Publications

“Protecting the Poor From the Media’s Gas Tax”

by Anthony B. Bradley - December 31, 2008

Prominent media voices are calling for a gas tax that would boost fuel costs back to $4 a gallon. But wouldn't that be a regressive tax on the poor? "Why is it that the most prominent media voices seem so ignorant of the economic consequences of their social experiments?" Anthony Bradley asks.

“Selfless Giving and Tempered Trading”

by Kevin E. Schmiesing Ph.D. - December 24, 2008

In this season of giving, Kevin Schmiesing looks at another form of exchange -- trade. He observes that ethical commercial activity "is not an exercise in selfishness, but the practice of properly ordered self-interest, which is of necessity tempered by the wants and needs of others."

November 2008

• Acton Weighs in on Economic Crisis
• Acton Attends Heartland Event
• Acton and Globalization
• Dr. Gregg Lectures on Economy
• Acton Staff Participates in and Sponsors GodBlogCon

Volume 18, Number 2 • Spring 2008

Featuring:

“Turkey: Islam's Bridge to Religious and Economic Liberty?,” an interview with Mustafa Akyol

Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish Muslim writer based in Istanbul, Turkey, where he is currently the opinion editor and a columnist for Turkish Daily News, the nation's foremost English-language newspaper. He also writes a regular column for the Turkish national daily, Star. Akyol's articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, The American Interest, First Things, and The Weekly Standard, among others. He has a book in Turkish titled, Rethinking The Kurdish Question: What Went Wrong? What Next? (Dogan Publishing, 2006). Akyol is currently working on a book in English on the future of Islam and the Islamic world. His columns are collected on the website, The White Path (www.thewhitepath. com), which is the English translation of his name. Akyol spoke at the 2008 Acton University in Grand Rapids on the subject of "Islam, Markets and the Free Society." He was interviewed in Grand Rapids by Religion & Liberty executive editor John Couretas.

Volume 11, Number 1 • Spring 2008

With this issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality, we introduce a new semi-regular feature section, the Status Quaestionis. Conceived as a complement to our Scholia, the Status Quaestionis features are intended to help us grasp in a more thorough and comprehensive way the state of the scholarly landscape with regard to the modern intersection between religion and economics. Whereas the Scholia are longer, generally treatise-length works located in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the Status Quaestionis will typically be shorter, essay-length pieces from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. The first installment of the Status Quaestionis will feature an essay by Sergey Bulgakov (1871–1944), a renowned and influential Russian Orthodox theologian. His essay included in this issue, "The National Economy and the Religious Personality," first published in 1909 and translated here by Krassen Stanchev, represents the first and in many ways most lasting Orthodox Christian response to the Weber thesis.

Also in this volume, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo considers "The Importance and Contemporary Relevance of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth." Marek Tracz-Tryniecki explores "Natural Law in Tocqueville’s Thought." Christopher Todd Meredith examines "The Ethical Basis for Taxation in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas." José Atilano Pena López and José Manuel Sánchez investigate "Smithian Perspective on the Markets of Beliefs: Public Policies and Religion." Surendra Arjoon discusses ethics in the corporate culture with "Slippery When Wet: The Real Risk in Business." Gregory Mellema expounds on "Professional Ethics and Complicity in Wrongdoing."