In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Father Robert Sirico, co-founder and president emeritus of the Acton Institute, about the true meaning of Christmas.

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A Charlie Brown Christmas | Charles M. Schulz

A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens

Pied Beauty | Gerard Manley Hopkins

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In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Stephen Barrows, chief operations officer of the Acton Institute, about the recent conviction of entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, who was found guilty by a Hong Kong court on Monday in a landmark national security trial.

Who is Jimmy Lai, and what is his long-standing relationship with Acton? What were the charges brought against him, and why are there reasons to doubt their fairness? How does Jimmy’s arrest, trial, and conviction show the erosion of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the rule of law in Hong Kong? What has been the reaction of the international community to the conviction? How can freedom-loving people show solidarity with Jimmy Lai?

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Hong Kong Court Finds Jimmy Lai Guilty in National Security Trial

Governments and groups condemn conviction of Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai

Rev. Robert A. Sirico Responds to Jimmy Lai's Guilty Verdict #freejimmylai

The Hong Konger (documentary)

The Call of the Entrepreneur (documentary)

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In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Peter J. Boettke, Distinguished University Professor of Economics at George Mason University, as well as the director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, about the importance of the history of economic thought and the Austrian School of economics.

Why read the classics in economics? What is the place of the Austrian School in economics today? How is the humanistic and scientific nature of the Austrian School related to political ideology and commitments? What is the prehistory of the Austrian School in the theologians and jurists of early modern Europe? How do figures in the Austrian tradition relate economics to religion? Why have GMU and Mercatus been so successful in fostering research and educating the next generation of scholars in the Austrian tradition?

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Why Read the Classics in Economics? | Peter J. Boettke

After Samuelson, Who Needs Adam Smith? | Kenneth E. Boulding

Competition and Entrepreneurship | Israel M. Kirzner

Human Action: A Treatise on Economics | Ludwig von Mises

Mercatus Center

F. A. Hayek Program

Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics, and Law (First Series)

Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics, and Law (Second Series)

The Peaceableness Project

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In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Stephanie Slade, senior editor at Reason magazine and a fellow in liberal studies at the Acton Institute, about the “New Right.” Who comprises the New Right, and what is their approach to politics? Has the old conservative movement failed? How does the New Right’s rhetoric relate to their larger political project? Who were the forerunners of the New Right? What are the religious currents of the New Right? Why should conservatives appeal to ideas rather than passions? Is there a moral dimension to conflicts within the American conservative movement?

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Against Game of Thrones Christianity | Stephanie Slade

The New Right Isn't So New | Stephanie Slade

Liberalism Isn't Rule by Elites | Stephanie Slade

The Devil Went Down to Wall Street | Dan Hugger

National Conservatism and the Great Controversy Reborn | Dan Hugger

Frank S. Meyer's Fusionism Melded Classical Liberalism with Traditional Religion | Stephanie Slade

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This month on the Acton Rundown Dan & Mark chat about upcoming Acton events and new video content.

Essays:

Fall 2025 Religion & Liberty

American Religion by the Numbers by Miles Smith

A Pope for the 21st Century

Video content:

Anne Bradley Interrogates Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s Abundance

Yasir Qadhi on LEAVING Salafism and Rejecting Sectarianism

Peter Lipsett Is Podcasting to Answer the Question, "What Is the Right?"

How to Rebel

John Wilsey Is Priming Conservatives for Religious Freedom

Andrew Abela Is Popularizing the Virtues with “Superhabits”

Upcoming events:

Artificial Intelligence, Human Dignity, and the Free Society | Acton Institute

Acton University 2026 | Acton Institute

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Andrew Abela, founding dean of the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and affiliate faculty member at Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program, about his book Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life. How do we best popularize virtues? How does the positive psychology account of the virtues differ from St. Thomas Aquinas’s theological account? What are “superhabits,” and how do they differ from mere “habits”? How do constituent virtues relate to the four cardinal virtues? What resources has the Busch school developed to help students, faculty, and business leaders cultivate the virtues? How do you decide which virtues to cultivate?  

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Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life | Andrew Abela

Superhabits Substack

The Anatomy of Virtue | Andrew Abela

Virtues, Jordan Peterson, and Thomas Aquinas | Andrew Abela

Busch School Virtues Diagnostic

GrowVirtue: The New Superhabits App

Treatise on the Virtues | St. Thomas Aquinas

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change | Stephen R. Covey

The Divine Center | Stephen R. Covey

He Once Ran the Most Powerful Conservative Think Tank in D.C. Now He's a Self-Help Guru Writing Books with Oprah. | Ian Ward on Arthur Brooks

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In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with John Wilsey, professor of church history and chair of the Department of Church History and Historical Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, about his new book, Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer. How have the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty existed harmoniously in the American tradition? What contrasts between French and American society did Alexis de Tocqueville observe in his own day? Has the American experiment failed? How does Peter Viereck’s conservative nostalgia for the permanent beneath the flux chart a course distinct from both progressive and reactionary utopian politics? Is religious traditionalism antithetical to dispositional conservativism? Why does the human imagination loom so large in conservative thought? What should secular dispositional conservatives make of religion?

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Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer | John Wilsey

The Man vs. the Myth: Who Was John Foster Dulles? | Acton Line

Democracy in America | Alexis de Tocqueville

The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856) | Alexis de Tocqueville

Conservatism: From John Adams to Churchill | Peter  Viereck

Conservatism Revisited: The Revolt Against Ideology | Peter Viereck

The Leopard | Giuseppe Di Lampedusa

The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education | Robert Maynard Hutchins

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 [email protected].

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Peter Lipsett, vice president at DonorsTrust, about the recently concluded 11-part series “What Is the Right?” for the Giving Ventures podcast. What is “the Right”? What are its largest and most influential factions? Does it share a common intellectual culture or merely political interests? How does the bottom-up nature of populism complicate the story we tell about intellectuals’ influence on political movements? What are the prospects for conservatives after the Trump administration?

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DonorsTrust

Giving Ventures Podcast

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 85 — Freedom Conservatism

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 86 — The Libertarians

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 87 — The New Right

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 88 — The Traditionalist Conservatives

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 89 — The Fusionists

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 90 — Catholics on the Right

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 91 — Jewish Conservatism

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 92 — Christian Conservatism

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 93 — The Defectors

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 94 — The MAGA Right

Giving Ventures Podcast: Episode 95 — Reflecting on the Right with Yuval Levin and Chris DeMuth

My Simplistic Theory of Left and Right | Bryan Caplan

National Economic Planning: What Is Left? | Don Lavoie

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 [email protected].

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Anne Bradley, vice president of academic affairs at The Fund for American Studies and professor of economics at The Institute of World Politics, about Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book Abundance, which she reviewed for Religion & Liberty Online. What is the concept of “abundance,” and who comprises the book’s audience? How do Klein and Thompson think through regulatory obstacles to material abundance? For Thompson and Klein, what drives innovation and growth? How much of the book’s rhetorical criticism of markets might be misdirection to potential critics from the left? Do Klein and Thompson really understand the economic way of thinking? Are there better programs for material abundance? How do you respond to conservatives who believe we had greater “abundance” in the past? Why are utopian visions of the future or the past dangerous? Do Klein and Thompson have a conception of civil society beyond the state?

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The Curious Task of ‘Abundance’ | Anne Bradley

Abundance | Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

Eat Today, Feed Tomorrow (Yogurt Commercial)

History | Thompson-Markward Hall

Building the Future the Past Promised | The Daily Economy

The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised | James Pethokoukis

Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect | Bruce Yandle

Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet | Marian L. Tupy, Gale L. Pooley

The Devil Went Down to Wall Street | Dan Hugger

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community | Robert D. Putnam

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 [email protected].

This month on the Acton Rundown, Dan & Dylan chat about upcoming Acton events and new video content.

Essays and Books:
The Kingdom of God and the Common Good: Orthodox Christian Social Thought

God at Work: Loving God and Neighbor Through the Book of Exodus

Super Habits: The Universal System for a Successful Life | Andrew Abela

Can Nigeria’s Church Survive the Storm | Kelechi L. Nwannunu

Are Americans Too Political? | Thomas Dias

Video Content:

What We Gained from 8 Weeks in the Emerging Leader Program | Alums Share Their Story

Upcoming Events:

Poverty, Inc. in Detroit

Acton Institute Fifth Annual Academic Conference: Character, Commerce, and Human Flourishing

Virtues, Not Values: Reclaiming the Human Core of Business | Acton Institute

Rethinking Charity: Local Agency, Commercial Society, and the Human Person | Acton Institute

Annual Calihan Lecture and Novak Award Presentation | Acton Institute

Artificial Intelligence, Human Dignity, and the Free Society | Acton Institute

Acton University 2026