Acton Line

By Acton Institute

Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

What's Acton Line about?

Dedicated to the promotion of a free and virtuous society, Acton Line brings together writers, economists, religious leaders, and more to bridge the gap between good intentions and sound economics.

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Acton Line episodes:

04.10.2024
The Historian's Craft: Gertrude Himmelfarb
Gertrude Himmelfarb was one of the foremost historians of Victorian life. She produced page-turning biographies of some of the age’s most intriguing and influential figures, including Lord Acton, Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill, and George Eliot. She also produced social...
04.03.2024
Understanding Hybrid Worship
Many Christian congregations now offer hybrid worship services: you can worship in person or online. While these options have become increasingly popular, our understanding of them has not kept pace. Furthermore, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence will only complicate matters...
03.27.2024
The Reformation, the Body, and a Murder
In this episode, Noah Gould, Acton’s alumni and student programs manager, speaks to Jane Clark Scharl about her verse play, Sonnez Les Matines, which asks, What if John Calvin, Ignatius of Loyola, and Francois Rabelais had their convictions put to the test...
03.20.2024
The Failed Experiment of Over-Parenting
Our culture tells parents there’s one best way to raise kids: enroll them in a dozen activities, protect them from trauma, and get them into the most expensive college possible. If you can’t do all that, don’t even bother. How’s...
03.13.2024
Closing the Gap Between Work and Life
In this episode, we bring you a conversation from our recent Business Matters virtual conference between Acton’s director of marketing and communications, Eric Kohn, and David Bahnsen, founder, managing partner, and chief investment officer of the Bahnsen Group. They discuss Bahnsen’s...
03.06.2024
Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative
In 1980, Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman released a 10-part documentary series on PBS called “Free to Choose,” with each hour-long episode giving his perspective on important public policy debates and social issues. The series was a hit and possessed...
02.28.2024
Building a Strong Company Through Culture
Managing a business is a challenge no matter the context. Talent comes and goes, supplies change, and you can’t always achieve everything you want. Every day, new constraints create roadblocks to the next goal. There may not be one solution...
02.21.2024
Growth and Development in Africa [Rebroadcast]
Anyone of a certain age will remember the massive hit that was “We Are The World,” the Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Quincy Jones produced charity single by USA for Africa. The considerable profits from the that hit song went...
02.14.2024
Education for a Free Society
On today’s episode, Acton librarian and research associate Dan Hugger sits down with Acton research fellow and Journal of Markets & Morality executive editor Dylan Pahman to talk about education. They begin with the 18th-century vision of education advanced by America’s Founders. Why...
02.07.2024
Questioning Questions
We are living in the age of deconstruction. We are constantly bombarded online, in schools, and sometimes even in our homes by attitudes and arguments aimed at deconstructing our faith. Through this, do we know what it means to question well? Faith is...
01.31.2024
The Rise of Religious Anti-Liberalism
In this episode, we bring you a recent Acton Lecture Series event with Kevin Vallier. The 20th century featured an unusual phenomenon: global secularizing movements. In the 19th century, these movements were confined mostly to Western Europe, but in the 20th...
01.24.2024
How to Experience Everyday Freedom
On today’s episode, Acton librarian and research associate Dan Hugger speaks with lawyer and chair of Common Good Philip K. Howard about his new book: Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society. Why do so many people feel powerless today?...
01.17.2024
Misconceptions About China
After decades of trade and investment with advanced democracies, China is far richer and stronger than it otherwise would have been. Simply put, the West’s strategy of engagement with China has failed. Democracies have underestimated the resilience, resourcefulness, and ruthlessness...
01.10.2024
Connecting Family, Property, and Liberty
In this episode of Acton Line, Dylan Pahman, Acton research fellow and executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality, interviews Dr. Clara Piano, assistant professor of economics at Austin Peay State University, about her recent paper “Familial Liberty: Property...
01.03.2024
Imagining Hope for the Future
On today’s episode, Acton, director of marketing and communications, Eric Kohn, speaks with AEI economic policy expert James Pethokoukis about his new book: The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised. With a popular culture fixated on...
12.27.2023
The Great Unlearning
In the late 1960’s as the hippie movement was shredding norms of hygiene and cleanliness in order to live more ‘authentically’, diseases emerged not seen in so long they didn’t have a latin name. The hippies, and others, were relearning...
12.20.2023
A Christian Perspective from Visiting Israel
On today’s episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks with Mike Cosper, director of podcasting for Christianity Today, about his recent trip to Israel. How has the region changed since the October 7 terrorist attacks? What do...
12.13.2023
Canceling Cancel Culture
On today’s episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks with Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), about his new book, The Canceling of the American Mind. Cancel culture appears to be...
12.06.2023
Can We Solve Poverty?
On today’s episode of Acton Line, we bring you a conversation about poverty recently held on our sister podcast, Acton Unwind. Acton’s Eric Kohn and Dan Hugger are joined by their colleague Michael Matheson Miller, who discusses his essay “The...
11.29.2023
Entrepreneurs Serving Entrepreneurs
Your strengths, relationships, and self-awareness are all essential in determining how your business will operate—and whether it will succeed or fail. But how can you optimize each of these elements? How can you set realistic goals? How can your business...
11.22.2023
A Classical Education for Contemporary Students
In 2007, Thales Academy was born with a simple vision: provide an excellent and affordable education through the use of Direct Instruction and a Classical Curriculum that embodies traditional American values. In The Thales Way, Robert L. Luddy, the founder of Thales...
11.15.2023
A Consensus for the People
You’ve probably heard the phrase “America isn’t a democracy—it’s a republic.” This is typically trotted out to make a salient point about the type of government we have in fact, but is it a distinction the Founding Fathers would have...
11.08.2023
Aquinas and the Market
In this episode, we present the most recent installment of the Acton Lecture Series, with Dr. Mary L. Hirschfeld. Economists investigate the workings of markets and tend to set ethical questions aside. Theologians often dismiss economics, losing insights into the influence of...
11.01.2023
Maximum Innovation for Maximum Social Impact
In this episode, Acton director of programs and education Dan Churchwell speaks with Leah Kral, an expert facilitator and author who helps nonprofits doing the hard work of building civil society to innovate and be more effective. Good intentions alone...
10.25.2023
Shining a Light on the Darkest Place in the World.
Learn more about Acton UniversityOn today’s episode, we present a discussion from Acton University 2023 between director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn and North Korean defector and human rights activist Yeonmi Park. At age 13, Park and her family...
10.18.2023
The History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
In this episode, Acton’s director of marketing and communications, Eric Kohn, talks with Jonathan Greenberg, the Jack Miller Family Foundation’s director of freedom initiatives and the former Midwest director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee about the long history...
10.16.2023
Anti-Semitism Rears Its Ugly Head
This week, Eric, Dylan, and Emily examine the purportedly pro-Palestinian rallies and campus protests that took place in the wake of the slaughter of Israeli Jews by Hamas terrorists. How surprised should we be by people chanting “gas the Jews”...
10.11.2023
Bill Courtney and a Life Undefeated
In this episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks with Bill Courtney about coaching football, running a successful lumber business, and walking the red carpet with George Clooney and P. Diddy. In 2003, Bill began coaching the Manassas...
10.04.2023
The Gender Wage Gap with Dr. Angela Dills
Dr. Angela Dills is a labor economist who teaches at Western Carolina University and whose work focuses on the economics of education, crime, and health. In this episode of Acton Line, Angela and Dan Hugger discuss her research into the...
09.27.2023
Enlightenment about the Enlightment(s)
In this episode, Dr. John Pinheiro speaks with Dr. Joseph Stuart about the complexity of the European Enlightenments: namely, the most common misconceptions and the mistake made by Christian and secular scholars alike who see in the Enlightenments only a...
09.20.2023
Mythic Realms
Dr. Bradley J. Birzer, Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and professor of history at Hillsdale College, discusses his new book, Mythic Realms: The Moral Imagination in Literature & Film with Dan Hugger. How does Mythic Realms extend the author’s prior work on...
09.13.2023
Freedom and Prosperity Around The World
Joseph Lemoine, deputy director of the Freedom and Prosperity Center at the Atlantic Council, joins Stephen Barrows, Acton’s COO, to discuss the Atlantic Council’s recently released 2023 Freedom and Prosperity Indexes. The Freedom and Prosperity Center created these indexes to provide...
09.06.2023
Engaging Homelessness with Better Way Detroit
Better WAY Detroit engages, pays, feeds, and counsels homeless persons, and connects them to services for housing, medical and mental health care, and stable employment opportunities. Through their efforts, participants inspire community spirit, pride of ownership, and confidence in the dignity...
08.30.2023
Organizational Culture with Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan
Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at The Catholic University of America, shares his thoughts on “Organizational Culture” with Sarah Negri, Research Project Coordinator at the Acton Institute, at Acton University 2023. They discuss how culture affects us as humans...
08.23.2023
Navigating the Rising Tide of Political Polarization
In this episode, Dylan Pahman interviews Dr. Rachel Ferguson about her lecture at Acton University on the problem of political polarization. From social media to cable news to tribalism to racial injustice to transgender activism, Dr. Ferguson gets at the deeper roots...
08.16.2023
The Law of Conservation of Welfare—And What Energy Source Can Transform It?
The law of conservation of mass dates from Antoine Lavoisier's 1789 discovery that mass is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions. Evidence of the past three decades leads Marvin Olasky to suggest a parallel Law of Conservation of Welfare...
08.09.2023
Cronyism, Corporate Welfare, and Inequality
In this episode of Acton Line, Dylan Pahman, executive editor of the Journal of Markets and Morality, and a research fellow here at Acton, interviews Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley about her lecture at Acton University on “Corporate Welfare and Inequality.” In...
08.02.2023
Filthy Rich Politicians
If you asked people to describe our current cast of politicians in America right now, they might say that some, if not most, are slyly taking advantage of the system. They are hoping no one is savvy enough to notice. Matt...
07.26.2023
The New Catholic Integralism
Kevin Vallier, political philosopher and associate professor of philosophy at Bowling Green State University, joins Dan Hugger to discuss Catholic Integralism and his forthcoming book All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism, which publishes with Oxford University Press in September. What is Catholic Integralism and...
07.19.2023
Christian Workers and the Entrepreneurial Vocation
In this episode, Father Roger J. Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and Catholic Chaplain to Columbia University in New York City sits down with Sarah Negri, Research Project Coordinator at the Acton Institute, to discuss the social teaching of Pope...
07.12.2023
The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism
This week, we’re bringing you one of the plenary lectures from this year’s Acton University, featuring Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.” "Wokeism” is arguably the most influential public philosophy in our country today. It has worked...
07.05.2023
Economic Potpourri with David Bahnsen
One of the campaign themes that launchd Bill Clinton into the White House in 1992 was, “it’s the economy, stupid.” While much of our politics is focused today on the culture war, the economy is the one issue that touches...
06.28.2023
The Informant's Path to Faith and Redemption
Today's episode starts with a clip from the trailer for 2009 comedy/drama “The Informant!,” directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, and Melanie Lynskey. It’s a wild based-on-a-true-story film about Mark Whitacre. In the early-1990s,...
06.21.2023
Storks Don't Take Orders From the State
It’s 2007. Spider-Man 3 is the top grossing film at the box office. Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” is the biggest hit song. American Idol is the most watched TV show. It was also the last time that the United States was at replacement...
06.14.2023
Growth and Development in Africa
Anyone of a certain age will remember the massive hit that was “We Are The World,” the Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Quincy Jones produced charity single by USA for Africa. The considerable profits from the that hit song went...
06.07.2023
The China Nexus
June 4 marked the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in which the Chinese Communist Party put down a pro-democracy protest movement that had bubbled up in Tiananmen Square and throughout mainland China. For many, it served as a...
05.31.2023
Friendship in a Democratic Age
In this episode, we dive into some of the profound changes occurring in American society. Back in the day, social scientist Robert Putnam observed a concerning trend—he called it "bowling alone"—where Americans were becoming increasingly disconnected from community bonds and...
05.24.2023
Rev. Tim Keller on The Problems of Modern Identity
For this episode of Acton Line, we’re bringing you the remarks by Rev. Timothy J. Keller at the Acton Institute’s Annual Dinner in 2018, in which he spoke on identity, business, and the Christian gospel. Keller, the founding pastor of...
05.17.2023
Against the New Paganism
There’s been much discussion of how “wokeness,” for lack of a better term, operates as a form of civic religion for the political left. Less discussed, according to Jack Butler of National Review, is the emerging form or forms of paganism on...
05.10.2023
Mere Natural Law
We live in what appears at first glance to be a highly skeptical age, one characterized by moral relativism in public discourse and ‘value-freedom’ in science. But is this really the case? Hadley Arkes believes that, despite many people’s protest...

What's Acton Line about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Acton Line episodes:

The Historian's Craft: Gertrude Himmelfarb

Understanding Hybrid Worship

The Reformation, the Body, and a Murder

The Failed Experiment of Over-Parenting

Closing the Gap Between Work and Life

Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative

Building a Strong Company Through Culture

Growth and Development in Africa [Rebroadcast]

Education for a Free Society

Questioning Questions

The Rise of Religious Anti-Liberalism

How to Experience Everyday Freedom

Misconceptions About China

Connecting Family, Property, and Liberty

Imagining Hope for the Future

The Great Unlearning

A Christian Perspective from Visiting Israel

Canceling Cancel Culture

Can We Solve Poverty?

Entrepreneurs Serving Entrepreneurs

A Classical Education for Contemporary Students

A Consensus for the People

Aquinas and the Market

Maximum Innovation for Maximum Social Impact

Shining a Light on the Darkest Place in the World.

The History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Anti-Semitism Rears Its Ugly Head

Bill Courtney and a Life Undefeated

The Gender Wage Gap with Dr. Angela Dills

Enlightenment about the Enlightment(s)

Mythic Realms

Freedom and Prosperity Around The World

Engaging Homelessness with Better Way Detroit

Organizational Culture with Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan

Navigating the Rising Tide of Political Polarization

The Law of Conservation of Welfare—And What Energy Source Can Transform It?

Cronyism, Corporate Welfare, and Inequality

Filthy Rich Politicians

The New Catholic Integralism

Christian Workers and the Entrepreneurial Vocation

The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism

Economic Potpourri with David Bahnsen

The Informant's Path to Faith and Redemption

Storks Don't Take Orders From the State

Growth and Development in Africa

The China Nexus

Friendship in a Democratic Age

Rev. Tim Keller on The Problems of Modern Identity

Against the New Paganism

Mere Natural Law