Acton University 2011

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Select the 2011 Acton University lectures you wish to purchase. Lectures are in MP3 format which is suited for listening on mobile devices and your computer.

Day 1 - June 14, 2011

  • Christian Anthropology as the Basis of the Civil Order - Rev Robert A. Sirico $0.99
    The opening address by Rev. Robert A. Sirico at Acton University 2011.

Day 2 - June 15, 2011

  • Bastiat: Christian Apostle of the Market - Dr. Todd Flanders $0.99
    Frederic Bastiat was one of the nineteenth-century’s most prominent and prolific defenders of the free market. Fewer people know that Bastiat also reflected deeply on religious questions. This lecture introduces Bastiat’s economic and religious thought, underlining the connections between the two.
  • Corruption - Dr. Alex Chafuen $0.99
    Corruption is one of the primary problems afflicting the developing world as well as parts of the developed world. This lecture explores the moral and economic causes of corruption, its effects, and outlines possible solutions.
  • School Choice and Private Education - Dr. Nelson Kloosterman $0.99
    "Private education and school choice" is a combination whose basis and benefits need to be clarified and championed, now more than ever before. This lecture seeks to provide a perspective, including tools and resources, for doing that work in a way that is persuasive and winsome.
  • Social and Economic Context of the New Testament ('11) - Dr. Stephen Grabill $0.99
    New research on the economic context of Jesus’ teaching on wealth and exchange points to the need to take into account the nature and extent of market arrangements in first-century Roman Palestine. This lecture shows that in the Gospels we find Jesus recognizing a growing role for market exchange and a legitimate pursuit of economic gain through risk-taking alongside of the need for the practice of general reciprocity.
  • Competing Visions of Community - Michael Matheson Miller $0.99
  • Medieval Economics: The Untold Story - Dr. Alex Chafuen $0.99
    The Middle Ages were a period of enormous cultural growth in the West, including its appreciation of key economic concepts. This lecture examines the economic thought of two medieval theologians, Bernandino of Sienna and Antonio of Florence, whose work broke new ground in economic science, especially when it came to ideas about prices, value, and the moral benefits of entrepreneurship.
  • The Economics and Culture of Population Decline - John Lunn $0.99
    Population growth and decline are controversial subjects, partly on moral grounds but also because of their economic implications. This lecture explores the links between demography, economic growth, and economic decline and brings to bear the insights of Christian morality upon these questions.
  • Envy and the Search for Fairness in Our Economic Relationships ('11) - Dr. Victor Claar $0.99
    In a free-market system, participants are free to pursue exchanges that lead to their mutual benefit. Yet market economies do not lead to equal outcomes, even though the same rules apply to all participants. Using St. Thomas Aquinas's definition of envy as a starting point, and drawing both biblical examples and the most up-to-date research, this course critically examines the potentially corrosive role that envy may play in our relationships in a market economy, and critiques the idea of equality of economic outcomes from a moral and anthropological perspective.
  • Christian Poverty in the Age of Prosperity ('11) - Rev. Robert A. Sirico $0.99
  • Centralization and Civil Society - Dr. John Bolt $0.99
  • Nietzsche’s Critique of Christianity and Capitalism - Kishore Jayabalan $0.99

Day 3 - June 16, 2011

  • Introduction to Protestant Social Thought - Dr. John Armstrong $0.99
    Introduces the biblical and theological foundations of evangelical social and economic thought as grounded in the love of God and neighbor conjoined with the doctrine of creation, with special attention to implications for contemporary issues.
  • Breaking Dependencies: Stewardship and the End of Aid ('11) - Brett Elder $0.99
    As the debate rages over the real impact and consequences of government aid to end the war on poverty, quietly an unintended ecclesiastical welfare system relegates the emerging Church around the world to a mindset of poverty. Western funding remains the financial fuel that powers the engine of the growth of the Church around the world. For all the good that is done in the name of missions, at what point does Western funding hurt more than it helps?
  • Biblical and Theological Foundations of Environmentalism - Dr. Jay Richards $0.99
    Draws on Scripture and historical Christian theology to ground the Christian understanding of the relationship between humanity and non-human creation. Contrasts pre-modern, early-modern, and contemporary understandings of relevant passages of Scripture. Outlines implications for environmental ethics arising from various categories of biblical and systematic theology.
  • The Politics and Economics of Edmund Burke - Michael Matheson Miller $0.99
    Edmund Burke was one of the leading political theorists and social commentators of his day and is often considered the father of the Anglo-American conservative movement. He was highly critical of much Enlightenment thinking but was also seen as a proponent of liberty. Adam Smith said that Burke was one of the few people who fully understood his work in economics. This course examines the political, social, and economic thought of Edmund Burke and the similarities between his thought and the ideas of Adam Smith in economics.

Day 4 - June 17, 2011

  • Orthodoxy and Environmentalism - Very Rev. Michael Butler $0.99
    Apart from statements by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (the “Green Patriarch”), the Orthodox Church has not been widely known for its teaching on environmental issues. This course presents some themes from Orthodox theology, e.g., creation through the Logos, creation as an Icon of God, and the role of mankind in perfecting the world, as an offering to the wider discussion of environmentalism in Christian circles.
  • Entrepreneurship and the Developing World - Mr. Dave Genzink $0.99
    Entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprise have proven the most effective means of creating prosperity in the developed world, and recent years have seen a growing appreciation of the role of business in creating widespread prosperity in the developing world. This course addresses the essential role of entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprise in building wealth, rather than only alleviating poverty.
  • Environmental Sustainability: Creature Care Beyond Stewardship - Professor Craig Mitchell $0.99
    This is an introduction to the international movement of designing physical objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, ecological sustainability. This seminar builds on principles of environmental stewardship toward implications for appropriate roles for government, the market, and mediating institutions with an emphasis in urban and international missions.
  • The Ethics of Capital and Interest - Dr. Shawn Ritenour $0.99
    Capital and interest are often viewed as morally suspect. This course examines interest and capital from an ethical framework with a focus on its positive moral contributions to society.
  • Economic Thought from Caritas in Veritate - Rev. Raymond de Souza $0.99
    Papal encyclicals are often controversial texts, but Benedict XVI’s 2009 Caritas in Veritate has proved to be the most discussed of his pontificate. This lecture explores some of the broader economic themes of the encyclical, highlighting their genesis in the thought and work of Joseph Ratzinger.
  • The Family in Economic Development - Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse $0.99
    This course examines the role that marriage and the family play in economic development. The course specifically shows how strong families foster better workers and higher levels of economic growth at the societal level; it also identifies the industries that depend most on married families with children.
  • Distributivism: The Theory and Critique ('11) - Kishore Jayabalan $0.99
    Increasingly popular among Christians of all confessions, the economic theory of distributism, often associated with Hilaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton, is often presented as a Christian ‘third way’ between capitalism and socialism. This lecture outlines distributist theory and articulates a robust critique of its premises and workings.