Acton Line

Our culture tells parents there’s one best way to raise kids: enroll them in a dozen activities, protect them from trauma, and get them into the most expensive college possible. If you can’t do all that, don’t even bother. How’s that strategy going? Record rates of anxiety, depression, medication, debts, loneliness, and more. In his new book,Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be,bestselling author and father of six Timothy P. Carney says it’s time to end this failed experiment. In this episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks to Carney about why he wrote his new book, why we should have more kids, and how to give kids deeper meaning for their lives than material success. Subscribe to our podcasts Family Unfriendly | HarperCollins

In this episode, we bring you a conversation from our recent Business Matters virtual conference between Acton’s director of marketing and communications, Eric Kohn, and David Bahnsen, founder, managing partner, and chief investment officer of the Bahnsen Group. They discuss Bahnsen’s new book,Full Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, in which he makes the case that our understanding of work and its role in our lives is deeply flawed—we are unmoored from what he calls “created purpose.” He argues that the time has come to stop tiptoeing around the issues that matter, that separating our identity from what we do is deeply damaging, and that this era of alienation is for many a direct result of a low view of work.It is in work of every kind—effort, service, striving—that we discover our meaning and purpose, and a significant and successful life is one rooted in full-time productivity and the cultivation of God’s created world. Subscribe to our podcasts Acton On-Demand Business Matters 2024 “Full-Time: Working and the Meaning of Life” | David Bahnsen

In 1980, Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman released a 10-part documentary series on PBS called “Free to Choose,” with each hour-long episode giving his perspective on important public policy debates and social issues. The series was a hit and possessed a staying power far beyond the 1980s. Through this and much of his other work, Friedman became one of the leading public intellectuals of his time, and his ideas have influenced economics and public policy deeply. In this episode, Acton director of marketing and communications Eric Kohn speaks to Jennifer Burns, author of a new biography,Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative. In this important contribution to understanding Friedman’s legacy, Burns explores the great economist’s life, ideas, and the important women with whom he worked. Subscribe to our podcasts Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative | Jennifer Burns Milton Friedman: The Conservative Institution Builder | James M. Patterson

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 Labs Serving 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 andJournal of Markets & Moralityexecutive 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 | Monticello Discourse 5: “Knowledge Its Own End” | John Henry Newman Learning and Working | F. D. Maurice Like Bright Stars: Abraham Kuyper on the Nature and Vocation of the Scholarly Sphere | Dylan Pahman Pano Kanelos on the University of Austin | Acton Line The 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 toquestionwell? 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 Anderson Called into Questions: Cultivating the Love of Learning Within the Life of Faith Reality: A Post-Mortem |Jon Askonas

In this episode, we bring you a recent Acton Lecture Series event with Kevin Vallier. The 20th century featured an unusual phenomenon: global secularizing movements. In the 19th century, these movements were confined mostly to Western Europe, but in the 20th century they exploded, suppressing the influence of religion around the world. In some milder cases, as in Turkey and India, the political expression of only the great religions was throttled. In others, such as in the USSR and Mao’s China, ferocious religious persecution was an ideological necessity. In light of new political realities, however, older religious traditions are beginning to take back their influence in the public square. And they’re doing so by rejecting the “liberalism” they see as their oppressor. Dr. Vallier discusses these different anti-liberal movements, critiques them, and explains how Christian liberals can understand and engage them. Subscribe to our podcasts Acton Lecture Series

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. Howard Common Good Philip 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 acceptedthe 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