Enterprising Local Solutions from the African Lens
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Engage the Speaker Session for “Toward a Free and Virtuous Society” (AU2021). Original Lecture description below. How do we make a moral account of how society should work? And how concretely can we construct this society? In this documentary-style lecture, Fr. Robert Sirico describes his own intellectual journey towards the belief that a free and …
Engage the Speaker Session for “Culture, Education, and Freedom” (AU2021). Original Lecture description below. Understanding the philosophical and theological underpinnings of many of today’s educational institutions and culture is crucial to building new educational ventures that support human freedom in all its dimensions. Although much has been written about ideological influences in education that undermine …
Africa faces many challenges, such as COVID-19, lack of vaccines, and the rise of China and its influences. However, one of the biggest opportunities in Africa is the chance to craft solutions locally. There are brilliant minds in Africa, and the biggest challenge is engaging them to solve problems in Africa. Similarly, the young population …
Engage the Speaker session for “Culture, Education, and Freedom” Understanding the philosophical and theological underpinnings of many of today’s educational institutions and culture is crucial to building new educational ventures that support human freedom in all its dimensions. Although much has been written about ideological influences in education that undermine commitments to human freedom grounded …
Understanding the philosophical and theological underpinnings of many of today’s educational institutions and culture is crucial to building new educational ventures that support human freedom in all its dimensions. Although much has been written about ideological influences in education that undermine commitments to human freedom grounded in classical Greek and Judeo-Christian anthropology, less has been …
Engage the Speaker session for “Christian Roots of Innovation in Science and Technology” The science-technology sector is often seen as a very secular sector of human work, in part because the “warfare thesis” of longstanding and essential enmity between Christian faith and the scientific enterprise is still widely assumed today (e.g. in the popular 2014 …
The science-technology sector is often seen as a very secular sector of human work, in part because the “warfare thesis” of longstanding and essential enmity between Christian faith and the scientific enterprise is still widely assumed today (e.g. in the popular 2014 Neil Degrasse Tyson–hosted updating of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos TV series). But the real …
In the great span of human history we are living in the lowest rates of poverty. Over the past 10,000 years humans have materially prospered beyond the scope of that thought to be possible. However, our civilization and environment forms us, and left to our own devices we revert back to barbarianism. Jonah Goldberg explains …
How does holistic community revitalization work? What does it require? Tackling such complex, deeply-rooted issues as intergenerational poverty, unsafe environments, high crime, and failing schools presents many challenges. One solution- and the basis for the Purpose Built Communities model—is a coordinated holistic approach based on quality and focused on sustainability.
In conformity with Nietzsche’s prophecy, the modern West is experiencing a radical desacralizing of the social order, unprecedented in world history. The great theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer described it as an era in which Westerners had learned to manage life without reference to God. American sociologist Philip Rieff refers to our era as one in which …
Only the family can provide the sense of security and identity that every person needs. Civilization itself depends on children having a good first year. Family breakdown is expensive. Taxpayers provide programs to step in when the family fails. Businesses have trouble finding workers they need, with even basic skills. Individuals and families struggle to …
Protestant evangelicals are one of the largest and most influential groups in the United States. Evangelicals are known for participating in international adoptions, volunteering in local churches and a host of philanthropic organizations, and mostly for political activism. Despite all of these activities, evangelicals have not changed American culture. Seth Bartee will offer an explanation …
This lecture will discuss the unique role the church plays in a market-based economic system, and will examine the moral imperatives given in scripture and Christian social thought that are foundational to building an economy that allows flourishing and ensures justice for all. Pastor Brooks explains the vital relationship between economics and moral philosophy for …
Politicians and pundits are struggling to understand this populist moment. Are a shrinking workforce and a contemptuous, divided culture simply America’s “new normal”? Is free enterprise fundamentally at odds with defending the national interest? Arthur Brooks draws on history and social science to explain these unusual times – and offers a set of strategies, from …
What makes someone a hero? Is it fame, power, money, creative talent, athletic ability, good looks? Despite what our culture typically celebrates, none of those things makes a hero. No, heroism springs from character, the critical element that defines a person. The good news is that character is something every one of us can mold; …
We live in dark times. Christians wonder: Are the best days of the Christian faith behind us? Has modernity made Christian thought irrelevant and impotent? Is society beyond all hope of redemption and renewal? In Renaissance, Os Guinness declares no. Throughout history, the Christian faith has transformed entire cultures and civilizations, building cathedrals and universities, …
In “The Conservative Heart,” Arthur C. Brooks, the prominent economist and president of AEI — the leading intellectual think tank on the right — offers a bold new vision for conservatism as a movement for social and economic justice. Brooks contends that after years of focusing on economic growth and traditional social values, it is …