Kimberly Uslin reports on the discovery of a of previously unknown manuscript by the philosopher John Lockeat the Greenfield Library at St. John’s College: According to Walmsley and Waldmann, this was the first major discovery of newwork by Locke in a generation. While there are occasionally unseen letters or signed documents found, something this “substantial in content” is incredibly rare—particularly because it represented a previously unknown perspective held by Locke. The manuscript essentially consists of two lists: the first, a...

On Thursday, June 20th, Acton ed Deltan Dallagnol to deliver an evening plenary address at Acton University 2019. A Harvard-trained attorney, Deltan Dallagnol gained international attention as the lead prosecutor in Operation Car Wash, one of the largest corruption probes in Latin American history. The Car Wash investigation implicated four former presidents and dozens of congressmen and high profile businessmen in Brazil. The case spread to nearly all Brazilian states and more than 12 countries, involving 14 presidents and former...

A recent study found that 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies were tied to medical issues. An estimated 530,000 families turn to bankruptcy each year because of medical issues and bills, the research found. But a new nonprofit is trying to alleviate the problem by getting churches to take on their neighbors’ unpaid bills. In an article for Christianity Today, Acton’s Jordan Ballor responds to this new form of philanthropy: “Taking up debts, helping to relieve each other’s burdens . ....

It’s no secret that major rifts have opened up between advocates of free markets and social conservatives in recent years. As someone who (1) ascribes to what would be conventionally called socially conservative views (though I think they’re more accurately called the insights of natural law and right reason) and (2) regards a free market economy as the most prudent set of economic arrangements for munities, and nations, I find myself constantly exposed to these debates. In some cases, the...

Today, we face a prevalent problem when making arguments about trending topics. Words such as capitalism, socialism, conservative, liberal and other broad categorical terms all have a wide range of meanings and emotions attached to them. Political and ideological topics are discussed passionately and ad nauseam in the news, with friends and around the dinner table. This raises a serious question: How can we have meaningful conversations without clearly defining the words we are using? In order to have any...

Italy’s coalition government seems ready to break apart, with Matteo Salvini of the League (who is seen as the country’s real leader)calling for new elections to force the Five Star Movement out of his alliance and Five Star trying to form a new coalition with the Democratic Party in order to oust Salvini. In an engagingnew essay for Acton’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website, Italian journalistStefano Magni writes about the unexpected role played in this electoral crisis by the Vatican. How...

It has been a topic of much dispute in the last century or so of Protestant theology, but the status of natural law, and particularly its connection with the doctrine mon grace, continues to be of significance. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, who has done a great deal of work on the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck, points to a fascinating passage in Bavinck’s newly translated Ethics, vol. 1, that provides, as he puts it, “a crystal clear statement mon grace … as...

Despite Marxism’s growing popularity among young people, church authorities spend little time discussing the topic – and when they do, they often speak in a misleading way. Thankfully, Bishop Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, addressed the topic at length last week. He made “Karl Marx and Millennials” the topic of a recent episode of his podcast, “Word on Fire.” In addition to giving a brief overview of Communist philosophy, Bishop Barron answers such questions...

The Venezuelan people continue to struggle and suffer under the weight of severe socialist policies, facing economic collapse, widespread poverty, and mass starvation. In response, socialism’s critics are quick to focus on the external features, noting how all of this could have been easily avoided with a basic respect for property rights, free exchange, free prices, and so on. But while the economic drivers and indicators deserve plenty of emphasis, we should also be mindful of the deeper effects of...

In his influential 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom economist Milton Friedman promoted the position of shareholder primacy by declaring that a corporation has no real “social responsibility” to the public, since its only concern is to increase profits for the shareholders. Social responsibility would be the responsibility (or not) of the shareholders. Since then this “shareholder theory” has became the dominant view of the purpose of the corporation. But in 1984 the philosopher and business professor R. Edward Freeman wrote...