Acton Line

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 to these problems, but co-founder and managing partner of Michigan Software Labs Mark Johnson says strong company culture is the foundation of any successful company. In this episode, Acton director of programs and education Dan Churchwell speaks to Mark about becoming an entrepreneur, managing the ever-changing challenges of managing a business, and why it’s important to be a good steward to both clients and colleagues.Subscribe to our podcasts Mark Johnson | Michigan Software LabsServing Trough Technology | Cornerstone University

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 to the USA for Africa Foundation, which used them for the relief of famine and disease in Africa and specifically to 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.Even though Africa is an enormous and diverse continent with 54 sovereign countries, many people in the United States, and the west more generally, were left with the impression of Africa as destitute and poverty-stricken.What they may not realize is the enormous amount of growth and development Africa has been seeing. To help us better understand this growth and development, particularly in the country of Nigeria, today Eric Kohn talks with Wiebe Boer and Danladi Verheijen.Wiebe Boer is the president of Calvin University, here in Grand Rapids, MI, and Danladi Verheijen is the co-founder and managing partner of Verod Capital Management, a leading West-African private equity investor. Eric talks to them about their experiences growing up in Nigeria, and what they are seeing with the booming growth that country is experiencing.

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 did they believe education was necessary for a free society, and what kind of education did they have in mind?The discussion then turns to attempts by St. John Henry Newman, F.D. Maurice, and Abraham Kuyper to build institutions of liberal learning in 19th-century Europe. What innovations did these men introduce to education? How did their approaches differ from what came before (and each other), and where were there continuities? What can we learn from these attempts in addressing the crisis in education today?Subscribe to our podcasts Benjamin Rush Proposes a system of public schools for Pennsylvania | MonticelloDiscourse 5: “Knowledge Its Own End” | John Henry NewmanLearning and Working | F. D. MauriceLike Bright Stars: Abraham Kuyper on the Nature and Vocation of the Scholarly Sphere | Dylan PahmanPano Kanelos on the University of Austin | Acton LineThe Next Generation of Church Leaders | Acton Line

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 not the sort of thing that endures so long as our eyes are closed. The opposite is the case: Faith helps us see, and that means not shrinking from the ambiguities and the difficulties that provoke our most profound questions.Professor Matthew Lee Anderson says we need not fear questions. By the grace of God, we have the safety and security to rush headlong into them and find ourselves better for it on the other side.In this episode, Professor Anderson joins Acton director of programs and education Dan Churchwell to discuss his latest book “Called into Questions: Cultivating the Love of Learning Within the Life of Faith”.Subscribe to our podcasts Matthew Lee AndersonCalled into Questions: Cultivating the Love of Learning Within the Life of FaithReality: A Post-Mortem | Jon Askonas 

This podcast explores the rise of religious anti-liberalism and the challenges it poses to liberal democracy. It discusses the historical influence of religion on politics, the relationship between natural and supernatural common good, and the role of violence in establishing religious regimes. It also examines the idea of liberal thinkers within the Islamic world and explores the impact of consumerist culture on politics and religion. The podcast concludes with a discussion on the relationship between socialism and religion.

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? How can people experience “everyday freedom” at work, in school, and in all of life? What forces in American life today stifle our sense of freedom and responsibility, and how can they be counteracted to ensure flourishing for all? What special role do people of faith have in empowering others in their community to realize freedom and responsibility? Subscribe to our podcasts Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society | Philip K. HowardCommon GoodPhilip K. Howard | Common Good

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 of the Chinese Communist Party. Growth and development have not caused China’s rulers to relax their grip on political power, nor have they accepted the rules and norms of the existing international system.In this episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks with Aaron L. Friedberg, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, about the biggest misconceptions the West has about China and the current Chinese regime—and what the West should be focused on in years to come.Subscribe to our podcasts Getting China Wrong | Polity

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 and Family in Late Scholastic Thought,” presented at Acton’s Third Annual Academic Colloquium. Their wide-ranging discussion addresses such questions as: What is the connection between family and property? What insights do late Scholastic theologians have for us today? What does modern “pro-family” policy get wrong? Subscribe to our podcasts Alejandro Chafuen, “Faith and Liberty: The Economic Thought of the Late Scholastics”Juan de Mariana, “A Treatise on the Alteration of Money”Frank H. Knight, “Ethics and Economic Reform, I: The Ethics of Liberalism”Acton Line, “Free Enterprise and the Common Good”Pope Leo XIII, “Rerum Novarum”Victor V. Claar and Angela K. Dills, “Claudia Goldin Is the Ideal Academic Researcher” 

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 catastrophe, are we at risk of pushing a pro-progress future into the realm of the impossible? Pethokoukis argues there’s still hope if we choose to do more than just dream—we must act, too. Why suddenly are we threatened by change? And where are our flying cars? Can we once again turn imagination into reality?The Conservative Futurist | Hachette Book Group

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 why we engaged in certain hygienic practices all over again. In an essay titled “The Great Unlearning” from the January 2024 issue of National Review, senior writer Noah Rothman observes similar patterns of people persuading themselves that inherited wisdom and common knowledge no longer apply. In this episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks with Rothman about why certain people have persuaded themselves that the lessons of history, economics, and good governance don’t apply anymore. The Great Unlearning | National ReviewThe Great Relearning | Tom WolfeDon't Buy Stuff | Saturday Night LiveWhat J.D. Vance Could Learn From Reading Hillbilly Elegy | Reason