What do the Bishop of Rome and an agnostic Austrian economist have mon? The pursuit of human flourishing via respect for the dignity of the acting human person. Read More… Why would a theologian conduct a theological and moral analysis of human action as described by Ludwig von Mises, a represen­tative of the Austrian school of economics? What can an economist and agnostic tell the moral theologian about man? The Church teaches that economics is the science of human action...

Do American workers find high-tech working conditions increasingly oppressive and intrusive? Are they finding it more difficult even to earn a living wage than workers did, say, 70 years ago? Compact editor Sohrab Ahmari’s new book examines what’s ailing American labor. But is the solution worse than the problem? Read More… Tyranny, Inc. is the best book yet published by a writer associated with the “postliberal” movement. Ahmari’s argument is focused and topical, he offers spirited critiques without ranting, and...

It’s the 100th anniversary of J. Gresham Machen’s classic work. It didn’t change American Presbyterianism but should have. Was he just ahead of his time? Read More… J. Gresham Machen’s book Christianity and Liberalism, published 100 years ago, was a curious mix of theology and politics. Readers monly miss the political part if only because Machen, a Southern Presbyterian who labored in exile among Northern Presbyterians (the munions were divided from the Civil War to 1983), was a proponent of...

A recent New York Times op-ed took to task the “elites” who thumb their noses at Trump supporters. Maybe if the smart set listened more and harangued less they’d better understand why so many of their fellow citizens vote the way they do. Read More… It has taken some time but there are signs that the cultural elites, members of what has been called America’s “ruling class,” have started to engage in some long overdue self-examination as it relates to...

In 1967, the University of Chicago released the Kalven Report, which in tumultuous times sought to articulate the core mission of the university: to generate and disseminate knowledge. The Report needs to be revisited. Read More… Why the gnashing of teeth over the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action? Why have some schools responded by eliminating legacy admissions? What does the controversy tell us about how we understand the university itself? Others have observed that affirmative action debates almost...

A new book by the archduke of Austria offers insights into what contributed to his illustrious ancestors’ success in ruling a multiethnic empire. But could any of it be relevant to 21st-century America? Read More… Lord Acton believed that “the only real political noblesse on the Continent is the Austrian.” In The Habsburg Way, Eduard Habsburg, archduke of Austria and Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta, has written a charming and insightful book. Despite...

A new book outlines what happens when businesses forsake their true mission—to serve the customer—and instead seek to transform the culture. Is there any hope that business will get back to, well, business? Read More… The woke agenda in corporate America is increasingly tyrannical and must be stopped to preserve free markets and the American way of life, so writes Stephen R. Soukup in the newly released second edition of The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big...

What happened to the early promise of liberal democracy and economic growth in South Africa? Marxism is what happened. Read More… In 1994 a momentous change unfolded at the southern tip of Africa as the oppressive regime of apartheid came to a peaceful end. The African National Congress (ANC) and its revered leader, Nelson Mandela, took the reins of power, and at first glance everything progressed perfectly—liberal democracy had won the day. By 1997 foreign direct investment (FDI) to South...

With a passion for social justice, ending Apartheid in South Africa, and cricket, David Sheppard is perhaps the best batsman-bishop you’ve never heard of. Read More… You’re facing the Cy Young Award–winning pitcher Justin Verlander from a distance of 22 yards, armed only with a three-foot long, paddle-shaped club and your own nerve. To enliven the proceedings, Verlander interacts with you not from the traditional essentially static crouch, but after a headlong sprint from the outfield to the pitcher’s mound,...

Those in Gen Z appear to have grasped that the collapse of marriage and raising children in single-parent households have had terrible social and personal consequences. So why aren’t they acting like it? Read More… Marriage—an institution as old as time—is increasingly under threat. The marriage rate has fallen 60% since 1970, and the number of children living in working-class, married-parent families fell from 85% to 55% in the same time frame. Two-thirds of Americans believe that two unmarried, cohabitating...