Can we boil down the idea of mon good” to just 7 words? Andy Crouch is willing to try. As executive editor of Christianity Today, and author of Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, Crouch is all about culture, human flourishing and mon good. Crouch told Acton’s Manager of Programs Mike Cook a bit of what he plans to discuss at this year’s ActonU:

In a 2012 Christianity Today article, Crouch focused on mon good – what he called a “historically rich phrase.” He wrote:

Seeking mon good in its deepest sense means continually insisting that persons are of infinite worth—worth more than any system, any institution, or any cause. Societies are graded on a curve, with the fate of the most vulnerable given the most weight, because the fate of the most vulnerable tells us whether a society truly values persons as ends or just as means to an end.

And mon good continually reminds us that persons flourish in the small societies that best recognize them as persons—in family and the face-to-face associations of healthy workplaces, schools, teams, and of course churches. Though it is a big phrase, mon good” reminds us that the right scale for human flourishing is small and specific, and that the larger institutions of culture make their greatest contribution to flourishing when they resist absorbing all smaller allegiances.

In addition to offering the Thursday evening plenary address at Acton University 2014, Crouch will also be giving a “lunch-n-learn” lecture on Friday of Acton University. This will be a bonus lecture, apart from the scheduled sessions, and allowing for Q & A time. It is during this time Crouch will focus on “The Common Good in Seven Words.”

Crouch is a classically trained musician and former campus minister. He moved into editorial work in 1998, and currently serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and Equitas Group, a philanthropic organization focused on ending child exploitation in Haiti and Southeast Asia. He is a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission’s IJM Institute. He received his M.Div. at Boston University School of Theology.

The lunch-n-learn lectures are just one of several new features for the Acton University attendee. Acton University 2014 is June 17-20. For more information and registration details, click here.