Acton Line

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

At the Frontiers of Scholasticism: Scientific Method, Innovation, and Economic Reasoning

The Christian Roots of American Liberty

Essays:

Rescuing Souls from the Totalitarian Temptation

The Consolation of the Cross

When Hitler Was a Moral Compass

After the Flood in Minnesota

Video content: 

Jordan Ballor Expounds How Christ Is King

John Pinheiro on Alexander Hamilton’s and Thomas Jefferson's Conflicting Visions

Fr. Robert Sirico and Kris Mauren on Richard DeVos

A Conversation on the History and Future of The Acton Institute | The Freedom Series

Josh Herring Finds the Gender Theory We Need in C.S. Lewis

Poverty Trap First Impressions: Houston

Who Do We Trust Now? Charisma, Expertise, and the Future of Leadership | Acton Lecture Series

Daniel Darling Is Defending Christian Patriotism

Upcoming events:

Free Market Roadshow: Panel: Who Governs the Machine? AI, Enterprise Freedom, and the Search for Regulatory Guardrails

Billionaires are Good for the Working Class: A Braver Angels Debate

Chicago Luncheon

April 30th

Rethinking Charity: "Building Civil Society” FAVs

April 30, 2026 – May 2, 2026 Courtyard Marriott

Grand Rapids, MI

Acton University 2026 | Acton Institute June 22, 2026 to June 25, 2026

Acton Experience Brasil

August 7-8, Belo Horizonte

Acton’s 36th Annual Dinner

November 10, 2026 6:00pm

In this episode Dan Hugger speaks with Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and fellow at the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. They discuss his latest book, In Defense of Christian Patriotism, published by Broadside Books. The conversation explores why patriotism needs defending today, why Christians are called to be patriotic, and how Christian patriotism can revitalize and reinvigorate modern pluralistic America.

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Daniel Darling

In Defense of Christian Patriotism | Daniel Darling

“Nationality,” The History of Freedom and Other Essays | Lord Acton

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 Josh Herring, professor of humanities and classical education at Thales College. They discuss Josh’s new book, Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve: C.S. Lewis’s Images of Gender, published by the Davenant Institute.

Is it fair to describe Lewis as a gender theorist? Why should we turn to Lewis in times of gender trouble? How does his consideration of gender diverge from contemporary gender ideology? What are the sources for Lewis’s own theory on gender? How does Lewis’s conception of gender show up in his fiction and nonfiction? What do Lewis’s critics get wrong about his views on gender? Does he speak about these issues in a unique way, or is he simply an outstanding representative of an older tradition?

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Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve: C.S. Lewis’ Images of Gender

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | C.S. Lewis

The Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength) | C.S. Lewis

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold | C.S. Lewis

Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 4) | C.S. Lewis

The Four Loves | C.S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man | C.S. Lewis

Spenser's Images of Life | C.S. Lewis

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature | C.S. Lewis

Life on the Silent Planet: Essays on Christian Living from C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy | Rhys Laverty, ed.

C.S. Lewis and the Apocalypse of Gender | J.C. Scharl

Science Fiction with a Soul | Bradley J. Birzer

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 the month of what would’ve been his 100th birthday, Acton co-founders Fr. Robert Sirico and Kris Mauren take a moment to remember an early supporter of the Acton Institute, Richard DeVos.

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Believe! | Richard M. DeVos

DeVos to Receive Faith and Freedom Award

Richard M. DeVos Accepts the 2010 Faith and Freedom Award

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 Jordan J. Ballor, executive director of First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy (CRCD), about his feature essay in the latest issue of Religion & Liberty, “The Upside-Down Kingdom of Jesus of Nazareth.”

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The Upside-Down Kingdom of Jesus of Nazareth

Essays on Religion, Science, and Society | Herman Bavinck

Rooted & Grounded: The Church as Organism and Institution | Abraham Kuyper

On Charity & Justice | Abraham Kuyper

Calvinism: Six Stone Lectures | Abraham Kuyper

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 John Pinheiro, director of research at the Acton Institute, about his latest contribution to Law & Liberty, “A Failure of Vision,” a review of legal theorist Robert C. Hockett’s A Republic of Producers. The wide-ranging conversation touches upon the American Republic’s early history, 20th-century interpretations of it, the sorts of lessons that history can teach us, those it cannot, and the trustworthiness of non-historians attempting to do history.

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A Failure of Vision | Law & Liberty

A Republic of Producers: Completing Our Jeffersonian Economy with Hamiltonian Finance | Robert C. Hockett 

Notes on the State of Virginia | Thomas Jefferson

The Promise of American Life | Herbert David Croly

A Student's Guide to U.S. History | Wilfred M. McClay

Federalist No. 51

On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life | Friedrich Nietzsche

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 and Mark chat about upcoming Acton events and new video content.

At the Frontiers of Scholasticism: Scientific Method, Innovation, and Economic Reasoning | Giovanni Patriarca

Religion & Liberty Magazine and Online:

The Atoning Death of the Last Scapegoat by Fr. Elias Carr

Marriage: The Free Market We Take for Granted by Clara Piano

Video content:

Entrepreneurship and the Economy in Uncertain Times | Acton Lecture Series

Gabe Coyne and Collin Duff Want to Build Brands that Solve Real Problems

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

Stephen Barrows Responds to Jimmy Lai’s 20-Year Prison Sentence #freejimmylai

How Should Muslims View Human Rights?

Claire Lai Is Sharing the Spiritual Strength of Her Father, Jimmy Lai

Upcoming events:

AI & Human Freedom: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Perspectives

Who Do We Trust Now? Charisma, Expertise, and the Future of Leadership

Chicago Luncheon

Rethinking Charity: "Building Civil Society” FAVs

Acton University 2026 | Acton Institute: June 22–25, 2026

Acton Experience Brasil

Acton’s 36th Annual Dinner

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Claire Lai, law student and daughter of entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, about her father’s unjust imprisonment and powerful Christian witness.

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⁠The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom [Full Film]⁠

⁠Stephen Barrows Explains the Jimmy Lai Verdict⁠

⁠Support Jimmy Lai⁠

⁠@SupportJimmyLai⁠

⁠Support Jimmy Lai Instagram⁠

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 Steve Barrows, chief operating officer of the Acton Institute, about entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, who was recently sentenced by a Hong Kong court to 20 years in prison.

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Jimmy Lai’s 20-Year Sentence Follows Beijing’s Playbook on Dissent | David Pierson, NY Times

The Apple Daily sentences show a new era of media peril in Hong Kong | David Pierson, NY Times

Jimmy Lai’s children have led a global campaign for him | David Pierson, NY Times

The faith of my father, Jimmy Lai | Claire Lai

The Hong Konger (documentary)⁠

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].

supportjimmylai.com