Acton Line

On today’s episode, Dan Churchwell, Acton's director of programs and education, interviews Raymond Harris, author, architect, and a venture capitalist in God’s kingdom. They discuss his new book, “Enduring Wealth: Being Rich in This World and the Next,” where Raymond shares how he has seen God multiply human efforts when people faithfully steward all God has given them.

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Raymond Harris

Enduring Wealth: Being Rich in This World and the Next | BroadStreet Publishing

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with the Acton Institute’s Stephen Barrows, chief operating officer, and John Pinheiro, director of research, about the life and legacy of Pope Francis. This wide-ranging conversation covers Pope Francis’s perspective on the market, the environment, liturgy, synodality, business, ecumenicism, and the poor. Which parts of Pope Francis’s legacy will endure? What was his contribution to the life of the Catholic Church?

Requiem Aeternam: Pope Francis (1936–2025) | John Pinheiro & Michael Matheson Miller

Pope Francis’ Plea for Migrants and Acton’s Core Principles | Stephen Barrows

Pope Francis and the Caring Society | Robert M. Whaples, ed.

Can a Capitalist Society Also Be a Caring Society? | Robert Whaples

Pope Francis changed the Catholic church, but not as much as he hoped | The Economist

Laudato Si' (May 24, 2015) | Pope Francis

Pope Francis's Authority in Laudato Si | National Review

Message of the Holy Father to French Entrepreneurs (Paris, August 28–29, 2023)

Declaration Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings (December 18, 2023)

Pope Francis’ Legacy of Question Marks | Francis X. Maier

Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis on the Role of Literature in Formation (July 17, 2024)

Full text: Pope Francis' in-flight press conference from Armenia | Catholic News Agency

From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran–Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 | The Lutheran World Federation

theology matters: A New Doctor of the Church (St. Gregory of Narek) | Mark Del Cogliano

Lumen Gentium | Pope Paul VI

Ut Unum Sint (May 25, 1995) | John Paul II

Dominus Iesus |Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

The 2024 PovertyCure Summit “Dignity, Agency & Charity” was a virtual event put on by Acton’s Center for Social Flourishing. Over two days, participants learned from scholars and practitioners involved in the global struggle against poverty—and against the “toxic charity” that hinders people’s ability to rise.

On today’s episode, we bring you the keynote presented by Dr. William Easterly entitled “Beyond Material Progress: Markets and Dignity in the Fight Against Global Poverty.” As material living standards improve in the developing world, are people better able to pursue their own aspirations and desires? Less able?

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PovertyCure Summit

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Marvin Olasky, executive editor for News and Global at Christianity Today and the founder and chairman of Zenger House. They discuss many of the news stories that won the 2025 Zenger Prizes. What is the state of journalism today? How does honoring excellence in journalism encourage better journalism? What makes for a good story, ethically and technically? How can those who love reading great journalism become great journalists themselves?

Zenger House | Biblically Objective Journalism

2025 Winners | Zenger House

At Bible Study for the Homeless, a Search for Meaning | The New York Times

What I Saw in the Darién Gap | The Atlantic

The Border Crisis Won't Be Solved, No Matter Who Wins the Election

Heroes and heartbreak: 36 hours of hell in Helene's historic floods

A Retiree in California Is Teaching Afghan Women How to Drive | The New York Times

‘I lied about everything’: An NFL player hid his family trauma until he saved them — and himself | The Athletic

The Indian Midwives Who Turned the Tide on Infanticide

The Christians Trying to Restore Our Faith in Elections | Christianity Today

The Heroic Race to Rescue 370 Orphans from a War Zone—Twice | WSJ

Doctors Can Now Save Very Premature Babies. Most Hospitals Don’t Try. | WSJ

The Most Revealing Moment of a Trump Rally | The Atlantic

The Elements of Style | Wikipedia

Writing with Style: The Economist Guide | Profile Books

Globe Trot | Mindy Belz | Substack

Bonnie Kristian | Substack

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Ryan Bourne, R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics, and Alex Nowrasteh, VP for Economic and Social Policy Studies, both at the CATO Institute, about all things DOGE. What does efficiency mean in the context of government? What has DOGE been doing? Is its process as chaotic as it has been portrayed? What are some useful models for understanding DOGE? What will it do in the future?

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Ryan Bourne | Cato Institute

Alex Nowrasteh | Cato Institute

Cato Institute Report to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) | Cato Institute

Six Ways to Understand DOGE and Predict Its Future Behavior | Cato at Liberty Blog

How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy | The New York Times

In his latest book, “Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History,” Thomas Albert Howard presents three principal forms of modern secularism that have arisen since the Enlightenment: passive, combative, and eliminationist. Howard argues that the latter two have been especially violence-prone and says Westerners do not fully grasp this because they often mistake passive secularism for secularism as a whole. But a disconcertingly more complicated picture emerges when you adopt a broader global vision.

On today’s episode, John Pinheiro, Acton’s director of research, talks to Howard about secularism, what about it we often misunderstand, and his book.

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Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History | Yale University Press

Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard | Valparaiso University

The Gulag Archipelago | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression

On today’s episode, Dan Churchwell, Acton’s director of programs and education, talks to James Hartley, professor of economics at Mount Holyoke College, ahead of James’ Acton Lecture Series event. They survey the discipline of economics and how James came to study it for over 30 years.

The lecture, entitled “Tariffs, Trade Wars, and the State of the Economy,” sifts through the noise of the often-bewildering claims and counterclaims of economic news. You can watch James’ lecture at ondemand.acton.org.

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Acton University

Acton On-Demand

The 2024 PovertyCure Summit, “Dignity, Agency & Charity,” was a virtual event put on by Acton’s Center for Social Flourishing. Over two days, participants learned from scholars and practitioners involved in the global struggle against poverty—and against “toxic charity” that hinders people’s ability to rise.

On today’s episode, we bring you a presentation from Dr. Seth Kaplan, author of the book ‘Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time.’ He talks about why American society is in trouble and what we can do about it.

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Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time

PovertyCure Summit

On today’s episode, we bring you a conversation from Acton University between Acton’s director of programming, Dan Churchwell, and Scott Rae, professor of philosophy and Christian ethics at Biola University. They discuss medical and business ethics, death, and the Resurrection. 

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. And to find additional content from previous Acton Universities, please visit ondemand.acton.org. 

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Acton University

Acton On-Demand

Scott Rae | Biola University

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Stephen Smith, dean of the humanities, Temple Family Chair in English Literature, and professor of English at Hillsdale College, about St. Thomas More, William Shakespeare, and Christian humanism. What is the Christian humanist tradition? How does St. Thomas More exemplify that tradition? How was William Shakespeare inspired by More’s life, scholarship, and sensibility? How can we revive the humanities and continue the Christian humanist tradition today?

Stephen Smith — Hillsdale College

Thomas More Studies

The Essential Works of Thomas More

What is Christian humanism? A conversation with Bradley J. Birzer

The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis | Alan Jacobs

De officiis, with an English translation by Walter Miller | Marcus Tullius Cicero

On Friendship (De Amicitia) | Marcus Tullius Cicero

More’s Letter to Antonio Bonvisi, 1535

The Book of Sir Thomas More