Acton Line

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Acton Line episodes

May 22 On The New Things | AI & History with Dr. John Pinheiro
Pope Leo XIV has signaled that artificial intelligence will be a defining concern of his pontificate, with an encyclical expected to address it directly. In this three-part series, the Acton Institute's Dan Hugger sits down with scholars across economics, history, and anthropology to ask what Catholic social teaching has to say about the AI revolution, as well as what an encyclical on AI will need to grapple with.
Historian Dr. John Pinheiro, director of research at the Acton Institute, sets today's anxieties about AI against the original Rerum Novarum and the upheavals of the Industrial Revolution. Why do people work? What was actually new about the "new things"? And what can Pope Leo XIII's prudential application of principle teach Pope Leo XIV about meeting an information revolution without falling into either Luddism or naïve optimism?
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53 min
May 21 On The New Things | AI & Economics with Dr. Stephen Barrows
Pope Leo XIV has signaled that artificial intelligence will be a defining concern of his pontificate, with an encyclical expected to address it directly. In this three-part series, the Acton Institute's Dan Hugger sits down with scholars across economics, history, and anthropology to ask what Catholic social teaching has to say about the AI revolution, as well as what an encyclical on AI will need to grapple with.
PhD economist and Acton COO Stephen Barrows joins Dan Hugger to examine AI as the latest chapter in the long story of technological change, and perhaps the most consequential one yet. From disemployment fears and the future of coding to price discrimination, healthcare breakthroughs, energy costs, and the geopolitics of frontier models, this conversation traces both the disruptions AI is causing and the genuine human goods it's already delivering.
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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].
52 min
May 20 Anne Bradley Unpacks What Makes Things ‘Affordable’
Dan Hugger speaks with Anne Bradley, George and Sally Mayer Fellow for Economic Education and vice president of academic affairs at The Fund for American Studies, about the new affordability politics.
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The Curious Task of ‘Abundance’ | Anne Bradley
Abundance | Klein and Thompson
What We Got Right — and Wrong — in ‘Abundance’ | The Ezra Klein Show
Mamdani Administration Launches New Program to Deliver Affordable Housing on City-Owned Land Faster | Office of the Mayor
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].
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
53 min
May 13 Thomas Howes Explains Why Postliberalism Failed
In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Thomas Howes, editor-in-chief of The Vital Center and lecturer at Princeton University, about his and James Patterson’s forthcoming book, Why Postliberalism Failed.
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⁠Why Postliberalism Failed | Patterson & Howes⁠
⁠Why Postliberalism Failed Podcast⁠
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]⁠.
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
1 hr 19 min
May 06 Caleb Whitmer on Fraud and the Flood of Cataclysmic Money in Minneapolis
In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Caleb Whitmer, project manager at the Center for Social Flourishing at the Acton Institute. They discuss Caleb’s essay on the long-developing welfare-fraud scandal in Minnesota, titled “After the Flood in Minnesota,” published at Law & Liberty. The nature and scope of the fraud is unpacked along with some of the underlying approaches to policy and community dynamics that made it so lucrative.
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After the Flood in Minnesota | Caleb Whitmer
Putting Clan over Country Will Ruin America | Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Death and Life of Great American Cities | Jane Jacobs
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
51 min
May 04 Acton Rundown | May 2026
This month on the Acton Rundown, Dan and Dylan chat about upcoming Acton events and new video content.
The Christian Roots of American Liberty | Pahman and Pinheiro

Essays:
Persuasion and Propaganda: How Poetry Helps Navigate Politics | J.C. Scharl
“Only a Digger”: The Misunderstood Story of the First Christian Socialist | Dylan Pahman
Did Anti-Federalists Pass the Religious Test? | John Pinheiro

Video content:
Molly Worthen Refines the Definition of “Charisma”
Jason Sorens Builds a Case for Reforming American Housing Policy
Jeffrey Polet on the Philosophy of Gen. Stanley McChrystal
Dylan Pahman and John Pinheiro Are Documenting the Christian Roots of American Liberty
Dylan Pahman and John C. Pinheiro on Christian Roots of American Liberty | The IRD
Upcoming events:
Chicago Thinker’s American Identity Summit & Gala 2026: America at 250
May 15–16, 2026
Acton University 2026 | Acton Institute
June 22–26, 2026
Acton Experience Brasil
August 7–8, Belo Horizonte
Acton’s 36th Annual Dinner
November 10, 2026
11 min
April 29 Dylan Pahman and John Pinheiro Are Documenting the Christian Roots of American Liberty
In this episode Dan Hugger speaks with John Pinheiro, director of research at the Acton Institute, and Dylan Pahman, research fellow at the Acton Institute and founder and president of the St. Nicholas Cabasilas Institute, about their new book, The Christian Roots of American Liberty: A Reader.
The book is a response to new movements on the right and old prejudices on the left that dismiss the American founding as hopelessly secular. The book builds the case for enduring principles of natural rights, the rule of law, religious liberty, private property, limited government, and representation and consent by bringing together sources in the Christian tradition—ancient, medieval, and modern—that informed America’s founding.
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⁠The Christian Roots of American Liberty: A Reader⁠
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].
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
1 hr 2 min
April 22 Jeffrey Polet on the Philosophy of Gen. Stanley McChrystal
In this episode Dan Hugger speaks with Jeffrey Polet, professor emeritus of political science at Hope College and director of the Ford Leadership Forum at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. They discuss his review of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's book On Character: Choices That Define a Life, “The Honor of General Stanley McChrystal,” which was published at Religion & Liberty Online. The conversation explores the nature of honor, the distinction between conviction and discipline, and what philosophy for soldiers looks like in practice.
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The Honor of General Stanley McChrystal | Jeffrey Polet
On Character: Choices That Define a Life | General Stanley McChrystal
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].
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
49 min
April 15 Jason Sorens Builds a Case for Reforming American Housing Policy
In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Jason Sorens, senior research fellow at the American Institute of Economic Research. They discuss the American housing market, the role of institutional investors in single family housing, the 21st century ROAD to Housing Act, and the path to a future of housing abundance.
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Jason Sorens
Are Institutions Buying Up Single-Family Homes? | Jason Sorens
H.R.6644 - 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
National Zoning Atlas
Housing Reform in the States: A Menu of Options for 2026 | Salim Furth, Emily Hamilton, Charles Gardner
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].
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
50 min
April 08 Molly Worthen Refines the Definition of “Charisma”
In this episode, Dan Churchwell, Acton’s director for programs and education, talks to Molly Worthen about her new book: “Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump.”
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Watch this podcast here
Subscribe to our podcasts
Watch this podcast here
Acton Lecture Series
Who Do We Trust Now? Charisma, Expertise, and the Future of Leadership | Acton Lecture Series
Spellbound | Molly Worthen
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].
The tip at the opening of this podcast is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.
1 hr 1 min

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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…