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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Aquinas and the Supreme Court: Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas's Biblical Commentaries






"In court opinions, blogs, public debates, and theological arguments, the concept of what is 'natural' to us remains a highly debated concept, with Thomas Aquinas one of the most frequently cited figures."   In his recently published book, Aquinas and the Supreme Court: Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas's Biblical Commentaries, Eugene Rogers, professor of Religious Studies, "makes the breathtaking argument that Thomas Aquinas does not, in fact, say what you think he says on the topic of natural law, nature, and what is appropriate to humans as natural" (Myles Werntz, Baylor University).

"Eight centuries after he lectured on the Bible, both advocates and critics agree that Aquinas remains the most influential “natural law” philosopher. Lawmakers, judges, pundits, and clergy deploy natural-law reasoning on all manner of public issues, from gender roles to just war; the US Supreme Court still cites Aquinas on abortion and homosexuality" (Wiley).

"Rogers critiques turn-of-the-21st century natural law theory by its founding text, using Aquinas's own commentaries on the bible. Exploring newly translated, or untranslated commentaries, Rogers compares the passages where Aquinas’s systematic works quote the Bible with the biblical commentaries on the passages which are cited. A very different understanding of natural law emerges in which Aquinas embeds all law, even natural law, not in a particular logic, but in a particular story. The commentaries describe a nature that differs by ethnicity, varies over time, and changes sexuality by God’s decree. This challenges current understandings and uses of Aquinas’s natural law from both sides of the debate, both liberal and conservative" (Wiley).

In the book, "Rogers uses Aquinas's biblical commentary to argue that Aquinas's sense of the natural law is deeply theological, known only to humans who participate in it via the grace of the Triune God, as conceived of by Christianity.  Rogers shows that legal and political uses of natural law are not faithful to Thomas's theological teachings unless they are set within the theological context" (Choice, November 2013).

"Issues of the naturalness of gender and sexuality are woven through Rogers’ reflections, complicating both Thomas’ use within the legal system and within Christian arguments about what is natural. Too often, as Rogers points out, Christian reflections upon ‘nature’ repeat the errors of natural lawyers in assuming that 1) nature is self-evident and 2) nature is unchanging. If what is ‘natural’, according to Thomas (following Paul) is a work of the Spirit, then nature is neither one. Rather, our discussions of natural life—while learning from our observations and from reason—cannot be ultimately governed by reason, but led by the Spirit’s revealing and restoring work" (Myles Werntz, Baylor University).

“In this well documented and lucidly argued book we discover that what might seem purely arcane medieval scholarship cuts decisively into matters of currently great human concern" (Fergus Kerr, University of Edinburgh).

“This book will be particularly useful for graduate students in philosophy and theology.  Summing Up: Recommended" (Choice, November 2013).

Thursday, February 6, 2014

All the Dead Yale Men




Craig Nova, Class of 1949 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at UNCG and one of "the best American novelists" according to John Irving, recently published All the Dead Yale Men, the greatly anticipated follow-up to his critically acclaimed 1982 novel The Good Son.  His earlier novel recounts the story of World War II veteran Chip Mckinnon and his tenuous relationship with his socially ambitious father.  "Pop" Mckinnon compels his son to forsake his true love in order to marry well and persuades him to pursue an Ivy League education and a career in law.

All the Dead Yale Men rejoins the Mckinnon clan a generation later, with Frank Mckinnon, Chip's son, and his brilliant daughter Pia.  Frank is a happily married criminal prosecutor in Boston, and his daughter Pia is poised to enter Harvard law school, following in both her grandfather and her father's footsteps.  However, Frank's vision for his daughter's life (and his own by association) is jeopardized when Pia contemplates abandoning her career aspirations for a local ne'er do well.  Both novels examine parental expectations and ambitions for their children and the lengths that a parent will go in order to preserve them. 

All the Dead Yale Men is a "gripping and intelligent chronicle of love, legacy, and betrayal (the title may suggest a genre mystery, which this surely isn’t).  [It] captures a complex clan entangled in a questionable moral universe. Nova’s Mackinnons, both here and in The Good Son, leave their edgy mark on the modern American literary landscape" (Mark Levine, Booklist).

 “Craig Nova is a fine writer, one of our best.  If you haven’t read him, the loss is yours."  (Jonathan Yardley, book critic for the Washington Post)

Nova's writing has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, and Men's Journal, among others. He has received an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2005 he was named Class of 1949 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.