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  • Thoughts on the education of Lord Acton

    Of the various influences that shaped Lord Acton’s distinctive understanding of history, none was as decisive as his education. His intellectual formation was in fact unique, the product of social position, conditions within English and Continental Catholicism, revolutionary ideas in the Germanic world pertaining to the study and methods of history, and the epic debate in North America over the nature and future of the Union of the States.
  • Don’t devalue Christian heritage

    A week or so ago, I struck up a friendly conversation with a cleaning lady upon entering a hotel. She right away asked me, "Did you hear the news of the statue of Christ being struck with lightning in Ohio?" How could I avoid it? For some inexplicable reason, the news of this "act of God" had attracted a great deal of attention. Why, I began to wonder, did this relatively marginal story gain so much press attention? "Do you think it was a sign?" the lady asked. "A sign of what?" I replied.
  • Benjamin Banneker

    Benjamin Banneker is best known for his work in surveying the District of Columbia, but it is just one of many achievements. Banneker's father, Robert, was a slave who was granted his freedom and converted to Christianity.
  • Review: William F. Buckley Jr.

    Lee Edwards calls William F. Buckley Jr. "The St. Paul of the conservative movement." No other twentieth century figure made such a vast contribution to the intellectual force of political conservatism. He paved the way for the likes of Ronald Reagan and all of those political children of Reagan who credit the former president for bringing them into politics. He achieved what no other had done and that was his ability to bring traditional conservatives, libertarians, and anti-communists together under the same umbrella.
  • Assessing the anti-federalists

    A free society needs both liberty and order. As Russell Kirk once put it, "order is the first need for any society—only then can liberty and justice be reasonably secure." From September 1787 through July 1788, this principle of ordered liberty shaped Federalist arguments for, and anti-Federalist arguments against, the ratification of the Constitution. Contemporary Americans might be tempted to assume that the opposition does not deserve to be counted among the Founding Fathers and Framers.
  • Literature and the realm of moral values

    In the opening chapter of Aleksander Solzhenitsyn's novel, In the First Circle, the character Innokenty Volodin is faced with a moral dilemma over whether or not to share secret Soviet information with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. In the end, his decision is made when he asks himself: "If we live in a state of constant fear, can we remain human?" The question is one that Solzhenitsyn asked of the Soviet government right up to the day he was arrested and exiled in 1974.
  • What is Christian’s Library Press?

    In June of 2010, the Acton Institute acquired the Grand Rapids–based book imprint, Christian’s Library Press. CLP was founded in 1979 by Gerard Berghoef and Lester DeKoster as a publishing resource for Christian leadership, theology, and stewardship. Berghoef was president of the John Widdicomb Company of Grand Rapids and was an elder in the Christian Reformed Church for many years. DeKoster was a Calvin College professor and a former editor of The Banner, a publication of the Christian Reformed Church.