a match in April, he took the opportunity to express his enthusiasm for the U.S. Constitution, private property, the Second Amendment—and then gave a shout-out to Ludwig Von Mises and the Austrian school of economics.

Gurcharan Das was born in Lyallpur, Punjab, during World War II. His mother noted in her diary that he was a restless child, and by age 3 was a “troublemaker.” He discovered one day, however, that he could also run—and he’s been running ever since.

Gurcharan set out to become an engineer but wound up with a philosophy degree from Harvard instead. From there he abandoned a promising academic career to become a salesman for Vicks VapoRub in India’s colorful bazaars, eventually leading him to become CEO of Procter & Gamble India. Then, at the peak of his professional life, he walked away from his corporate identity to become a celebrated writer and public intellectual.

For four days each summer, Acton University brings together from around the developing and the developed worlds leaders in business, academia, and the church, as well as students of all ages, for a four-day exploration of theology, philosophy, entrepreneurship, international development, and market-based economics.

Hundreds of attendees from more than 75 different countries pack our venue in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to listen to dozens of experts bring thought-provoking presentations on the intellectual and practical foundations of a free society.

Resources on Catholic and Protestant social thought abound, but where are the resources for answers to the social question to be found in Eastern Orthodoxy?

Dylan Pahman, executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality and research fellow at the Acton Institute, has spent his career tracking them down. In this interview, he and Acton’s librarian and research associate, Dan Hugger, explore the nature and unique approach of Orthodox Christian social thought. Then they drill down into the history of Orthodox communities in the Middle East and their creative responses to invasion, conquest, and flux that allowed them to flourish until the 20th century. The example of these communities demonstrates that the universal call to holiness can be embraced even in the most trying circumstances.

That America has a weight problem is no surprise. According to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.

A wide variety of so-called solutions are on offer from diet gurus, traditional healthcare practitioners, and social media fitness influencers. One need only browse the shelves of bookstores or an Instagram feed to find details of all different kinds of diets promising how “this one weird trick” will help you lose weight quickly, keep it off, and live a healthier life. And yet Americans’ obesity problem persists. How can those in the church find the narrow gate of healthy living and avoid the wide road of bodily destruction without judgment and shame?

In 2022, the Acton Institute launched The Collins Center for Abrahamic Heritage. The mission is to advance research and education on economics, liberty, and human flourishing from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic perspectives.

As part of this mission, earlier this year the Collins Center launched a debate series on the relationship between government and religion, featuring robust dialogue between scholars and leaders of different faiths.