Thomas Oden, considered by many to be one of the premier Methodist theologians in America, died yesterday at the age of 85. Oden was the author of numerous theological works, including the three-volume systematic theology The Word of Life, Life in the Spirit, and The Living God. He also served as thedirector of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania, and was the general editor for both the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the...

Free trade and trade agreements are not the same thing.In fact, they are often times in direct contradiction with each other.Acton Director of Research Samuel Gregg recently wrote an article about this at The Stream.Gregg explains how all trade agreements are ‘managed trade,’ not free trade.He explains how free traders should approach the issue of economic nationalism and the best ways to work toward freer trade.Concerning the issue of trade agreements and managed trade, Gregg says this: There’s no-one-size-fits-all form...

Just as Acton concluded its ‘Reclaiming the West: Freedom and Responsibility‘conference series in London on Dec. 1, Italy was getting ready to decide its own fate among troubled Western democracies. On Dec. 4, the storied homeland to some of the greatest intellectual, political, religious and artistic genius over the last 2,500 years voted to implement or reject deep political reform via the ruling Partito Democratico’s proposed constitutional referendum. No doubt it was a fundamental decision about freedom and responsibility. But...

The United States spends a lot of money each year on public schooling. As a percentage of GDP, government expenditures on public education (five percent) exceed the amount we spend on defense (four percent) or welfare (two percent). But how do we know if we are getting our “money’s worth” on public school? Too often, the primary criterion of effectiveness is standardized testing. A school is rated almost exclusively on on how well its students perform on standard testing (usually...

If you’ve been stuck at the mall listening to a song about ten Lords a-Leaping and eight Maids a-Milking you can blame the Jesuits. Rumor has it they invented the Twelve Days of Christmas song as a catechism in code for persecuted Catholics in 16th-century England. The claim is that each of the items has a coded meaning (Old and New Testaments are the two turtle doves; three hens are the Wise Men; the Evangelists are the four calling birds;...

Note: This is post #13 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. What is a subsidy? A subsidy is really just a negative or reverse tax, explains Alex Tabarrok. Instead of collecting money in the form of a tax, the government gives money to consumer or producers. In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Tabarrok looks at the subsidy wedge and who benefits the most from different subsidies. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d...

Carl and Angel Larsen are Minnesota filmmakers who founded their pany, Telescope Media Group, with a very specific purpose: “to glorify God through top-quality media production.” Christian belief and a passion for “God’s story” has always been at the center of their business. Now, due to a state law and statements from government officials, their religious beliefs expose them to a range of new threats as it relates to filming weddings. Under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Larsens may...

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, died today at the age of 95. Glenn was a U.S. Marine, a pilot, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. He was also, at the age of 77, the oldest person to fly in space, servingin NASA’sMercury and Shuttleprograms. In honor of his passing, here are six key quotes from Glenn on faith, service, and government: On faith and opportunity: “I’m a Presbyterian, a Protestant Presbyterian, and I take...

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump along with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is the current governor of Indiana, struck a deal with United Technologies, the pany of Carrier, in order to save over 1,000 jobs from being sent from Indiana to Mexico. This deal will supposedly give Carrier over $7 million in tax break incentives and it has everyone across the political spectrum reacting in different ways. People on the far-left such as the self-described democratic-socialist senator from Vermont, Bernie...

This year marks the 125th anniversary of two key documents in the development of modern Christian social thought: the papal encyclicalRerum Novarumby Pope Leo XIII and the speech “The Social Question and the Christian Religion” by Abraham Kuyper. To mark this anniversary and mend these works to readers today, Acton Institute has recently releasedMakers of Modern Christian Social Thought: Leo XIII and Abraham Kuyper on the Social Question. This volume consists of the texts of these two key sources, along...