The latest issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality, vol. 12, no. 2 (Fall 2009) is now fully online. In the editorial for this issue, “A Legacy of Stewardship,” I write of the loss in 2009 of two figures of importance for the Acton Institute: “In the unique matrix of vocation that made up their lives, Lester DeKoster and Karen Laub-Novak have each left this world with a legacy of faithful stewardship, and it is to such that this issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality is dedicated.”

In recognition of these legacies, this issue features a controversy on the question “How should Christians be stewards of art?” between Prof. Nathan Jacobs, professor of theology at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, and Prof. Calvin Seerveld, professor emeritus of aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, Canada. Jacobs argues that “the question of stewardship immediately raises questions about value, meaning, and reality that must be addressed,” and moves on to articulate a realist defense of his view of art and stewardship. Prof. Seerveld “challenges us to consider art from an eschatological perspective” and emphasizes God’s creational mandate to be imaginative in the faithful pursuit of the artistic calling.

In addition to this special feature, this issue of the journal includes the usual fare of substantial articles:

Pierpaolo Donati on “What Does ‘Subsidiarity’ Mean? The Relational Perspective”Dwight R. Lee on “The Clergy and Economists: Two Windows on Common Objectives”Storr Virgil Henry on “Why the Market? Markets as Social and Moral Spaces”Christopher Todd Meredith on “Taxation and Legal Plunder in the Thought of Frédéric Bastiat”Benjamin B. Phillips on “Getting into Hot Water: Evangelicals and Global Warming”Jonathan E. Leightner on “Property, Ethics, and God”Maryann O. Keating on “Review Essay: ‘Are Economists Basically Immoral?’and Other Essays on Economics, Ethics, and Religion by Paul Heyne”

We also have a noteworthy set of book reviews in Christian social thought, ethics and economics, and the philosophy, history, and methodology of economics.

Access to the electronic versions of two latest “current” issues is available for individuals on a subscription basis. An electronic-only subscription is available for $10, and there are a number of other options for those wishing to receive the journal in hard copy form.

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