Acton Line

In this episode, Eric Kohn sits down with Neil Chilson, research fellow for technology and innovation at Stand Together, to discuss his new book, Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World. Instead of trying to control people, systems, and protocols, Chilson explains how leaders must pursue the art of influence to lead and win.  Subscribe to our podcasts Getting Out Of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World About Neil Chilson  Stand Together Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Eric Kohn sits down with Yuval Levin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and editor-in-chief of National Affairs, to discuss his new article featured in The Dispatch, "The Changing Face of Social Breakdown."   Levin notices a strange cultural trend. Although things may look great from a mere statistical perspective, something more ominous is going on in the background.    Levin writes:  “This mix of seemingly good and bad news is no paradox. The good news is often just one consequence of the bad. There are fewer divorces because there are fewer marriages. … There are fewer abortions because there are fewer pregnancies. …  There are fewer out-of-wedlock births because there are fewer births in general. … Fewer teenagers are dying in car accidents because fewer teenagers are getting driver’s licenses. There is less social disorder, we might say, because there is less social life. We are doing less of everything together, so that what we do is a little more tidy and controlled.” 

Pope John Paul II was an artist, an author, an actor, a philosopher, and a theologian. But most important, he was a lover of freedom and liberty. In this episode, Reason magazine's managing editor, Stephanie Slade, sits down with Eric Kohn to discuss her new article on the pope who helped bring down communism.    The Pope Who Helped Bring Down Communism    Stephanie Slade on the future of fusionism    Will-to-power conservatism with Stephanie Slade    About Stephanie Slade    Subscribe to our podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton’s director of communications, sits down with Dallas Jenkins, director of The Chosen, an online multi season TV series depicting the life of Jesus. Later in this episode, Kohn interviews Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus.   The Chosen is the largest crowdfunded media project of all time. According to The Chosen website: “Season 2 was fully funded in November 2020. This time 125,346 people contributed a total of $10,000,000. 86% of people who funded Season 1 also funded Season 2, with an average contribution of $299.99.” Season 3 is over 90% crowdfunded. This has been achieved completely outside the Hollywood system, with no plans of ever being sold to a major studio. Watch | The Chosen TV  How A Crowdfunded Christian TV Series Could Change Entertainment    Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton’s director of communications, sits down with David L. Bahnsen to discuss his new book, There’s No Free Lunch. In his book, Bahnsen explores how the free market has enabled hundreds of millions of people to rise from the depths of poverty and achieve a higher quality of life. In fact, there is no better economic system for human flourishing. However, a contagion has begun infecting public opinion with regard to capitalism in general and free markets specifically. Call it socialism, progressivism, or leftism, more and more people each day are turning away from the time-tested free market that has been absolutely essential to the prosperity of nations around the world. The question is, Why? Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  There's No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths David Bahnsen on GameStop, RobinHood and market populism About David Bahnsen ‎Capital Record Podcast Sirico & Bahnsen: Liberty & Morality in the Midst of Crisis  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr

In this episode, Dylan Pahman, executive editor and research fellow here at the Acton Institute, sits down with Kevin Schmiesing, director of research at the Freedom & Virtue Institute and coauthor and editor of the newly released Race and Justice in America. They discuss cultural tensions stemming from race and justice issues, the civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements, and how to move forward in a peaceful, unified manner.    Race and Justice in America tackles the most enduring and provocative issues with a rare combination of intellectual sophistication and bracing realism. Featuring the writings of John Sibley Butler, Ismael Hernandez, and Kevin Schmiesing, this collection is an original and necessary contribution to our national discourse. Race and Justice in America: The Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and the Way Forward  Freedom & Virtue Institute  About Kevin Schmiesing  The Economy of Order: Justice Requires Love Acton Lecture Series - Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hop

Digital technology has undoubtedly brought many benefits, but it has also come with growing threats to our privacy, our families and businesses, our mental health, and our freedom. Call it digital contagion. From cancel culture to fake news, from data collection and surveillance to outright social manipulation, we are bombarded by content that insidiously influences our behavior and threatens our security and even our livelihood. In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton's director of communications, sits down with Michael Matheson Miller, Acton senior research fellow, to discuss Michael's new book, Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect Your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism. Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism  Bio | Michael Matheson Miller  Google and surveillance capitalism The panic over Big Tech Civil society in a time of pandemic  Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault

Increasingly, people are turning to intermittent fasting to bolster their health. But we aren’t the first people to abstain from eating for a purpose. This routine was a common part of our spiritual ancestors’ lives for 1,500 years.   In his new book, Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding your Soul―A Christian Guide to Fasting, Jay Richards argues that Christians should recover the fasting lifestyle, not only to improve our bodies, but to bolster our spiritual health as well. He draws upon forgotten insights from the Christian tradition on fasting and feasting and combines them with the growing body of modern scientific literature on ketogenic diets and fasting for improved physical and mental health, arguing that re-thinking our modern diet with an eye toward these ancient insights and new discoveries will lead us to a far more healthy and wholesome lifestyle. Today, Dylan Pahman, research fellow at Acton and executive editor of the Journal of Markets and Morality, talks with Jay Richards about his

On October 3, 2021, Frances Haugen—the so-called Facebook whistleblower—appeared on 60 Minutes to detail her time with the social media giant, as well as the content of the thousands of internal documents that reveal, according to her, the "conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook.” Two days later, she was testifying before Congress, who had hauled Big Tech CEOs like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and others before them at least a half-dozen times in recent years. The conventional wisdom is that Big Tech and social media platforms like Facebook are a threat: to our way of life, to our democracy, and even to our happiness and our well-being. But is this threat real or just moral panic?  Today, Acton senior research fellow Michael Matheson Miller talks with Robby Soave, a senior editor at Reason and author of the new book Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn’t Fear Facebook and the Future. In the book, and in this interview, Soav

All children deserve the love and affection that come from being in a family. Most importantly, children deserve to have their needs met in a permanent and loving home. The original ideal of the foster care system was to provide such fundamental necessities until a child is reunited with his or her biological parents, or adopted. However, the present reality shows us something entirely different. The child welfare system has declined to the point where it now caters to the needs of the adults rather than to those of the children.  In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton director of communications, sits with Naomi Schaefer Riley, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss her new book, No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives.   Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives  Bio | Naomi Schaefer Riley Ant

William Shakespeare is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers of Western civilization. As we watch or read his plays, we are still able to draw applicable lessons on politics, our fallen human nature, and how one should relate to God and neighbor. In this episode, I sit down with Nicolas McAfee to discuss the political wisdom of Shakespeare's late plays. Bio | Nicolas McAfee is a fourth-year doctoral student studying political philosophy at the University of Dallas. He is currently writing a dissertation on the political wisdom of William Shakespeare’s late plays under the direction of Dr. Gerard Wegemer. By unpacking the power of narrative storytelling to shape communities for good or ill, Nicolas’ work aims to foster thoughtful engagement of political literature and healthy participation in civic life. A native of Upland, Calif., he and his wife currently live in Irving, Texas. Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide by John Barton  Playing Shakespeare, T

Forced labor camps have been embedded in Chinese politics since the birth of the People’s Republic of China. Mao Zedong created and instituted these camps to terrorize and indoctrinate anyone who didn’t “fall in line.”   Today these camps are more prevalent than ever. Not only are they hothouses for indoctrination and torture, but the products they produce are sold globally, generating more profit for the communist regime.   In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton's director of communications, sits down with Weifeng Zhong, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to discuss Dr. Zhong's troubling research. Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  The China Challenge: The West Struggles To Respond To Beijing’s Forced-Labor Camps Weifeng Zhong, Author at Discourse  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Friday, October 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Acton Institute will host its First Annual Academic Colloquium on Markets & Morality. This year’s theme is “Neo-Calvinism & Modern Economics.”   In this episode, Dan Hugger, librarian and research associate, and Sarah Negri, research project coordinator, both at the Acton Institute, sit down with Dylan Pahman, an Acton research fellow and executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality, to discuss why Acton is hosting an academic colloquium, what an academic colloquium is, and who should attend.   Register here for the colloquium   More details    Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

COVID-19 has impacted us in ways that will continue to affect us for generations. In this episode, I explore a very particular consequence of COVID: Children born during the pandemic have scored significantly lower on IQ tests. I sit down with Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, president and founder of the Ruth Institute, to unpack this disturbing phenomenon. Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  The Ruth Institute  Bio | Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D  Love & Economics: It Takes a Family to Raise a Village  Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work  The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along  Covid-19: Children born during the pandemic score lower on cognitive tests, study finds  Forbes deletes article on psychological damage of masking children - LifeSite  School Mask Mandates Mean Trauma For Millions Of Children, Especially Those From Low-Income Families  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Beatles will go down in history as one of the most prolific music acts of all time. Their music is still played in our homes and around the world and has influenced pop culture on a global scale. In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton's Director of Communications, sits down with Samuel Staley to discuss his new book The Beatles and Economics: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution.  Book | Beatles & Economics  Pope John Paul, George, and Ringo on the harms of high taxes   Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  Music contained in this episode: Getting Better | The Beatles | 1967 I Want to Hold Your Hand | The Beatles | 1963 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Beatles | 1967 Here Comes the Sun | The Beatles | 1969 Everything in its Right Place | Radiohead | 2000 Come Together | The Beatles | 1969 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) | The Beatles | 1965 Tomorrow Never Knows | The Beatles | 1966 Strawberry Fields Forever | The Beatles | 1966 Lucy in the Sky wi

“Crisis” is a catch-all phrase used in modern rhetoric typically attached to any movement or belief that aims to point out an issue. However, it is as important as ever to rationally conclude what constitutes a crisis, and to what extent eras of “crises” defend government intervention. In this episode, Acton Institute’s research associate and librarian Dan Hugger sits down with participants of Acton’s Emerging Leader program, Grace Hemmeke, Ben Luker, and Jeremy Ward to discuss their Capstone project on the rights and responsibilities of government action in times of crisis. The three Emerging Leaders discuss the ordered role of the United States government during times of crisis through the Acton Institute’s framework of a free and virtuous society, characterized by individual liberty, and sustained by religious principles. Their research was prompted by the government’s role in the COVID-19 crisis, and is extended to practical judgement in both historical and current analysis of catastrophic periods. Are cr

The events of 9/11 are forever etched in the hearts of all Americans. Most of us still remember exactly where we were when it happened. In this episode, Acton’s Director of Communications Eric Kohn sits down with Niels Jorgensen, a retired New York firefighter, who shares his story of what happened at ground zero that day.  As we approach the 20th anniversary of September 11th, let us reflect on the bravery and courage that took place those two decades ago and to be especially thankful for all that God has given us. 20 for 20 podcast: 20 Stories for 20 Years Since 9/11  The Gift of a Second Chance  Subscribe to Acton Vault podcast Subscribe to Acton Unwind podcast  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Nathan Mech, program outreach project manager here at the Acton Institute, sits down with Ali Salman, co-founder of Islam & Liberty Network, to discuss his new book, Islam & Economics. Islam offers three moral principles of economic organization: ownership, wealth creation, and wealth circulation. Based on these principles, Islam and Economics derives a framework of operational institutional tenets for the economic organization of a society. It addresses all important business, policy, and equity issues that any economic system should resolve and broadens the discussion on the modern discipline of “Islamic economics.”  In this conversation, they delve into the most contentious issue within Islamic economics, which is charging interest. They cover how Islamic banks have answered the Qur’anic prohibition on usury, and how Salman sorts through this problem. Next, they explore the Islamic view of taxation, and Salman  made an Islamic argument that the only two permissible forms of taxation are we

This week on Acton Unwind, Sam Gregg, and special guests Dan Hugger and Michael Miller discuss the ongoing developments in Afghanistan as we approach the 31st deadline. Then, they discuss the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill and how we can look to C.S. Lewis for guidance on how to respond. What is human infrastructure? Is the United States a civilization-building nation? Is all truth subjective?  Subscribe to the Acton Unwind Podcast  Biden’s ‘stimulus’ for a growing economy is all about central control  Afghanistan I fought for lacks foundation for freedom  A Taliban 9/11 - William McGurn  Bio | Michael Miller  Bio | Dan Hugger  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in more than 6 decades Cuban citizens are protesting in the streets against their communist government regime.  In this episode, Dan Hugger, Librarian and research associate here at the Acton Institute sits down with a Cuban priest Fr. Alberto Reyes to discuss the horrors of communism in Cuba, the revolution, and how Christians should respond to it. As a quick note, in this interview, Fr. Reyes speaks in his native tongue, Spanish and we have translated his answers to English. The Tragedy of Communism in Cuba | Acton Vault Cuba Libre: Protestors call for an end to communism and oppression  The crumbling façade of Cuban communism  Subscribe to Acton Vault podcast Subscribe to Acton Unwind podcast About Fr. Reyes:   Alberto Reyes Pías was born in Camagüey, Cuba, on May 26, 1967. He grew up in Florida, Camaguey, where he studied until finishing high school. At the age of 18 he entered the University of Medical Science in Camagüey. At the end of his third year of medicine he decided to leave un