In this week’s Acton Commentary, I adapt a section from my latest book focusing on an instance of passion” we find in an episode of Bonanza. I focus on the example of Adam Cartwright, who helps out an economically-depressed family faced with the tyranny of a greedy scrooge, Jedediah Milbank. There are many reasons to appreciate Bonanza, even if it is a product of its times, as in the stereotypical portrayal of Hop Sing, for instance. I also mention another...

Crisis Magazine‘s Gerald J. Russello has written a review of Tea Party Catholic, the new book from Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg. Russello outlines the premise of Gregg’s work: Gregg has peting stories to tell. First he wants to explain how a Catholic can responsibly defend limited government and the free market in accordance with Catholic teaching. This remains a crucial argument to make; since the 1980s, the welfare state has only expanded. As the financial and housing crises...

Over at Capital Commentary, Byron Borger has a review of Jordan Ballor’s new book, Get Your Hands Dirty: Essays on Christian Social Thought (and Action): Although his book is not simple, he is a fine popularizer, writing serious material in sometimes playful ways, with the occasional nod to pop culture, drawing on themes from Deadwood or Lost or a contemporary novel. The book is neither introductory nor scholarly. Readers of journals such as First Things, Cardus, or The Journal of...

Shareholder activism, according to the headline in the most recent issue of PRWeek, is “rising” and panies [are] in crosshairs.” The ensuing article by Brittaney Kiefer, begins: Shareholder activism used to be just a nuisance that arose during proxy season, involving a group of contentious investors who tended to target smaller or less panies. However, in recent years activists have set their sights on panies, and more traditional investors are joining those fights. As shareholder activism goes panies are ing...

Angola’s Fall rodeo is a well known and popular occurrence at the prison. Perhaps less known on the outside of the prison is the inmate led hospice program. Warden Burl Cain launched the program in 1997 to bring more dignity for the dying process of inmates. Cardboard boxes have been replaced with caskets built by prisoners and handmade quilts drape the caskets of the deceased. Hospice is also instrumental to the kind of moral rehabilitation that has transformed the culture...

Rudy Carrasco, frequent lecturer at Acton University and other Acton events, board member of the Christian Community Development Association, and the U.S. Regional Facilitator of Partners Worldwide, recently posted this on his blog, Urban Onramps: We call upon the Church world wide to identify, affirm, pray mission and release business people and entrepreneurs to exercise their gifts and calling as business people in the world – among all peoples and to the ends of the earth.We call upon business people...

PovertyCure, an international coalition of more than 250 organizations and 1 million individuals (the Acton Institute is a founding partner), is seeking entries for their International Short Film Festival, slated for December 12, 2013 in New York City. Guidelines for the film festival may be found here. With $30,000 in prizes, PovertyCure is seeking short films (25 minutes or less in length) that “push the boundaries” of thinking about poverty and ways to alleviate it. Since PovertyCure’s vision of poverty...

ArtPrize 2013, September 18-October 6, will be many things. For some, it will be a chance to experience art in a unique way, all over the city of Grand Rapids, for free. For others, it will be petition: hotly debated and fodder for discussion over the dinner table, at the water cooler and in the media. And for others, it will be a boost for local businesses. Now in its fifth year, ArtPrize was developed by Grand Rapids native Rick...

For Labor Day weekend, Peggy Noonan wrote a column pointing to the critical connection between the spiritual value of work and the moral strength of our culture. But as Greg Forster notes, her “search for a beacon of hope that can point us back toward the dignity of work, she neglects the church in favor of less promising possibilities.” In her column, she argues that to restore dignity and hope to our culture, we need politicians who celebrate – sincerely,...

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean. It has a total land area is 76.1 square miles, slightly more than Washington, D.C., and a total population of about 55,000 people. It also has 18 different minimum wages by industry, mandated and enforced by the US Department of Labor. Oh, and an unemployment rate of 29.8% (about 10% of the total population is out of work). Minimum wage advocates would likely say...